Less than a month ago I was struggling to find some form. With the amount of racing I was doing there wasn't really time to structure training properly and I paid for it after a few months. I got myself in a bit of a hole, and I had lost all confidence and belief I could perform well. I took a few weeks out of racing to get my head down and focus on training and it's finally working out! (:-)
At the weekend I raced two Scottish National Championship events. The 1st being on Saturday, the junior road race champs. Last year I managed to come 2nd but with my form being doubtful after a dip in performance last month I went into this years race with no expectations other than to be dropped quickly from the front group. It was on a very hilly 14 mile circuit which we did 4 laps of totalling about 55 miles with nearly 3000ft of climbing and I remember last year dragging my tired body over the line on my own, minutes behind the other riders. Expecting a similar result, I planned to use this event as training with my mind on other target races later in the year but my legs had other plans.
The race was hard from the start. Up the first steep climb the group whittled down a little, as riders attacked all over the place trying to get rid of the weaker riders. I managed to hang on and looked round to see two of the other juniors still in the bunch, i tried to save energy and sat on wheels as the pace increased and thankfully managed to make it round. Then on the 2nd lap the top senior girls were pushing the pace up again and the group really split up. I managed to stick on the wheels and made the break of 10 riders. After a few miles going through and off trying to keep the pace high to stay ahead of the other riders I got a few shouts from some of the other riders telling me i was the only junior left. I glanced round to find it was true. I had made the front group of senior riders, i couldn't believe it. I had to keep fighting and get as far as possible with this group to stand a chance of maintaining my position on the road. My heart was racing. Could I actually do it? With two laps to go, could I really take the win after so much uncertainty.
The answer was soon clear. I made it onto the 4th and final lap before I started to fade a little and eventually dropped from the front group along with another senior rider. But I was very lucky! My amazing teammate Amanda Tweedie was still in that front group too and although a disaster for her with her gears playing up (defo not ideal in such a hard race!) she volunteered to come back and help me keep that gold medal. She told me "shout if you get dropped, I'm here for you. I've got a top 10 I'm happy with that, we have to keep this medal, you didn't get all the way round to lose it now". What a star! She could so have easily made the podium and got an even better result but she sacrificed that so we could get the gold medal in the junior champs. She helped me get round the final 14 miles or so. And up the final climb she broke away to put in a really good effort to the finish. She was yelling for me coming over the line. I looked round, partly because I was unsure how close the other juniors were and was afraid to celebrate then lose the race on line, but also partly out of respect to the other juniors. I've known Gemma and Ellie a while now and both of them are amazing riders, and I would never doubt them fighting back at the finish and being strong enough to take the win themselves. So to be certain I looked round and made sure. Tears sprung to my eyes and i raised my hands in the air as I realised I had done it.
As soon as I crossed the line I joined my teammate and gave her a huge hug! This sport truly is a team sport and Amanda played a huge part in helping me achieve this. It's OUR medal by all means. I'm so grateful to her for giving up her own podium chance to secure the junior championship!
Then on Sunday both Amanda and I had another fab day racing the Scottish National 25 TT champs along with other awesome members of our team. With great rides across the board with Catriona winning 1st female with an amazing PB of 57.22 and Amanda helping secure the team prize for RT23 with another big PB almost getting under that hour with a 1.00.19. The boys also had a great ride, with Kyle storming to another awesome time again getting under the hour with a PB of 58.24. Kyle Gordon smashing the course on fixed wheel with an incredible 5th place in a time of 50.20 and the boss man Peter Ettles, doing his first 25 in a while getting a good top 20 with a 53.58. After blowing up towards the end with tired legs, I was happy to back up my own ride on Saturday to get a PB by 1 minute 56 seconds while breaking my own Scottish record managing 1 hr 4 mins dead after (literally dying) in the last 3 miles.
LOVE THIS TEAM!!!
