I've Totally Been Chicked

On a wintry New Year’s eve morning, I cycled out to meet Nic and Sandra in Hope, for a Peak District ride. The Velo Schils girls had dominated the hill climb season, smashing it at nationals. I felt excited yet nervous. I couldn’t wait to meet them, but I worried about my inexperience.

I needn’t had been worried, they weren’t out to test or to give me a hard time. We spent most of the ride laughing, as Nic and Sandra shared jokes and I felt instantly at ease. I came home buzzing, I had so much to learn and I couldn’t wait to start.

Since the first ride, I have met most of the girls over a couple of team meets. At the first I was introduced brilliant Schils family where we celebrated our sponsor, Patrick Schils’ Birthday, and the following morning made an appearance at the Velo Schils shop to help with the yearly Sportive they organise.

Sandra had kindly put all of us up at her place. From there we embarked on a couple of very chilly rides, through the rolling hills in Sudbury - a welcomed change from the steep Peaks. Numb fingers and toes were quickly defrosted once riding was over and Sandra’s delicious home cooking awaited our return.

Yoga happens to be something that we are all passionate about and regularly practice. The perfect cool down is a team yoga session, led by our very own Yogi in training Lou! Truly a woman of many talents, she literally floated in positions where I struggled to lift my bum off the floor. Additional team members Jude and Jam (the cats) even around to offer encouragement.

Iona has been the supplier of a new team favourite, Cards against Humanity - a revealing game which leaves nowhere to hide and we all get some great laughs.

Last weekend we headed to Nic’s house for our second team meet of the season. Nic had organised a team strength and conditioning session with Matt Crampton of Podium Fitness. It was fantastic to be shown how to perform cycle specific conditioning exercises. We were each emailed our own training programme that very evening. Matt had tailored the exercises to our specific strength requirements, and to our access to specialised gym equipment. No excuses not to be super strong this season!

Once again the daily activities were concluded with a wee glass of red wine, cards against humanity (this time Articulate too)… and a whole lot of belly laughs!

So I have finally started to learn how to race, and although I am yet to compete with the girls who are racing track or down in locations south, their support has already been brilliant. The girls have been great at getting me to evaluate my own performance and give me advice moving forward.

The best thing? Yes, these girls train and race hard, but they have fun along the way. They are a tight bunch who know and get on with each other so well. I’ve been welcomed into the Velo Schils RT family and it’s a great place to be. I have totally been chicked.

New Rider Announcement - Rebecca Goodson joins Velo Schils Interbike for 2017

We are very excited to be welcoming Rebecca Goodson to the team. Rebecca comes from a running background and only started bike racing this year. 

She performed spectacularly well in the hill climbs finishing on the podium multiple times including 3rd at the prestigious Monsal Hill Climb, winning Mam Nick Hill Climb and taking the course record by 24 seconds and finishing 9th in the National Championships.

Rebecca is going to be a force to be reckoned with and is looking forward to getting stuck in to road racing, criteriums and hill climbs again in 2017.

Lou Bates Wins National Hill Climb Championship

Lou Bates wins National Hill Climb Championships up Bank Road in Matlock by a huge 4.4 seconds over 2 minutes 57, also taking the course record.

This was Lou's third time on the podium, but finally reaching the top step. We are so happy for you - really well deserved Lou!



The Velo Schils girls also won the team prize with the fastest three combined riders times with Lou, Nicola and Natalie winning in a combined time of 10:24.1




Articles/Interviews: 

https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/articles/view/178

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/adam-kenway-lou-bates-win-2016-national-hill-climb-championships-297408

https://www.velouk.net/2016/11/01/feature-interview-lou-bates-womens-hill-climb-champion/

Its something in the face...!

Training and racing is a constant learning curve and that's what's great about it, what's dawned on me is simple to some but not always simple unless you know.

Nic Soden has a hidden talent and that is drawing. She has drawn several pictures of us riders from photographs and it was because of her drawings that I realised something about one of my performances (thankfully she hasn't started doing caricatures but I'm sure she could).

The face of defeat v.s the face of fighting. We all have good days, bad days, good rides, bad rides and good and bad races or performances.

Lou up Jackson Bridge

When I studied these two pictures below, something hit me like a boomerang on the back of the head.

Nic at Ronde Van Haspengouw

Firstly this fine drawing from a photo taken at 2015’s national hill climb, the fighting face of our own Lou Bates a face that was defeating the climb up Jacksons bridge - a face that was not going to be beaten........... 

Also the of Nic Soden in Belgium riding the Time Trial stage of Ronde Van Haspengouw showing true fight and determination.

Me up Jackson Bridge

And then there was this face. A face of despair. A face showing signs of defeat. The performance was just that, as it was at most of the hill climbs last season.

When I compared it to last year’s Hill climb up Pea Royd, I studied all the faces and the face above is showing fight, and it is beating the climb unlike the face up Jacksons Bridge.

Me up Pea Royd

This I have taken into training with me, it's a memory, when things get tough the tongue comes out the feeling of despair starts to come through, but then I think of the expression I am feeling on my face and if I turn that expression to a fighting one. It isn't rocket science, but the feeling of the efforts ahead of me become the efforts I am winning instead of the efforts beating me, I also fight to get onto the wheels in front of me in a race and not let them roll into the distance.

It's never too late..

This year we are very lucky and proud to have the support of a wonderful family run shop in Marks Tey Colchester in Essex called Interbike.co.uk owned by Patrick Schils.

Hog Hill - picture by Redbridge CC

Patrick and his family opened their doors to a team of 7 demanding girls and I for one was looking forward to wearing the kit, having fun and racing with these girls again, but this time for Velo Schils / Interbike RT.

We have been welcomed with open arms by the already existing men's side, who look forward to club rides with us don't you boys !!!

We are also very fortunate to have got some help and support from Paul Butler of I-Ride.co.uk and Catlike Helmets, and to all we are extremely grateful.

I was very happy with my season last year, finding out more about myself in racing, and once again finished the Ras Na Mban and headed straight into hill climbs, except I think my body had decided to go on its own holiday.

Having an easy couple of weeks after the national hill climb I found I was having a few issues in my back, I've had back pain for as long as I can remember, but you just get on with what you want to do, however taking an extra half hour in the morning to get dressed for work and taking the same amount of time to get cycling kit on wasn't funny, and the final straw came when I started out on a ride with Nic and 5 minutes down the road I turned round in tears and in complete agony. 

In all my sporting life I've never known a pain like it. I've had injuries, ruptures to ligaments and tendons and had them quickly diagnosed and operated on, but this was different.

I had several MRI's and consultants and treatments but still something wasn't right about the diagnosis I was given, yes the MRI showed I needed a hip replacement due to having no cartilage in my right hip, but to me it didn't tie up with what I was feeling

I continued to ride but found long distances tough going, (thank you girls for putting up with my moaning) I also found that I got stuck in a tucked position for a while after getting off,the bike, but I was still riding.

Eventually on the recommendation of Trevor Holder, who maintains us girls from Fit To Go, I went to see Edward Buckwald at the Abbots Langley clinic, who spotted another prolapse in a very old prolapsed disc, that was basically getting trapped in the facet joint of the Sacrum, which tied in with exactly where I was feeling it.

Treatment got underway in the form of Acupuncture, and now 4 sessions down the line , It's so nice to not have that constant pain and getting stuck. I still feel it, but it's an acceptable feeling.

During all of this at the end of January I got a chest infection, followed by another, and followed by another, had to be on a nebuliser and it was this that has actually kept me off the bike for a long period of time. Constantly breathless, wheezing and if by any remote chance I thought I was getting better, I'd try a session but the minute I went above a certain heart rate boom I'd wheeze and know that I wasn't ready.

Picture by @AlexanderNaylor

Steve (my coach) kept on telling me it's ok, we can still get you ready for the tour series. We can!!! Hmmmmm...

I've now had 3 weeks of preparation training for the tour series and 3 crit races and I have to say I'm not disappointed. I'm more than happy. I know I'm not fit but I'm also not as unfit as I thought I would be. 

I'm really looking forward to the 6 rounds of the tour series, the atmosphere, the preparation with the team, the laughs and the glasses of red wine over diners. Knowing I'm not as fit as I want to be for the tour series is giving me an opportunity to learn and try different ways of how I'm going to race and given how difficult it was to get dressed just a few months ago, I cannot wait.

Kat does Flanders

This weekend saw one of the Velo Schils girls Katherine, braving the cobbles on the 100^th edition of the Tour of Flanders along with 16,000 other riders. The challenge involved 129km distance, with 16 sections of cobbles, hills, and cobbles WITH hills.

Having completed the Paris-Roubaix a couple of years ago, I had the heads up on the pain/exhilaration of cobble riding. I was not so prepared for the difficulty I would face riding cobbles with a 22% incline…the Koppenberg! Here’s how the weekend panned out...

I arrived late on the Friday night, to our beautiful B&B – Lozer Kasteel It was approximately 6 miles out to the start, but well worth the ride. Especially for fresh eggs! (get your booking in early if you fancy it next year)

The event was well organised. We were able to collect race numbers in the morning from the start in Oudenaarde. Thankfully I was able to get my squeaky disc brakes fixed at the Shimano tent, and we set off at 8am.

Hitting the first set of cobbles at around 10km… it felt surprising okay! I got myself in a heavy gear, had my hands on top of my bars and tried to ‘glide’ over the cobbles as recommended. This was all very well, until you reach the next sets of cobbles, which are on a hill!

Generally, the short sections (between 400 and 2300m) of cobbles made them somewhat manageable. The famous Koppenberg climb was brilliant, although it got a little busy and I had to jump off my bike... (well that’s my excuse anyway!)

I finished the ride in 4hours 54, feeling surprisingly good at the end. A recovery beer & frites with friends was well received in the town centre…until we realised none of us had actually crossed the finish line!! Ooops!

The ride home, on cobbles was not so well received!!

Watching the professionals on Sunday was brilliant. Sunshine, 20 degrees’ heat, and 6.6% beer (brewed to the same % as the Kwaremont climb), made the day even better.

We cycled out to see the start of the women’s race in Oudenaarde, and then to Kwaremont to watch the pro’s come through 4 times. Watching the racing on big screens then hopping over to the cobbles when they were coming through made it a great spot for spectators! It was exciting to see the drops cycling team in the women’s race, and pretty cool that I was racing with them only a couple of weeks ago!

The next trip to Belgium for the Velo Schils girls team is in May, but this time for some racing! We also have the Cinelli Road Race, Bikerstaffe and Essex Road Races in the next 3 weeks…. watch this space!

Lou Bates WINS Monsal Hill Climb

Lou Bates WINS the Sheffrec CC hill climb at Monsal Head ahead of Jessie Walker of Servetto Footon and Dame Sarah Storey of Pearl Izumi.

Lou went off relatively early in the field. She placed second in National Championships last year, although this was as Lou Collins (she got married in April) which means she has been slipping under the radar in terms of rider seeding!

We cheered her on (obviously the reason she won) and she STORMED past us, looking super fast (see video below). Turns out she was as fast as she looked and took the win by two seconds with a time of 1.55.1! Congratulations Lou! Fabulous ride.

1. Lou Bates (Carnac Planet X) in 1:55.1
2. Jessie Walker (Servetto Footon) 1:57.1
3. Dame Sarah Storey (Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International) 1:59.1
4. Diane Lee (Mule Bar Girls Sigma Sport) 1:59.7
5. Emilie Verroken (Langsett Cycles RT) 2:00.2
6. Elizabeth Stedman (Fusion RT Gear Club) 2:03.6
7. Nicola Soden (Stocksbridge CC) 2:06.6
8. Julia Van Campen (Sheffrec CC) 2:08.5
9. Helen Eborall (Born to Bike – Bridgtown Cycles) 2:11.9
10. Charlotte Thompson (Velo Club St Raphael) 2:18.0