Recently discovered the fastest way to humble yourself…try riding a week in The Alps! If you thought riding uphill in England was tough, try riding uphill in the depths of the alps, it's on ANOTHER level- quite literally, you are at least 1000m above sea level at all times. However, whatever you pay for in pain you recieve back in views, what a stunning landscape. A week's block of training and Le Tour de France fan-girling, based from the town of Briancon, a location surrounded by a number of famous Cols, including: Col du Galibier, Col du Granon and Col d'Izoard (all of which we climbed!). We managed to rack up quite a few hours in the space of 5 days. Hitting 18hrs in the saddle, 8000m climbing and clocked up 385km, safe to say I was a bit of a shell by the end. A week's recovery riding led me nicely into my next weekend away in Wales, where I was racing an upcoming event called Grinduro. A super chilled out race format based around enduro racing but on a gravel bike. A 74km loop took us through the many many hills of Machynlleth where there were various timed stages (some uphill, some downhill). Basically an all out effort for 5-10mins and then you’re back to chill riding with your mates. Coming from a quite high level and serious racing background, events like this really remind me of the joy in racing, that isn’t just winning. I came away with 4th in the Pro womens category and took the fastest time on the final downhill stage and I’m really pleased with that, I didn’t go for the result and quite frankly didn’t feel any stress about getting a result the whole weekend- which you don’t find often when racing. It’s safe to say it’s one of the best weekends racing I’ve done in a while and to have raced it surrounded by some of the soundest people out there was really special, lots of good memories from this one. I almost feel like a new chapter is turning over in my life and cycling career and to have met so many rad people, who inspire and encourage me, yeah it’s just super cool :) Back to Grinduro though, what a race. I’ve got that first gravel race hype still and I can see how people get sucked into the “gravel life” so easily- that sh*it is addictive, in a good way. I’ll definitely be back at some point for more. Did I hear someone say “cross is coming”? Currently sat on a train travelling back from one of the sickest British cyclocross races I’ve ever raced and I’ve done my fair share of British CX over the years. National champs aside, it was the closest I've ever come to seeing a 'European' level of supporters at a local British round, Londoners do it right. I'd seen the MAAP summer cyclocross league going off on social media the past three weeks and was dying to give it a shot so thought I'd get stuck in and see what I could deliver. I had a couple of other Tekkerz teammates there racing too which was mint to see so many of us there altogether. A few more nerves for this race as I know CX is my main discipline, I always put a bit more pressure on myself to perform. But then again, I knew I was there purely for laughs and genuinely wasn't expecting any kind of result, especially after a couple of not so great races at the start of the month. So after a quick puncture repair before the start, an uncomfortably loud bottom bracket noise starting up, probably 1mins worth of warm up and one scouting lap (possibly the most unprepared i've ever been for a cx race!) the starting whistle blew. It was a fast flat first 2 mins which meant I needed to try really really hard to be at the front before the first technical section, by which time I could create a bigger gap. All I knew I needed to do was to break the elastic between myself and the other riders, then once that's broken, trust my own abilities that I can hold on to that pace for the rest of the race! A good few times up the main course feature 'big bob', a short sharp kicker of a hill which practically forces you off the bike to run up it, and through the alley of cheering crowds, is enough to make anyone want to return. I was dead pleased to come away with the win from this one and to do it wearing the Tekkerz kit on their home turf, yeah that felt pretty cool. It feels like a solid closure to my summer season, one that has been challenging yet rewarding in many ways and now has me thinking about big plans for next year already. What's next? Rest week wooooo! I'm jetting off to Croatia for a week with one of my best friends, to simply lie on a beach, read books and explore the coasts and city of Split for the week. I can't wait, time to switch off from cycling for a little while :)
Massive thank you to @pedalpotential for the continuous support with my cycling, their help enables me to enter these mad races and then to Tekkerz CC, the support I've received from the team and sponsors this year has gone a long way, thank you. Also, shoutout to the friends who've been offering me lifts up and down the country the past month, hopefully y'all aren't sick of me after many hours in a car! Thanks for reading Amy :) x
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