My favourite ride of the year

On Sunday 16th August 2015 I took part in the La Chicquita Ladies Sportive - a sportive for women only with the aim of encouraging women to take part in an organised ride - see their website for more info http://www.lachiquita.org.uk/.

It was great to take a break and not do a bike race for a change and a good opportunity to catch up with some of the girls.

It was warm and sunny and we started at the back, chatting to some of the women who were taking part as we rode through the group. The route soon started to go uphill and the group split quite quickly into a number of small ones. Sandra and Lou went ahead as I stopped behind with a 
rider who had dropped her chain to help her get it back on. I waited with her to make sure she was in a small group before riding back to join the others at the front.

We got to the first feed station (just 12 miles in) and stopped for a some flapjack with some of the ladies.

We set off again just the three of us, with the aim of catching other riders for a chat again. It was great to see Lou back riding (although not racing) after being diagnosed with a Pulmonary Embolism back in June (click here to read her blog), so it was rather upsetting although not really surprising to receive a kicking from her as we attempted with increasing effort to get back to a group.
This never happened, as we had somehow ended up going the wrong way and found ourselves completely on our own for almost all of the remaining ride - whoops.

After we finally got back to the start, I chatted to a few of the women afterwards who said how much they enjoyed it and that they had never done something like this before. Some women commented that they admired what we did.

The whole experience was quite humbling - I had forgotten the days where I couldn't use clip in pedals, didn't know how to put a dropped chain back on or fix a puncture, was always off the back and it reminded me of where I started. It made me realise how far I have actually come since riding my bike - we don't often think about the beginning and where we have come from, only where we want to be and the goalposts keep moving! 

I loved that we had help encourage some more women to ride and this sort of event is something that I will definitely be more involved in, in the future.

Nic x

Lauryn Wins Bronze in Junior National Keirin Champs

Despite only having started racing track just last year, Lauryn has a storming ride and takes a medal at the National Track Champs in the Keirin amongst some tough competition.

Read Lauryn's report here - http://www.planetx.co.uk/news/teams-and-riders/q/date/2015/08/18/px-sponsored-rider-lauryn-dawber-strikes-bronze








Full results (see British Cycling website):

First Round

Heat 1

38 Sophie Capewell Lichfield City CC

61 Lauryn Dawber Carnac-Planet X

134 Amber Joseph Palmer Park Velo RT

175 Paige Nutton Swinnerton Cycles

47 Emma Clarke RP RT

12.767

Heat 2

70 Rebecca Dornan The Racers

37 Emily Capewell Lichfield City CC

65 Monica Dew Team Jadan

189 Sydnie Price M & D Cycles-Fusion RT-WORX

97 Sarah Gregson Sportcity Velo

12.434

Repechage

 65 Monica Dew Team Jadan

189 Sydnie Price M & D Cycles-Fusion RT-WORX

175 Paige Nutton Swinnerton Cycles

134 Amber Joseph Palmer Park Velo RT

47 Emma Clarke RP RT

97 Sarah Gregson Sportcity Velo

13.130

Minor Final 6th -9th Places

175 Paige Nutton Swinnerton Cycles

189 Sydnie Price M & D Cycles-Fusion RT-WORX

47 Emma Clarke RP RT

97 Sarah Gregson Sportcity Velo

13.875

FINAL

38 Sophie Capewell Lichfield City CC

70 Rebecca Dornan The Racers

61 Lauryn Dawber Carnac-Planet X

65 Monica Dew Team Jadan

37 Emily Capewell Lichfield City CC
 11.919

Good Luck!

Good luck is something you normally hear at the start of a race or before an exam or interview.  Good luck is not something you expect to hear from your GP especially at 7.30 on a Friday night following a conversation that began ‘please go to the QMC as soon as possible, can your husband drive you? Good they are expecting you.’  
My husband was actually in the supermarket picking up wine that I would normally spend Friday night drinking!  So much for a quiet night in!

Earlier in the day I had gone to my GP after spending the night in so much pain I had to sleep sitting upright on my sofa.  I stocked up on Rennies assuming it was a bad case of trapped gas or a stomach virus combined with a pulled muscle.  My GP agreed it probably was just muscle pain but took a precautionary blood test to rule out a pulmonary embolism.  I bought some deep heat and went home thinking I would hear nothing and feeling like a bit of a malingerer.  That evening I got the call from my GP.

After being admitted, a CT scan confirmed multiple pulmonary embolisms on both lungs.  After a second night on the ward I was discharged with blood thinning injections to do myself plus warfarin and I am back at the hospital every 3 days for blood checks.

So my 2015 race season has come to rather an abrupt halt.  Although I actually don’t feel too bad apart from some chest pain and tiredness; until the clots disperse my lungs and heart are under stress.  So I am taking it easy and will build back up to exercise and eventually training.  I will be on Warfarin for at least 3 months so although I can ride I will need to be careful of knocks/scrapes and obviously try not to fall off!

Quite a few people have asked how/why this has happened.  This is why I wrote this blog – to raise awareness of the risk factors as I am sure others share some of these.

My risk factors were as follows;
* I was on an estrogen based contraceptive pill
* I had been on a long haul flight in March and have been on over 10 flights this year
* I quite often spend long periods sitting in the car following races and am probably dehydrated during this time.
* I was involved in a crash at Bedford 3 day which although seemed very minor at the time resulted in a sore calf for about 3 weeks afterwards.  This could have been a DVT that travelled up as most PEs result from lower leg clots.

It may have been the perfect storm of all of the above but I bet I am not the only one who can tick one of these factors.  So if you get any sort of unexplained chest/shoulder/back pain especially after a lower leg pull/strain, get it checked out.  On long car/plane journeys make sure you break up the journey with stops and have a walk around if possible.

I have also had lots of people telling me what bad luck this is.  Yes this could be seen as bad luck however I actually see it as very GOOD luck.  If I hadn’t gone to my GP when I did and if he hadn’t been as thorough the PEs may not have been found until it was too late – PEs are the second leading cause of sudden death.  So I think I have been incredibly lucky!

When something like this happens it also brings perspective.  Whilst in hospital I did not give any thought to racing, results, training and so on.  What did lift my spirits and what I did think about were my family and friends, including my Carnac Planet X team mates who have been amazingly supportive.
So during my recovery time I plan to spend more time with the friends and family that I often neglect whilst focusing on racing and I hope to get to some races to support my team mates from the sidelines.
Sometimes things don’t go to plan but every situation has positives and I certainly plan to focus on those and be thankful for my good luck over the next few months.

For additional information on DVT and how to take steps to avoid it take a look at the NHS website - http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Deep-vein-thrombosis/Pages/Causes.aspx

From crit to cross in 24 hours

Holiday - ‘An extended period of leisure and recreation especially one spent away from home or in travelling’ or

so says the Oxford dictionary.
Being a teacher gives me a half term holiday and I think I can safely say that I am living up to the definition of holiday;-  4 races in 7 days - leisure and recreation, questionable maybe ;) - two of which are at opposite ends of the country - travelling.

Don’t worry I’m not going to bore you with four race round ups (click here for a serious blog on the Tour Series Round 2 at Motherwell) - but here is my blog on ‘Behind the Scenes’ at round 2 of the Matrix Fitness GP  series and my very first ever cyclo-cross race.
Motherwell, Round 2 of the Matrix
Fitness GP Series, May 27. A fair hike away from where any of us live, so a good reason for some team building (party!) for a couple of days up in bonny Scotland. Travel plans in place, accommodation sorted out (thanks Nic!) and off we went to the Holiday Inn in Hamilton arriving on the Monday evening.  The evening was spent spotting members of the JLT Condor squad and Pedal Heaven who were also stopping at the Holiday Inn, wining and dining in style at Frankie and Bennys  - think it was Shiraz the first night ;), watching Britain’s Got Talent and dying hair, yes, I kid you not, though Nic didn’t seem to want the fluro pink dye kit that was on sale in Asda despite a lot of encouragement from Sandra and myself.

Tuesday dawned and race day arrived. After a good breakfast, with Sandra daring me to ask Ed Clancy - who was sitting at an adjacent table - if he had clean white socks on, we kitted up and went for a course reccy. 
I will just say that it was a superbly organised race, fantastic being able to race with team mates which gives you the motivation to keep riding hard for each other, and having support on the course, thanks Stewart. See Stewarts perspective of supporting us at the Tour series here.

Race over, it was back to the hotel for showers, and round two of hair-dying!! Nic was convinced she was ginger, not that I could see any similarity between her hair colour and mine - what’s wrong with ginger anyway? Then it was out for a relaxing Mexican meal washed down  this time with Rioja to round off the day.  And so our adventure in Scotland drew to a close with alarms set for an early departure in the morning…….
My only regret was not asking Ed Clancy how white his socks were, but judging by the cleanliness of his trainers, I would guess an extreme ‘glow in the dark’ white! Just as they should be for cyclists!


Ok so home from Scotland, and a couple of hours to unpack and re-pack then drive to Leeds for my first ever  cyclo-cross race! Drizzling rain, turning torrential, howling wind as I drove across made me question my sanity again! Think this is becoming almost a daily event at present, and I don’t mean the weather!! On arrival, I signed on, picked up a race number and transponder before being advised that it was best to ride the course before the junior races started at 1900.  Please bear in mind that I haven’t ridden off road for over fifteen years discounting the one hour spent on my new cross bike last week!  

Off I duly went on a course pre-ride.  Newly cut wet grass, surface definitely bumpier that the road, ok can cope with that, and then the ‘obstacles’ started.  Firstly, a small steep bank. Taking a good run at it, attacking it true road style standing on the pedals - I will get up it! - I ground to a halt half way. Oops! Not the right technique obviously!!  Next, some small drop-offs into sand. Two of them!!

  Well you know the Badminton Horse Trials when a horse refuses to jump a fence and shies away……..you got it, that was me going into these!! Trying to look cool I dismounted – need to learn the leg sling technique  for the next race ;)-  pretended to adjust my gears whilst watching some other riders take these. 
 So second attempt;  shut eyes, not good, open them again, down, across and out….  2nd one ….down across and out…..phew! Got it! J
 Then, ‘The Big Sand Bunker’  and I did enjoy feeling the bike move around finding its line and me staying on it, well in the practice laps at least!! Luckily at this point, two friends of a friend who had been detailed to find me and make sure I was ok rolled up, took me round for some more laps, gave me some hints…steep bank climb now sussed… and even adjusted my tyre pressure, no you don’t ride road tyre pressure ;) 

Anyway, whistle blew, line up for the start and away we went. Just like a crit as I had been warned. But you know what, I loved it from the moment the race started. I even overtook a few people! Ok, I ate sand in the bunker, yes fell off in it, and more than once (bruises to prove it!)  -  blew up big time after 20mins and wondered how on earth I was going to get to 45mins, but I sussed the bank, managed the small drop offs, and finished with a big smile on my face. Oh yes I’ll be back for more.

Thanks for reading

Until next time

Sarah x

Conquering my nemesis - Banbury Star road race

THAT hill - Huw Williams

Sunday 24th May saw Nicola Soden, Lou Collins, Caroline Guest and myself take on the Banbury Star women’s team series Road Race. The course is well known for its half a mile climb of roughly 14%, which does split the field somewhat.

The weather was ok, only a slim chance of a shower, nothing too much. We rolled out from HQ after a short* briefing, through the traffic lights and past the left hand turn that sees the finishing climb.

The descent on that main road before the left hand turn was awesome, lovely and fast and perfect for hammering down.

Now, Nic knows my riding and tactics well, so when Lou announced back at HQ. “Well what a fantastic break you made on the road before the climb, well done!”

Nic laughed and said "Really?? That’s Sandra bailing out. Basically saying 'I’m going to get dropped on the hill anyway so I may as well have a good reason for getting dropped and make a break!!!!'”

True to form off I went full gusto, not expecting any company at all, and surprised to see someone offering a wheel. Ooopsie, turn the corner, down the gears hit the rough road and bang!!!!

What’s that I hear gear changes galore as one, two, three, fortypeople came breezing past, with a bit of encouragement from Nic "c’mon sandra", "bugger off" I sad!!!

Caroline "c’mon Sandra", "bugger off"!!! Puff pant huff puff and the brow of the hill is in sight, so is Caroline, as is a nice group up the road.

I see Caroline chasing, I am chasing Caroline, with company on my wheel.

I’m thinking, if I can get to Caroline, we can work to that group and then we have company for the rest of the race.

I had to keep going. Banbury has been a nemesis for me, but I had to keep going because Nic and Lou were up with the bunch, at any point they may need me, who knows, but thinking of them kept me working.

We made the next group on a lovely downhill that swept round to the left then up and round to the right, just before the sharp left hand junction that lead us to the road to the uphill finish.



Some serious suffering going on - Huw Williams

Had a tiny bit of recovery then as group we started working well together, once again we negotiated the climb, something I feared. I had to stay with the group id worked hard to get to. There seemed to be a pattern for me with this climb, the first part of the climb was the hardest, then on the nice tarmac I was able to get into my rhythm and made it to the top. Wanting very much to have a rest I heard a WNT rider up the gears and I thought I cannot and will not let that wheel go.

The last lap came, the last climb came, one WNT rider and a South West rider had climbed better and were working quite well together, but none the less we gave chase and worked well to get them back just before the last part of the course, the right hander followed by the left turn towards the very pleasing 500m to go. At this point WNT was leading WNT out nicely and at good pace. It’s always good to have a group to work with, so thank you to the lovely group I ended up with, my nemesis conquered, and will I be back next year?? Brrrrrr that’s a very good question.

* long

Why get a bike fit?

Sandra blogs on her bike fit at Planet X and how it unexpectedly resolved her glute problem http://www.planetx.co.uk/news/teams-and-riders/q/date/2015/05/15/retul-fit-eradicated-my-glute-problem

Where do you get your inspiration?

Check out Nicola's recent blog on people who inspire her.

Who inspires you?