DNF at the Women's National Team Series
On Sunday 22nd June I rode for the Surrey League in the third round of the Women's National Team Series at Chobham, close to Chertsey, Surrey. This was to be my second outing for the Surrey League Women's Team, so I was keen to prove my worth. I always get varying degrees of nerves before races but with a team event I feel the extra pressure as I don't want to let the team down.
I arrived at the HQ at our scheduled meeting time, with only one wrong turn. The event was held on the Windlesham circuit, with its unique finishing laps of the smaller Valley End course. We had 10 laps of a larger Windlesham circuit, followed by 3 laps of the shorter circuit to complete. The Surrey League girls got together in the village hall to get issued with our over-sized Surrey League jerseys ready for the race start at 11am. The team rode a warm up lap of both the Windlesham circuit and the Valley End circuit. I knew as soon as I got on the bike that my legs weren't feeling good. It always worries me when I can't account for the way my legs feel. I hadn't over trained. My spin out on the Turbo the day before had been good. The weather was dry and getting sunnier although breezy. But my legs ached and ached. It felt like I had already done the race instead of just doing a recce of the course.
I sat at the back on the fairly subdued warm up and told myself that when my legs have been bad in the past, they always come good. I liked the circuit, it was fairly flat, not too many tight bends and just one climb which lead out of Chobham where the primes were to take place. It wasn't a good sign that I got dropped on this climb in the warm up, not by much but enough to show that I wasn't going to go too well today. Following the race brief and me telling myself my legs would come good the 40 strong peleton rolled out of the HQ car park to start the race. There was no sign of my fan club who were riding down from Reigate to watch the race. It's funny how I'm never short of male supporters at any women's road races. Hmmmm.
On the first lap I started to feel pretty rough. I felt queasy, very hot and started to have chills, oh, and my legs still ached. I never really got a good position in the pack either. I was towards the back and kept telling myself I had to get a better position but there didn't seem to be a way to get through. After a first lap in which the peloton stayed together, and cheers from my three Trisportnews team mates, who had made it down in time (including my husband, Chris) among the spectators, the first digs were made. We climbed the hill leading out of Chobham, there was a power surge and I was gone! The surge also proved a bit too much for the non-climbers, so a few people were off the back with me on the second lap. I got together with a QCP rider who seemed willing for the two of us to work for the rest of the race.
Usually, I will never ever not finish a race. Even if I am miles off the back in the pouring rain. Oh yes, there might be some thoughts of stopping and a few tears even, but I always try to finish. Today, however, I just didn't feel up to it. So all the build up, excitement, the team, the guys riding down to watch and the fact that I had just found a surprise present in my helmet case didn't help. Two laps and I packed. It's horrible going back to an empty car park, the race is still going on and if you feel slightly better (just because you have stopped) you wonder why you couldn't go on. I started to get the shakes in the car park so things weren't right. My head was so hot but I couldn't get warm. I eventually got changed and hooked up with Chris, Dave and Nick, apologising that they had ridden down for nothing. I watched the girls complete a couple of laps before being driven home for a lie down.
The race was won by Rachel Osborn (Newport Shropshire CC). The podium was completed by Dorothea Cockerell (Twickenham CC) and my team mate, Rebecca Curley (Surrey League/London Dynamo). Surrey League Women's Team are leading the series (with no help from me today but some great riding from the other girls)
It was a bad day in the office for me and not one I'm going to dwell on.
I arrived at the HQ at our scheduled meeting time, with only one wrong turn. The event was held on the Windlesham circuit, with its unique finishing laps of the smaller Valley End course. We had 10 laps of a larger Windlesham circuit, followed by 3 laps of the shorter circuit to complete. The Surrey League girls got together in the village hall to get issued with our over-sized Surrey League jerseys ready for the race start at 11am. The team rode a warm up lap of both the Windlesham circuit and the Valley End circuit. I knew as soon as I got on the bike that my legs weren't feeling good. It always worries me when I can't account for the way my legs feel. I hadn't over trained. My spin out on the Turbo the day before had been good. The weather was dry and getting sunnier although breezy. But my legs ached and ached. It felt like I had already done the race instead of just doing a recce of the course.
I sat at the back on the fairly subdued warm up and told myself that when my legs have been bad in the past, they always come good. I liked the circuit, it was fairly flat, not too many tight bends and just one climb which lead out of Chobham where the primes were to take place. It wasn't a good sign that I got dropped on this climb in the warm up, not by much but enough to show that I wasn't going to go too well today. Following the race brief and me telling myself my legs would come good the 40 strong peleton rolled out of the HQ car park to start the race. There was no sign of my fan club who were riding down from Reigate to watch the race. It's funny how I'm never short of male supporters at any women's road races. Hmmmm.
On the first lap I started to feel pretty rough. I felt queasy, very hot and started to have chills, oh, and my legs still ached. I never really got a good position in the pack either. I was towards the back and kept telling myself I had to get a better position but there didn't seem to be a way to get through. After a first lap in which the peloton stayed together, and cheers from my three Trisportnews team mates, who had made it down in time (including my husband, Chris) among the spectators, the first digs were made. We climbed the hill leading out of Chobham, there was a power surge and I was gone! The surge also proved a bit too much for the non-climbers, so a few people were off the back with me on the second lap. I got together with a QCP rider who seemed willing for the two of us to work for the rest of the race.
Usually, I will never ever not finish a race. Even if I am miles off the back in the pouring rain. Oh yes, there might be some thoughts of stopping and a few tears even, but I always try to finish. Today, however, I just didn't feel up to it. So all the build up, excitement, the team, the guys riding down to watch and the fact that I had just found a surprise present in my helmet case didn't help. Two laps and I packed. It's horrible going back to an empty car park, the race is still going on and if you feel slightly better (just because you have stopped) you wonder why you couldn't go on. I started to get the shakes in the car park so things weren't right. My head was so hot but I couldn't get warm. I eventually got changed and hooked up with Chris, Dave and Nick, apologising that they had ridden down for nothing. I watched the girls complete a couple of laps before being driven home for a lie down.
The race was won by Rachel Osborn (Newport Shropshire CC). The podium was completed by Dorothea Cockerell (Twickenham CC) and my team mate, Rebecca Curley (Surrey League/London Dynamo). Surrey League Women's Team are leading the series (with no help from me today but some great riding from the other girls)
It was a bad day in the office for me and not one I'm going to dwell on.
posted by Lisa Scarlett at
19:02
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