Mixed Fortunes (21st, January 2010)
I cant believe im sat here now with only 4 more cross races to go before the end of the season, 2 of these being the most important, firstly the World Championships in Tabor and the following week the National championships which normally would have been and gone by now but due to the weather in the UK recently the snow was too bad for England to put the race on….sigh.
I’ve had mixed fortunes in my races over the Christmas period and into the New Year.
I will start with world cup at Zolder……
Zolder was a very bad day for me, I knew before the race I didn’t quite feel right, I don’t know why, but I put it down to just having an off day. I didn’t have time to get down as A few Days later I had the GVA UCI race at Loenhout, a race which I did well in the previous year when it was very fast and frozen, this year however the weather had changed, the snow had melted from the Christmas period which meant mud and lots of it. I had a great start and came round the first lap in 6th place, the 2nd lap I had bad luck, and ended up with a puncture just after the second pit area…typical, I had to do the next three quarters of a lap on a complete flat, I was now back in 11th place and had lost a lot of time, I changed bike and worked my way back up the field and finished in 8th position I felt strong today so I wasn’t too down afterward considering what had happened during the race.
Next was a long journey to Luxemburg…. again this was another tough muddy race, I got the whole shot off the start but it wasn’t long before Marianne came flying passed me, I was then left fighting for 2nd place with my team mate Pavla and a French girl, they got the better of me and even though I was closing in on them toward the end I lost the battle and came away with 4th, so close to that podium I so much wanted.
A few days later I did it…..a podium place! …2nd in Teuveren, I felt motivated for this race, last year I had lost out getting on the podium due to me completely messing the sprint up, this year was different I wasn’t have to worry about the sprint I had another good start and After the first few laps of Daphny, Sanne and I setting the pace we split up, Daphny rode away from me then I eventually pulled away from Sanne. I hadn’t felt great before the start, I felt pretty tired from all the racing and training I had been doing over Christmas so I was made up with 2nd.
The next plan was to go back to England for a few days for the National championships which I was really looking forward to, I still felt like my form had arrived and after getting a podium the few days before I couldn’t wait to get on the start line, this never happened not for me, or anyone else hoping to race in England that week due to the snow. It was a bit of a wasted trip for the race having to be cancelled but its always nice to be home and see family and friends so whilst I was home I made the most of it and in that time I actually ended up getting a good block of training in.
On Tuesday the 12th I drove the 3 hour journey down to Folkestone; I got on the train to
Roubaix was a Very different race to the previous 2 weekends of racing in that the course was very heavy, muddy and there would be a lot of running I liked the circuit but it wasn’t a good day for me on the Sunday. I had mechanical problems all through the race which was finished off by a snapped chain on the last lap after the pit, it was all to much after being passed by pretty much everyone who’d Ide been ahead so i had to call it a day. I was disappointed but these things happen and ive now put it behind me, got my bikes sorted, had a hard weeks training and im now looking ahead to this weekends race which will be the last round of the world cup in Hoogerheide
Will try to keep you up to date on how things are progressing.
Nikki x