Hi there fellow Ramblers, Especially B grade!!
Miss you all on Saturdays and the post race biscuits! Hope that the racing there is going on aggressively and that the weather is treating you well. It is actually raining today! Who would have thought?!
So to update you a little bit on what I have been up to. (I’m sure you’ve been missing my voice in the bunch and wondering what’s going onJ ha ha ha)
We had a relatively smooth journey over here, except for the traumatic experience of leaving Sammy (my beloved phone) in Japan. He is well and truly gone now but I have come to terms with my loss. Haha. J Training here has been amazing, the roads are to die for, the people are so courteous (especially when I wear the Dutch kit, I swapped a NZ kit for the orange lycra of Holland with a girl who is 19 and pretty much my size) the weather has been good up until now; So all has been good. I really could get used to getting up at the leisurely hour of 8, breakfast, few hours on the bike, home to shower and more food, perving at Andy for a whole TDF stage of the day, dinner and then a walk through the beautiful sand dunes and beaches. Sadly today the weather turned yuck, (it’s a miserable 22 and means I’m wearing long sleeves and pants! NZ will be hard to come back too!) and the tour is over, guess I’ll have to fill the afternoon catching up on studies instead.
I have raced 3 times so far, the first just 2 days after landing, saw me swap -3 in Canberra for 38 and a pack of 120 who wanted to do 14min laps for a 9.2km course. Needless to say I made nearly half the race and then watched as the 45km av continued. Serena was there and put out a strong performance which was encouraging. The second race I did was a junior kermis, I definitely was one of the stronger riders, shutting down attacks and what not, and I did find that I lack the aggression (in terms of holding my position and not getting thrown into drains) and the kick I need to be successful. I am improving dramatically though, so we have happy faces. The most recent race I did was a criterium, I felt strangely calm prerace despite my record of crit performances. And actually had a good performance. After having been relegated to the very back of 100 riders because of too much pushing and shoving in the front of the line I had a pretty bad start. Sadly I was one of the first on the line and had to go to the back anyway. I managed to move up the bunch a wee way, but failed to move up enough to see the split, being on a k long circuit meant there wasn’t much room to stay away from the 45sec break away riders. I did ride myself through 2 groups of riders to make it to past the half way point. Given a longer lap or had I responded earlier I think I could of survived, especially if I got to start further up, but so is life! I am getting better tactically and learn so much even from watching how they race here.
There is less than 2 weeks until the day of the time trial, but I have managed to find ways to calm myself and enjoy my time here. I am feeling strong in TT sense and am ready to show them how kiwis, especially Ramblers roll the TT rig. I will be sure to keep you posted on progress. J
Ash xo
Ps. Just finished my first hot dog race in Belgium, hung on to the front so pretty happy with that.
