The past two weekends have seen me racing, which I’ve not done anywhere near enough of this year. The first weekend was Welsh Road Champs, but in hindsight I should have tried the TT instead. This weekend was a crit race at Darley Moor Motor Circuit.
I probably should have written about Welsh Champs sooner, but I come away from it slightly embarrassed if I’m honest. I went down with Ryan the day before as he was doing the TT too. Around the HQ I was surrounded by girls much stronger than me and I started to wonder what I was letting myself in for. Some might not be staying around for the road race the following day, but I still felt I was in a little too deep.
Phil Bulkeley Photograhpy
I entered Welsh Road Champs thinking we’d be going round the course on our own. Getting to the start line I found out we were starting with the Veteran men. Needless to say I got dropped 5 miles in…
But I still can’t work out if it was bad luck or me just being a tactical numpty.
Had I just sat behind the wrong people, or was I just not fit enough to be in the race?
When the race convoy passed and a number of women dropped off the back of the field, I couldn’t work out if the race convoy passing meant we weren’t in the race anymore.
I ended up riding round on my own for a lap at a pace I don’t think I’ve ever ridden at before. I wasn’t sure if I could still get to the finish line and place, or if once passed by the broom wagon that was it.
Long story short, I bailed after one lap as I still didn’t have a clue if I was suppose to still be on the course or not. So I finished with a big fat DNF.
When I went to Welsh Champs to at least finish, that was a bit gutting.
To get me out of my grump, Ryan found a race at Darley Moor Motor Circuit. 16 laps in a field of 20 women.
Something I didn’t do for Welsh Champs was warm up, so I made sure to chuck the turbo in the car for Darley Moor. I may have only loosened my legs for 10 minutes, but it definitely made a difference.
My headphones and turbo just get me in the right mindset for racing.
Whatever race I go to now, I need to make sure I’m armed with my turbo to warm up. I could use rollers…but I definitely haven’t mastered them yet! Maybe I should work on that over winter!
The field was strong whilst we were on the track and I was just hoping I could stay on the back of the group!
A far cry from what I ended up doing at Pimbo a few weeks ago ha!
After getting too carried away in the corners and seeing how far I could lean my bike over, we were soon on the finish straight in a bunch sprint.
I still don’t know what position I finished, but I finished…which was an improvement on Welsh Champs.
I even finished the weekend with a loop I made up as I went along, which ended up being a hilly ride to start with, then levelled out a bit. I felt weirdly good on the bike.
How have you got over races you’ve performed badly at?
Lucy's Life and Bikes 
I always try and focus on the positives. For example; if you lose a sprint, don’t focus on the losing the sprint part. Focus on the fact that you were up there at the pointy end crushing it rather than just pack fodder. If you were pack fodder, focus on that you were keeping up in the thick of it, not spat out the back, etc.
Great work by the way! 🙂
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Thanks! I normally bounce back after a few days aha!
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