BY CARLA HAINES-ELITE FEMALE
After a long journey, we finally reached our destination: Pippingford, at 11pm. The tent was set up and off straight to bed.
I got up at a reasonable time to watch the other races and go round the course. I did one lap to see how dry it was and if I needed to change my tyres or not. I decided to change just my rear tyre to Kenda Small Block eight and keep my front on Nevegal. I then did another lap, slightly harder, to wear it in before the race. The course was great; a couple of technical tricky sections and some nice single track and climbs, so I was really looking forward to the race.
It was an extremely hot day so drinking lots was essential! I prepared my bottles and other requisites that I needed for the race then started my warm up. It was an uphill start so I chose a gear that I could accelerate with but not too much of a low cadence.
All the women started off together: Elite, Expert, Master and Sport. My start wasn’t very good at all to be honest and it took a while before I got it back in again. Due to the fact that it was an uphill start, it wasn’t the fastest so I didn’t lose too much time and within a few seconds I caught up with the pack.
The first lap I was chasing and I managed to get on the leaders wheel at the base of the long climb and rode up with her. After the feed station there was a good single track section which I’m quite strong on so I knew the right place to attack. As I did so I slowly pulled away and was out there on my own.
Now my main competitor was the heat, so I made sure I was drinking plenty to keep well hydrated. I picked up the pace a little bit, strangely trying to keep cool. I had one final lap to go and at this time it was quite a battle, but staying focussed and concentrating on my riding I was nearly at the finish.
The final climb was the hardest bit and very draining. As I got to the finish the crowd cheered and applauded which was really encouraging. I collapsed on the floor and poured a bottle of water over me. I was relieved to finish but I did enjoy the race very much!
It was a good experience riding in the hot conditions because I learnt how to cope and push hard even though it was difficult.
I was so pleased with winning; it’s given me a bit of a boost before the 3rd round of the BMBS at Margam next weekend. My team mate Rachel Fenton also got 3rd so a successful weekend from the team.
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