English
Last weekend saw me doing my longest ride since October last year, and thankfully no punctures! The Dutchman and I headed to Surry to attack the hills as part of the SWRC May Flyer 150km sportive. It didn’t seem to matter what way we turned, we were always cycling into a head wind. It was a well run event and you had to carry yellow cards to be signed off at the checkpoints along the way. I handed in both our cards at the end and much to the Dutchman’s amusement; I have been given an official time 3 minutes slower than him! I finished in 5:45 for the 150km and managed the 2nd fastest time overall for the women. Very happy!
Training has been coming along great guns with the count down on to my first big race of the season at the beginning of June at Blenheim. It is a sprint triathlon race on the Saturday followed by the Verenti Dragon Ride on the Sunday. I have a very understanding boss who has allowed me to drop back to working 4 days a week and I am using Wednesday’s out of the office as a big training day.
I find that I can get in 3 quality sessions throughout the day and have time for the all important recovery. I’m doing my bike sessions around Regents Park and am very pleased that my Wiggle jersey acts as a beacon for people to come chat to me. Do say Hi if you see me out and about.
A few weeks ago I started the Wiggle Super Series Ups and Downs Sportive but unfortunately didn’t finish the event. It was one of those days where everything went wrong. We ran out of tubes and CO2 as well as ending up with a faulty valve extender and made the decision to call it quits after having spent more time fixing flats than actually cycling. I was very sad not to finish however it was nice to catch up with the Wiggle boys who were manning the Wiggle display tent. It also meant I got back to London in time to catch my friend running the marathon. She put in such a stellar performance she has inspired me to enter one for this year. At this stage I am thinking Nice in November but suggestions welcome!
With all the ash cloud chaos I took advantage of Easyjet offering free changes to flights and headed out to Nice for 5 days. I got in some fabulous training as well as a couple open water swims. I am pleased to say it was just over 15 degrees in the water and felt positively balmy compared to Hampstead Lido! We did some great rides over the weekend including 120km on Saturday taking in Col de Braus and Col de Turini which from the bottom is a 24km climb from the Sospel side. It was lovely being out in shorts and a short sleeve jersey rather than wrapped up in winter gear! It is a tough climb to the top but you are rewarded with a 60km descent back to Nice so definitely worth the effort!
Happy training!
Cx