As far as the Track Nationals are concerned – they didn’t go too well. I had the offer to stay the week with my cousins and to take part in the older girls races too. So I thought it would be quite fun to do and have a chance to ride the extra bunch races, but maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. I decided afterwards that the week was really fun, but with late nights and hard rides I was not in best form when it came to my race day.
It came to my day of racing on the track with girls of my age. When I was warming up I felt really good, I maxed out on the rollers at 48mph which is quickest I have done. So I didn’t think it was going to be too bad.
My first event was the 1500m pursuit, I did a time of 2 minutes 11 second which put me in 4th place. By now my legs were pretty tired and next I had the 1st round of a 500m sprint with 2 other people. This went quite well because I knew what to do tactically and this meant I had a better chance, I used the height of the banking to good effect and got the jump on them and Won this sprint
Then I had the Second round and the minor Final, overall out of the sprints I came 8th which wasn’t very good for me because this used to be one of my best events, but I think over the year I haven’t kept my leg speed and power up for the track so it wasn’t as planned.
Then we had a scratch race of 4 km. This was my worst race of the day though, I positioned myself poorly and when they all sprinted to the line I just couldn’t make up any places. So i finished somewhere near the back in that one. Our last race of the day was a 500m time trial, this went ok, but I couldn’t make up any positions so I just had to try and get the best time I could.
Overall I think I finished about 9th which I wasn’t happy with at all, but I now have to learn from my mistakes, I have a year to go away and change it all to do better
At the moment I am on a plan of training to help me perform well at the new Olympic Talent Team selection camp, to give me a good chance of getting on the new programme. I start my cyclocross training in the next couple of weeks, the bad news is I expect to be away for the Deer’s Leap round of the London Cycle Cross League. I am defending my title as Youth Girl Champion from last year.
Cyclocross is a great winter training sport, and surprisingly easy to just turn up and ride an event. All abilities are welcome and to begin with it is quite possible to ride on a Mountain bike. Prepare to have a lot of fun and get very muddy at some of the races. And have loads of fun!!!
If you would like to get involved have a look at these websites…
www.londonxleague.co.uk
www.britishcycling.org.uk
- Emily
As far as the Track Nationals are concerned – they didn’t go too well. I had the offer to stay the week with my cousins and to take part in the older girls races too. So I thought it would be quite fun to do and have a chance to ride the extra bunch races, but maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. I decided afterwards that the week was really fun, but with late nights and hard rides I was not in best form when it came to my race day.
It came to my day of racing on the track with girls of my age. When I was warming up I felt really good, I maxed out on the rollers at 48mph which is quickest I have done. So I didn’t think it was going to be too bad.
My first event was the 1500m pursuit, I did a time of 2 minutes 11 second which put me in 4th place. By now my legs were pretty tired and next I had the 1st round of a 500m sprint with 2 other people. This went quite well because I knew what to do tactically and this meant I had a better chance, I used the height of the banking to good effect and got the jump on them and Won this sprint
Then I had the Second round and the minor Final, overall out of the sprints I came 8th which wasn’t very good for me because this used to be one of my best events, but I think over the year I haven’t kept my leg speed and power up for the track so it wasn’t as planned.
Then we had a scratch race of 4 km. This was my worst race of the day though, I positioned myself poorly and when they all sprinted to the line I just couldn’t make up any places. So i finished somewhere near the back in that one. Our last race of the day was a 500m time trial, this went ok, but I couldn’t make up any positions so I just had to try and get the best time I could.
Overall I think I finished about 9th which I wasn’t happy with at all, but I now have to learn from my mistakes, I have a year to go away and change it all to do better
At the moment I am on a plan of training to help me perform well at the new Olympic Talent Team selection camp, to give me a good chance of getting on the new programme. I start my cyclocross training in the next couple of weeks, the bad news is I expect to be away for the Deer’s Leap round of the London Cycle Cross League. I am defending my title as Youth Girl Champion from last year.
Cyclocross is a great winter training sport, and surprisingly easy to just turn up and ride an event. All abilities are welcome and to begin with it is quite possible to ride on a Mountain bike. Prepare to have a lot of fun and get very muddy at some of the races. And have loads of fun!!!
If you would like to get involved have a look at these websites…
www.londonxleague.co.uk
www.britishcycling.org.uk
- Emily
This is certainly a good blog write-up, I have learnt a good deal.