My biggest fear heading to Europe to race was that I'd be one of those cyclists that can get results at home but not where it matters. Europe is to cycling what Hollywood is to acting, it's where you go to make it big. My first week, and first two races in Europe have been a boost to my confidence.
After arriving in the Netherlands on Wednesday my first race was to be a UCI 1.2 category 125km race around the village of Borsele, near the Belgium border on Saturday 25th April. At the start of this race I finally met the man I'd been e-mailing for months and the man who had given me this fantastic opportunity, my team manager, Chris Rouw. I also met six of my Moving Ladies team mates. Emma Trott, a girl 10months older than myself and a very strong Time Trial rider. Emma rode for the Great Britain national team for much of the 2008 season. Nikki Harris, a very strong cyclocross rider who placed 14th at the 2008 cyclocross world championships. Kate Cullen, another rider from the UK who has won medals at the Commonwealth games on the track. Sarah Cramoysan, a strong national rider in the UK. Linda Ringlever, a strong Dutch rider who rode for the UCI pro team Global, now known as Vision1 and Evelien Post, another strong Dutch club rider.
The race was 5 laps of a 25km circuit on roads barely wider than the bike paths around Canberra. With narrow roads, sharp corners, strong crosswinds, six of the biggest UCI Pro teams and a bunch of two hundred plus riders I was truly diving in the deep end. To skim through the details the race made everything else I have competed in look like a training ride. The Cervelo Women's team showed why they are arguably the best team in the world, pushing the pace at every opportunity and causing the bunch to splinter to pieces within the first 65km. By the last lap only sixteen out of the two-hundred girls who lined up at the start line that morning were at the front of the race, I was lucky enough to be one of them. I ended up finishing 6th which I was ecstatic with as my aim heading into the race had been: Get to the front and stay there. It was amazing to be racing next to women like Marianne Vos and Kirsten Wild, riders who up until now had been names on paper to me rather than, as it turns out, absolute machines.
The next day the Moving Ladies team headed to the village of Roeselare, near Gent in Belgium to race another UCI 1.2 category race, the GP Roeselare. After a small drama where we were in doubt as to whether we would have enough riders to actually start the race, myself and three of my team mates again lined up at the start line with two hundred of our closest friends. I had quickly established that small teams like Moving Ladies have one race plan in races such the GP Roeselare and the Omloop van Borsele: SURVIVE. And so as we rolled away surrounded by Team Columbia High Road, Cervelo, BSB Bank and Flexpoint riders, our race for survival began. Like yesterday's race the roads were very narrow and technical, however, unlike yesterday's race, this race had three short sharp power climbs, one of which had a maximum of 23 percent gradient and was cobbled.
If there is one thing I learnt from each race this weekend it is this:
i) riding in the gutter with roaring crosswinds while Cervelo bring back the break is not a dream come true, it's a nightmare; and
ii) climbs plus cobbles equals not pleasant.
I made it to the final kms intact. Cervelo once again had completely controlled the race, showing their dominance of Women's cycling. Kirsten Wild had her lead out train driving the pace from almost 10km out reaching over 55km/hr in the final stages. I found myself fighting for Rochelle Gilmore's wheel as we made the final right hand turn into the finish straight. I was unable to match both Kirsten and Rochelle's kicks and just missed out making the podium as I crossed the line for 4th in the mass bunch sprint. Again I was ecstatic with my result in only my second race in Europe. My results over the weekend have only made me hungrier to race against the top teams and top riders in the world and to prove myself and my abilities on the international cycling scene.
Here's hoping the podium is the next stop!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Bad things come in threes, then it just gets better.
The third stage of the Tour of Chongming Island was truly a surreal experience and one of the most memorable moments of my cycling career to date. It was definitely a day that I, and I'm sure everyone on the MB Cycles team, will not soon forget.
We headed into Stage Three, 5 seconds up on General Classification (GC) and also in the green sprinter jersey after I took out both intermediate sprints and finished 3rd in Stage Two. Our aim for the Stage was simple; protect the yellow jersey. After watching years of bike races I should have known thatthis task was never a simple or easy feat, yet my naivety got the better of me and I could never have expected what was in store for me and all the girls on the MB team. The first intermediate sprint was at 34km and all the girls showed that they were ready to meet and beat the expectations placed upon the team wearing the yellow jersey. The girls controlled the peloton and allowed me to easily take out the first intermediate sprint and gain another second advantage on my nearest GC rival, Zhao Na, from Giant Pro Cycling Team.
This smooth run was not to continue and it seemed, after the 40km mark anything that could go wrong, would. A sharp left hand turn 10km after the first intermediate sprint marked the beginning of what was to be a streak of bad luck. First a crash which sent two girls to hospital occurred directly in front of me, I was lucky enough to quickly swerve to the left, narrowly avoiding it. Tess, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Coming down in the crash Tess lost some skin and was kind enough to act as the road to riders behind her as they rode over the top of her. Thankfully she came out of the crash relatively unscathed and was back on her bike in an instant. I, and the other MB girls were completely oblivious to Tess' bad luck and were soon too absorbed in the next mishap of the day to realise until the end of the stage.
What seemed like seconds after I had avoided the crash in front of me I heard the sound that every cyclist dreads when racing, especially when the wind is roaring and you're already on the rivet. My rear tire commenced to puncture rapidly as I suddenly found myself riding on the rim of a Zipp 404. "I have a rear flat. I have a rear flat" I proceeded to announce over the radio to my team, in what I thought was a reasonably calm manner, this composure was not to last.
As soon as the other teams got news that the yellow jersey had flatted it was like they were a pack of wolves who had caught the scent of fresh meat. The South African team, who even had a rider down in the crash, immediately attacked and I'm told that these attacks did not cease, with the New Zealand and Chinese teams all actively trying to ride the MB team out of the race and try and take the yellow jersey for themselves.
Bridie O'Donell was the first MB girl to get to me and immediately gave me her wheel, I was back riding within seconds. Tahlia was at my side at once and Tess was soon to follow as she came rocketing up from behind, as I learnt later she was chasing after crashing. Both Tess and Tahlia knewexactly what to do and they began to work turns protecting me. After receiving a spare wheel Bridie was soon in hot pursuit of Tess, Tahlia and I and as soon as she joined us the chase really began.
Slowly but surely my composure began to slip away from me as panic started to cloud all sense I had left. I found myself dropping wheels and the girls, because of me, were going backwards rather than forwards as they attempted to get me back into the race. At this stage we were 1 minute and 10seconds down on the main bunch. We had lost the yellow jersey on the road and the feeling was truly devastating. Tess, very wisely instructed me to "Breath" and it was this simple instruction which seemed to click things back into place for me. I immediately concentrated on my breathing andfinding a rhythm and my composure came back. From then on Bridie, Tahlia and Tess were just a force. I've heard Phil Liggett say so many times while watching the TDF what being in yellow can do to a rider and to a team. It was at that moment that I realised he wasn't just dribbling nonsense. If we had not been in yellow and if we had not been so determined to claim back what was ours I don't know if we all could have dug as deep as we did.
After 20 kilometres of chasing we found ourselves sitting 50 metres off the back of the main bunch, and it was this 50 metres which took us the longest to close. The relentless attacking which had begun as soon as I punctured combined with the strength of the wind had torn the Peloton apart, splitting it into two bunches. Both Amber and Liz, my other two team mates were in the front bunch covering and neutralising the attacks coming from the Chinese, New Zealand, Ukrainian and South African teams. And here the next complication of the day's stage begins.
Amber had gone into the stage with a broken radio, she could not hear anything being relayed over the radio between the team and so was completely in the dark as to the situation which had unfolded behind her. At some point during the race Liz's radio also stopped relaying messages to her. As Bridie, Tahlia, Tess and I sat 50metres behind the main bunch for 5kms not making any progress you can not imagine the desperation we felt that just once one of the girls radios would work. (Bridie's screaming into a block head wind may give you some indication of the level of desperation.) After what seemed like hours Liz got a crackle over her radio, turned behind her and saw the train of pink, she immediately dropped back and helped close the 50metres which had seemed so impossible for us to close before. It’s comforting to know that even when we're all onthe rivet after chasing for almost 30kms we still had a sense of humour when the Italian, German and South African girls who we had dragged back to bunch with us rolled past us saying "thank-you, thank-you".
The next 70kms were a matter of conserving as much energy as possible so as to be able to contest the sprint for the stage win. It was difficult to sit back and watch the Chinese contest the third intermediate sprint of the day and see Zhao Na reduce the difference between us on GC.
There was a sweeping left hander 2km from the line and then a sweeping right hand corner 1km from the line. I managed to position myself on the Chinese pace line and despite all the bad luck we had experienced earlier that day the sprint could not have been more perfect. The pace was on, the bunch spread single file and I was sitting on Zhao Na's fourth wheel around the corner. With 200metres to go I exploded off Na's wheel, swinging to the left of the road. I crossed the line with my arms in the air, relief, satisfaction and gratitude were just some of the emotions I can remember feeling. Behind me, the girls crossed the line with their arms raised too. As Bridie said later that night, that stage made us all understand why riders in 20th, or 57th place raise their arms in victory as they see their sprinter cross the line.
It was truly one of the hardest bike races I have ever ridden, both mentally and physically. I'm so satisfied that after all the work the girls had done to get me to the finish that I was able to pull it off. This stage win is the best win of my cycling career to date, because it wasn't just my win, it was the teams.
We headed into Stage Three, 5 seconds up on General Classification (GC) and also in the green sprinter jersey after I took out both intermediate sprints and finished 3rd in Stage Two. Our aim for the Stage was simple; protect the yellow jersey. After watching years of bike races I should have known thatthis task was never a simple or easy feat, yet my naivety got the better of me and I could never have expected what was in store for me and all the girls on the MB team. The first intermediate sprint was at 34km and all the girls showed that they were ready to meet and beat the expectations placed upon the team wearing the yellow jersey. The girls controlled the peloton and allowed me to easily take out the first intermediate sprint and gain another second advantage on my nearest GC rival, Zhao Na, from Giant Pro Cycling Team.
This smooth run was not to continue and it seemed, after the 40km mark anything that could go wrong, would. A sharp left hand turn 10km after the first intermediate sprint marked the beginning of what was to be a streak of bad luck. First a crash which sent two girls to hospital occurred directly in front of me, I was lucky enough to quickly swerve to the left, narrowly avoiding it. Tess, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Coming down in the crash Tess lost some skin and was kind enough to act as the road to riders behind her as they rode over the top of her. Thankfully she came out of the crash relatively unscathed and was back on her bike in an instant. I, and the other MB girls were completely oblivious to Tess' bad luck and were soon too absorbed in the next mishap of the day to realise until the end of the stage.
What seemed like seconds after I had avoided the crash in front of me I heard the sound that every cyclist dreads when racing, especially when the wind is roaring and you're already on the rivet. My rear tire commenced to puncture rapidly as I suddenly found myself riding on the rim of a Zipp 404. "I have a rear flat. I have a rear flat" I proceeded to announce over the radio to my team, in what I thought was a reasonably calm manner, this composure was not to last.
As soon as the other teams got news that the yellow jersey had flatted it was like they were a pack of wolves who had caught the scent of fresh meat. The South African team, who even had a rider down in the crash, immediately attacked and I'm told that these attacks did not cease, with the New Zealand and Chinese teams all actively trying to ride the MB team out of the race and try and take the yellow jersey for themselves.
Bridie O'Donell was the first MB girl to get to me and immediately gave me her wheel, I was back riding within seconds. Tahlia was at my side at once and Tess was soon to follow as she came rocketing up from behind, as I learnt later she was chasing after crashing. Both Tess and Tahlia knewexactly what to do and they began to work turns protecting me. After receiving a spare wheel Bridie was soon in hot pursuit of Tess, Tahlia and I and as soon as she joined us the chase really began.
Slowly but surely my composure began to slip away from me as panic started to cloud all sense I had left. I found myself dropping wheels and the girls, because of me, were going backwards rather than forwards as they attempted to get me back into the race. At this stage we were 1 minute and 10seconds down on the main bunch. We had lost the yellow jersey on the road and the feeling was truly devastating. Tess, very wisely instructed me to "Breath" and it was this simple instruction which seemed to click things back into place for me. I immediately concentrated on my breathing andfinding a rhythm and my composure came back. From then on Bridie, Tahlia and Tess were just a force. I've heard Phil Liggett say so many times while watching the TDF what being in yellow can do to a rider and to a team. It was at that moment that I realised he wasn't just dribbling nonsense. If we had not been in yellow and if we had not been so determined to claim back what was ours I don't know if we all could have dug as deep as we did.
After 20 kilometres of chasing we found ourselves sitting 50 metres off the back of the main bunch, and it was this 50 metres which took us the longest to close. The relentless attacking which had begun as soon as I punctured combined with the strength of the wind had torn the Peloton apart, splitting it into two bunches. Both Amber and Liz, my other two team mates were in the front bunch covering and neutralising the attacks coming from the Chinese, New Zealand, Ukrainian and South African teams. And here the next complication of the day's stage begins.
Amber had gone into the stage with a broken radio, she could not hear anything being relayed over the radio between the team and so was completely in the dark as to the situation which had unfolded behind her. At some point during the race Liz's radio also stopped relaying messages to her. As Bridie, Tahlia, Tess and I sat 50metres behind the main bunch for 5kms not making any progress you can not imagine the desperation we felt that just once one of the girls radios would work. (Bridie's screaming into a block head wind may give you some indication of the level of desperation.) After what seemed like hours Liz got a crackle over her radio, turned behind her and saw the train of pink, she immediately dropped back and helped close the 50metres which had seemed so impossible for us to close before. It’s comforting to know that even when we're all onthe rivet after chasing for almost 30kms we still had a sense of humour when the Italian, German and South African girls who we had dragged back to bunch with us rolled past us saying "thank-you, thank-you".
The next 70kms were a matter of conserving as much energy as possible so as to be able to contest the sprint for the stage win. It was difficult to sit back and watch the Chinese contest the third intermediate sprint of the day and see Zhao Na reduce the difference between us on GC.
There was a sweeping left hander 2km from the line and then a sweeping right hand corner 1km from the line. I managed to position myself on the Chinese pace line and despite all the bad luck we had experienced earlier that day the sprint could not have been more perfect. The pace was on, the bunch spread single file and I was sitting on Zhao Na's fourth wheel around the corner. With 200metres to go I exploded off Na's wheel, swinging to the left of the road. I crossed the line with my arms in the air, relief, satisfaction and gratitude were just some of the emotions I can remember feeling. Behind me, the girls crossed the line with their arms raised too. As Bridie said later that night, that stage made us all understand why riders in 20th, or 57th place raise their arms in victory as they see their sprinter cross the line.
It was truly one of the hardest bike races I have ever ridden, both mentally and physically. I'm so satisfied that after all the work the girls had done to get me to the finish that I was able to pull it off. This stage win is the best win of my cycling career to date, because it wasn't just my win, it was the teams.
Tour of Chongming Island '09
Three days into my adventure around the world and counting. My trip to China with the MB Cycling Team managed by Marcel Bengston to compete in the Tour of Chongming Island (a tour consisting of three flat road stages and one criterium) started off a little shaky. With half the team almost missing the flight to Shanghai due to their flight being delayed by an hour coming from Brisbane, and things just seemed to keep going wrong. As lucky as they were in actually making the flight to Shanghai their luggage wasn't as fortunate.
When we arrived in Shanghai we found numerous wheels, bikes and clothing bags missing in action. Two and half hours later and an interesting excursion to the airport food hall in which the team attempted to find food which even half resembled what we thought safe to eat, the luggage finally arrived and we were on our way to Chongming Island. As simple as this may sound it could not have been more difficult. As the name suggests we were racing on an Island, a simple two hour drive (when the bus driver gets lost), and one hour ferry trip from the air port. A near deadly bus trip, a missed ferry and a fogging in later we eventually arrived in Chongming the next day, only 12 hours after our expected arrival time. The New Zealand team who had been on the same plane as us were a little perplexed as to how we managed to turn up at the accomodation almost half a day after them.
Despite this somewhat questionable start to out trip Bridie O'Donell got the MB team off to a great start with a win in the UCI 1.1 time trial, winning by over a minute (this event is not part of the actual Tour). Amber Halliday, the only other MB girl to race the time trial finished a credible 6th.
Heading into the first stage of the Tour we all knew we had something to prove. We'd already shown our team had strength with Bridie and Ambers performances in the time trial the day before. Marcel, the eternal optimist, was certain we could take out the stage. The race was to be 16 laps of 4.9km dead flat circuit around the streets of Chongming. Each member of the team was given a specific job, today mine was to conserve energy and my legs for the final sprint and protect Tess' wheel in the intermediate sprints, of which there were three.
The team got off to an awesome start, with all the girls showing that the presence of three UCI Pro Teams did not intimidate them. Tess showed her track legs were in full spin with a 3rd in the second intermediate sprint, earning her a time bonus which placed her in 8th overall at the end of the stage. With 7 laps to go, under the instruction of Marcel, all the girls moved to the front to mix up the pace and test the quality of the field. With a strong cross wind the girls drove it in the gutter as I sat back and watched the bunch thin down to single file. From then on the pace never really eased off. The Nurnberger team were very aggressive and the girls did a fantastic job of covering their attacks.Coming into the final lap all the girls were once again on the front in control.
With 2km to go the Chinese pace line began to creep up the sides. The Chinese clearly had something to prove on their home turf. The pace was incredible and as the bunch wove around the last corners of the race I made the decision to jump onto the wheel of Selle Italia Ghezzi rider, Ange Bagdonaviciute (I'd been tipped off by an Italian friend that she was one to watch).
Coming into the last corner which was a sweeping left hander 600m from the line I was third wheel, tucked in nicely behind a Nurnberger girl and Bagdonaviciute. There was a strong head wind in in the finish straight so I knew I couldn't open up the sprint too early. With about 150ms to go as I saw two Chinese creeping up on my left hand I hit the gas and was lucky enough to hold off Lorena Foresi from Selle Italia and Zhao Na from Giant Pro Cycling Team.
It was great to be able to cap off the race with a win after the girls had done such a fantastic job in delivering me to the final kilometres protected and fresh.I head into tomorrow's 79.8km road race with the sprinters green jersey and in 2nd place on General Classification, three seconds down on Zhao Na as I didn't contest the intermediate sprints.
Stay posted for the next instalment!
When we arrived in Shanghai we found numerous wheels, bikes and clothing bags missing in action. Two and half hours later and an interesting excursion to the airport food hall in which the team attempted to find food which even half resembled what we thought safe to eat, the luggage finally arrived and we were on our way to Chongming Island. As simple as this may sound it could not have been more difficult. As the name suggests we were racing on an Island, a simple two hour drive (when the bus driver gets lost), and one hour ferry trip from the air port. A near deadly bus trip, a missed ferry and a fogging in later we eventually arrived in Chongming the next day, only 12 hours after our expected arrival time. The New Zealand team who had been on the same plane as us were a little perplexed as to how we managed to turn up at the accomodation almost half a day after them.
Despite this somewhat questionable start to out trip Bridie O'Donell got the MB team off to a great start with a win in the UCI 1.1 time trial, winning by over a minute (this event is not part of the actual Tour). Amber Halliday, the only other MB girl to race the time trial finished a credible 6th.
Heading into the first stage of the Tour we all knew we had something to prove. We'd already shown our team had strength with Bridie and Ambers performances in the time trial the day before. Marcel, the eternal optimist, was certain we could take out the stage. The race was to be 16 laps of 4.9km dead flat circuit around the streets of Chongming. Each member of the team was given a specific job, today mine was to conserve energy and my legs for the final sprint and protect Tess' wheel in the intermediate sprints, of which there were three.
The team got off to an awesome start, with all the girls showing that the presence of three UCI Pro Teams did not intimidate them. Tess showed her track legs were in full spin with a 3rd in the second intermediate sprint, earning her a time bonus which placed her in 8th overall at the end of the stage. With 7 laps to go, under the instruction of Marcel, all the girls moved to the front to mix up the pace and test the quality of the field. With a strong cross wind the girls drove it in the gutter as I sat back and watched the bunch thin down to single file. From then on the pace never really eased off. The Nurnberger team were very aggressive and the girls did a fantastic job of covering their attacks.Coming into the final lap all the girls were once again on the front in control.
With 2km to go the Chinese pace line began to creep up the sides. The Chinese clearly had something to prove on their home turf. The pace was incredible and as the bunch wove around the last corners of the race I made the decision to jump onto the wheel of Selle Italia Ghezzi rider, Ange Bagdonaviciute (I'd been tipped off by an Italian friend that she was one to watch).
Coming into the last corner which was a sweeping left hander 600m from the line I was third wheel, tucked in nicely behind a Nurnberger girl and Bagdonaviciute. There was a strong head wind in in the finish straight so I knew I couldn't open up the sprint too early. With about 150ms to go as I saw two Chinese creeping up on my left hand I hit the gas and was lucky enough to hold off Lorena Foresi from Selle Italia and Zhao Na from Giant Pro Cycling Team.
It was great to be able to cap off the race with a win after the girls had done such a fantastic job in delivering me to the final kilometres protected and fresh.I head into tomorrow's 79.8km road race with the sprinters green jersey and in 2nd place on General Classification, three seconds down on Zhao Na as I didn't contest the intermediate sprints.
Stay posted for the next instalment!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
