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13/05/2008
On arriving at Drumlanrig on Friday I was hoping that Round 2 of the NPS would bring me a better result than the disaster race I experienced at Thetford. Training over the winter has gone well and I was expecting good things for my first year in Elite after all the hard work I have put in. Unfortunately, I blew any chances of the top 5 result that I was aspiring to, by completely failing to prepare properly for the race and instead of turning up to race adequately carb-loaded, I was carb-depleted. Not good race prep!
After grovelling round the Thetford course and receiving some well deserved stern words from my coach Andy Patterson, I knew I had to do something about my diet. In the four weeks between Thetford and Drumlanrig I didn't do a great deal of extra training but what I did do is totally re-vamp my nutrition. Pretty soon I noticed an improvement in my energy levels and decided to race the Gorrick enduro the week preceding Drumlanrig to test my legs. The outcome was positive and I was looking forward to ‘Take 2’ of my Elite campaign.
After two practice laps of the course in the grounds of Drumlanrig castle on Friday, I summed it up as technical and fun to ride, but felt concerned that my skills weren't going to be sharp enough to contest the top spots in the Elite race. However, my plan was to ride well for me and do my best, rather than being too concerned with the outcome of the race. I knew I had to race to my strengths by working hard on the climbs and then take it easy on the technical sections, trying to keep my riding smooth and conserve some energy rather than fighting with my bike and wasting energy.
Saturday morning brought more warm weather and the trails were even drier than the previous day, about which I was pleased. I did my warm-up on the course in order to hone my technical skills and prepare myself for battle over four laps of the gruelling course.
Waiting on the start line, I could see another healthy turnout of women in the Elite category, as at Thetford. The race started and I was dead last off the line, but I was happy to let others dictate the pace to avoid blowing my doors off by going too hard up the first climb. I moved up to around 7th position by the top of the climb before we hit the single-track. To begin, I was a little hesitant on some of the rocky and rooty sections, but was surprised to see a string of Elite women in front of me as I had half expected to get dropped here. I slipped back to 10th position in one particularly long section of rocky single-track, which I just couldn't seem to ride fast throughout the whole race.
Approximately halfway through the lap, once the worst of the technical sections were out of the way, I decided to make my move. I was feeling strong and so I put my foot on the pedal, making up a few places on the way. At the end of the first lap, I was in 7th position and could see four women along the climb to the feed zone ahead of me. I powered up the climb overtaking them all, putting myself in 3rd position.
The next two laps went pretty well and I was pleased with my riding. I was pushing hard on the climbs, opening up gaps between myself and the riders chasing behind. I kept my riding through the single-track relaxed and smooth over the roots and rocky sections. A couple of switchback climbs during the lap enabled me to glance back and assess who was within sight behind me. I could constantly see that there were several riders behind putting the pressure on me to keep my pace high. Melanie Spath attacked on lap 2 and took a turn in 3rd before taking a tumble and Meggie Bichard also managed to nip past me during lap 3, in the rocky section I had most difficulty riding, before I was able to reel her back in on one of the climbs. I never caught sight of race leaders Jenny Copnall and Sue Clarke as they were far enough ahead to stay out of sight. However, at the end of the third lap, I was still hanging onto 3rd position.
On the 4th lap I had a good gap on Meggie on the start climb, however she was soon hot on my heels and managed to squeeze past me on the single-track and promptly drop me like a stone. My legs were burning as I tried to chase Meggie down. The harder I tried to ride faster through the single-track to catch her, the farther back I seemed to drop as my upper body tensed up and I started making mistakes. Once on the fireroad, I worked incredibly hard to pull her back, fighting the fatigue and pain in my legs. I did manage to get back on her wheel, however it was too late and I knew I couldn't get past her on the final descent as she is formidable on descents. I therefore knew that I would have to settle for 4th place and crossed the line knowing I had worked harder than in any other race.
Although I was slightly frustrated to have lost 3rd place, I am really pleased with 4th position in my second Elite NPS race. I have identified the areas that need work to improve my performance and hope that I can now build on this result.
Many thanks to my coach Andy Patterson for all the tough training sessions that have seen me make steady improvements. Thanks also to Trek for providing my super quick, super light Elite 9.9 that loves to climb as much as I do and to Birmingham City Cycles for getting my new bike ready to race.
