April was a quiet month for guiding so I thought I’d enter a couple of my own races. Whether it’s a cross country event or a low key series race, I can’t have an empty month in my race calendar. I have never done a cycling race before and the BUCS (British universities and colleges) 25 mile Time trial presented the perfect opportunity to change this and find out how I compared against pure cyclists. These university races can often include some fierce competition, especially with the likes of Loughborough and Bath competing, two top sporting universities. So, BUCS Sprint triathlon was my last ever university race and BUCS cycling is probably to be my last ever cycling race.
BUCS 25 mile TT was held right next to the Newmarket race course, conveniently not far from my Mum’s house over in Essex, so ‘Hotel Mum’ came in very useful. I was praying for a dry, still day as there is nothing worse than cycling in the wind and rain. Despite the bad weather in the morning, the afternoon turned out to be glorious sunshine. Perfect. I drove over with my boyfriend and we arrived early to drive around the triangular course to check out the road surface, turns, traffic etc. It was fairly straightforward and, as most time trial courses probably are, boring and flat. Straight down the road, turn left, straight down that road, turn left and down the final straight (but undulating!) road. And then repeat for another lap! In spite of the uninspiring course I was keen to give this my best effort. Chris, from Echelon cycles, had kindly lent me a nice TT bike. I’d ridden it a couple of times during the week to get used to the position, changing gears on the aero bars and sitting on this uncomfortable saddle. I knew the saddle wasn’t ideal for my hip width but after numerous adjustments in the week I found the best position. It seems that was time wasted as sitting on a stove of hot coals would have been more comfortable.
I had been given a good warm up from my coach and although I had the bike with me, Chris had the race wheels and other extras. Understandably he was helping out his son first who was competing for Loughborough, but I still needed a thorough warm up and my start time was before his. I was beginning to get very anxious as I could see this eating into my warm up time, but me being me, I just kept quiet. Soon I’ll learn how to do all the mechanics myself so I can get on with it. With little time before my start I got onto the bike for my warm up. My legs were not feeling great, but I was hoping it was just because I was on a slight incline. Whenever you’re not feeling fresh in the warm up, just for psychological reasons, you always try to put it down to some external factor. After a rushed and inadequate warm up, I was still trying to sort out my bike and helmet with only a few minutes to spare. I was borrowing a slick aero helmet too but I was struggling to loosen the strap as I didn’t want it choking me on the way round! Underestimating the distance to the start I rapidly pedalled over there, but I was about 5 seconds too late as I saw the number after me cycle off in my slot. Not really knowing what the format and rules were I was told I would fit in when someone didn’t turn up. There was already a queue of people there so thought this was going to be a while. Thankfully it was just 5 minutes later before I got to start.
BUCS 25 mile TT was held right next to the Newmarket race course, conveniently not far from my Mum’s house over in Essex, so ‘Hotel Mum’ came in very useful. I was praying for a dry, still day as there is nothing worse than cycling in the wind and rain. Despite the bad weather in the morning, the afternoon turned out to be glorious sunshine. Perfect. I drove over with my boyfriend and we arrived early to drive around the triangular course to check out the road surface, turns, traffic etc. It was fairly straightforward and, as most time trial courses probably are, boring and flat. Straight down the road, turn left, straight down that road, turn left and down the final straight (but undulating!) road. And then repeat for another lap! In spite of the uninspiring course I was keen to give this my best effort. Chris, from Echelon cycles, had kindly lent me a nice TT bike. I’d ridden it a couple of times during the week to get used to the position, changing gears on the aero bars and sitting on this uncomfortable saddle. I knew the saddle wasn’t ideal for my hip width but after numerous adjustments in the week I found the best position. It seems that was time wasted as sitting on a stove of hot coals would have been more comfortable.
I had been given a good warm up from my coach and although I had the bike with me, Chris had the race wheels and other extras. Understandably he was helping out his son first who was competing for Loughborough, but I still needed a thorough warm up and my start time was before his. I was beginning to get very anxious as I could see this eating into my warm up time, but me being me, I just kept quiet. Soon I’ll learn how to do all the mechanics myself so I can get on with it. With little time before my start I got onto the bike for my warm up. My legs were not feeling great, but I was hoping it was just because I was on a slight incline. Whenever you’re not feeling fresh in the warm up, just for psychological reasons, you always try to put it down to some external factor. After a rushed and inadequate warm up, I was still trying to sort out my bike and helmet with only a few minutes to spare. I was borrowing a slick aero helmet too but I was struggling to loosen the strap as I didn’t want it choking me on the way round! Underestimating the distance to the start I rapidly pedalled over there, but I was about 5 seconds too late as I saw the number after me cycle off in my slot. Not really knowing what the format and rules were I was told I would fit in when someone didn’t turn up. There was already a queue of people there so thought this was going to be a while. Thankfully it was just 5 minutes later before I got to start.
I didn’t really know what pace to go at. Although the distance is effectively that of an Olympic distance triathlon, it’s difficult without swimming first and also having to get your feet into your shoes eases you into the pace. In theory I’d feel fresher for this so I didn’t want to go out too hard. The first stretch was into a head wind so I tried to keep a higher cadence to prevent my legs fatiguing too early. This is quite unnatural for me. Usually I just keep the same gear and push against the wind and up the hills, but perhaps not for 4 miles. I don’t think the higher cadence was helping my comfort in the saddle and even after I made the first turn I was moving around the seat like I had ants in my pants. I was then overtaken a by a few people (some guys) so I thought I better notch up the gears. I still felt as though I was going so slowly. I approached the next junction cautiously, not just for the traffic and turn but also so I could sit up and relieve the discomfort temporarily. Good news was the next road had some hills so I took any opportunity to get out the saddle. As I went passed the finish line and continued around for the second lap I considered stopping, but thought the pain couldn’t get any worse. Oh, how wrong I was. Due to the nature of the time trial position it can often cause soreness at the front. So I had been advised to alleviate the pressure by lifting off the saddle using the aero bars. Well yes, this is all great for those few seconds but what about when I need to sit back down on the bloody saddle. I do not take kindly to men giving me advice on saddle soreness.
Those competitors who were overtaking me probably thought I was having a rough time because my legs were burning up. I briefly found a little more comfort when I decided to sit on one side of the saddle so at least one of my seat bones was on it. Every bump in the road almost brought me to tears and I feared the second stretch where the road surface was dreadful. I just had to sit up for some of it. I wanted to get off the bike but I was now at the furthest point on the course so the quickest way back was to cycle. I continued on and I have never been so relieved to see the finish line!! I gingerly climb off the bike and after some cursing I knew there was no way I was doing a cycle cool down. I had my tri suit on anyway so a run cool down it was, and I was much happier for it. Chris tells me afterwards the saddle width was 137mm. I require a 155mm!! No wonder I had adopted a ‘John Wayne walk’ and had to ease myself into the car like an OAP. Even four days after the race when I came to sit on my commuter bike I was still sore. Although the TT bike was borrowed I knew my saddle on my training bike was too narrow and I’d now reached the final straw! No prizes for guessing where I went on Monday..... to the bike shop to buy a new saddle.
It seems there are very few saddles that are actually wide enough. Now I don’t have the largest backside (take a look in the picture below if you wish!) but the only saddles to fit my seat bone width are Specialized. Very few other manufacturers offer >150mm so I do wonder how they conducted their research and which petite women they have surveyed. I bought the new S-Works Power saddle. On my next ride I realised how much my body weight had wrongly been going through the pedals and not my seat. This just shows how much I have advanced after starting on a men’s racing saddle. I am finally comfortable!
Those competitors who were overtaking me probably thought I was having a rough time because my legs were burning up. I briefly found a little more comfort when I decided to sit on one side of the saddle so at least one of my seat bones was on it. Every bump in the road almost brought me to tears and I feared the second stretch where the road surface was dreadful. I just had to sit up for some of it. I wanted to get off the bike but I was now at the furthest point on the course so the quickest way back was to cycle. I continued on and I have never been so relieved to see the finish line!! I gingerly climb off the bike and after some cursing I knew there was no way I was doing a cycle cool down. I had my tri suit on anyway so a run cool down it was, and I was much happier for it. Chris tells me afterwards the saddle width was 137mm. I require a 155mm!! No wonder I had adopted a ‘John Wayne walk’ and had to ease myself into the car like an OAP. Even four days after the race when I came to sit on my commuter bike I was still sore. Although the TT bike was borrowed I knew my saddle on my training bike was too narrow and I’d now reached the final straw! No prizes for guessing where I went on Monday..... to the bike shop to buy a new saddle.
It seems there are very few saddles that are actually wide enough. Now I don’t have the largest backside (take a look in the picture below if you wish!) but the only saddles to fit my seat bone width are Specialized. Very few other manufacturers offer >150mm so I do wonder how they conducted their research and which petite women they have surveyed. I bought the new S-Works Power saddle. On my next ride I realised how much my body weight had wrongly been going through the pedals and not my seat. This just shows how much I have advanced after starting on a men’s racing saddle. I am finally comfortable!
A couple of weeks later, happily exploiting my brand new saddle, I brought my university sporting career to a close by racing in the BUCS Sprint triathlon. It was the standard British weather and was very changeable throughout the day. Those who raced in the morning had the lovely sunshine and those who started in the afternoon were cycling on flooded roads. Around lunch time when I had just finished my warm up on the turbo the heavens opened! This was not just a passing shower either. Everyone had gone for cover and we were all hibernating for about 15 minutes. Everything was soaked and I was continuously pulling up my water-logged tracksuit bottoms during my run warm up. My race was due to start at 3.30 and I had accepted that I was going to be putting on wet trainers etc. I wouldn’t mind if it rained whilst running but it’s not much fun on the bike!
I’ve never had a good swim at this event and this year was no different. It’s a 750m pool swim and it can be a bit chaotic with 5 people in a lane going at 10 second intervals. I had a smooth first transition and after a sketchy jump onto the bike I headed off for the 25Km cycle. Although I wanted to get one of the fastest female bike times I was going to be cautious around the corners as I had heard of few people coming off the bike already. The race was non-drafting but with a few men ahead of me I had plenty of people to chase. It was only raining a little to begin with but progressively got worse. About half way through I received my karma from missing out on the torrential rain at the British Duathlon Champs (see my previous blog). Going into a head wind I could barely see where I was going and it was hailing. At least the pain of the hail stones hitting my bear arms distracted me from my any lactate in my legs. I spent a lot of time on the drop handlebars as opposed to the aero bars, which probably lost me a fair few seconds. However, the country roads were flooded so we had to ride down the middle and there were a few competitors around me so I’d rather have felt safe on the drops. About 6 of us rode together and were trying to tackle the wind and rain, avoid puddles and traffic as well as avoiding drafting. Except for one girl who was clearly happy to sit on my wheel, which I was not happy about! I had a strong end to the bike leg and entered transition where I ran straight past my trainers. I had used someone’s box as a marker but I was looking too far ahead and ended up going up and down the aisle trying to find my bike spot. What a nightmare. Still standing there I was looking back double checking I had run in correct row and eventually spotted my red trainers. These turned out to be valuable seconds lost as only 5 seconds dropped me 2 places. I put on my soggy trainers and ran hard trying to catch the girl ahead who had been drafting off me on the bike. She beat me by just 2 seconds which was very frustrating, and when she said ‘well done’ at the finish I just nodded.
I’ve never had a good swim at this event and this year was no different. It’s a 750m pool swim and it can be a bit chaotic with 5 people in a lane going at 10 second intervals. I had a smooth first transition and after a sketchy jump onto the bike I headed off for the 25Km cycle. Although I wanted to get one of the fastest female bike times I was going to be cautious around the corners as I had heard of few people coming off the bike already. The race was non-drafting but with a few men ahead of me I had plenty of people to chase. It was only raining a little to begin with but progressively got worse. About half way through I received my karma from missing out on the torrential rain at the British Duathlon Champs (see my previous blog). Going into a head wind I could barely see where I was going and it was hailing. At least the pain of the hail stones hitting my bear arms distracted me from my any lactate in my legs. I spent a lot of time on the drop handlebars as opposed to the aero bars, which probably lost me a fair few seconds. However, the country roads were flooded so we had to ride down the middle and there were a few competitors around me so I’d rather have felt safe on the drops. About 6 of us rode together and were trying to tackle the wind and rain, avoid puddles and traffic as well as avoiding drafting. Except for one girl who was clearly happy to sit on my wheel, which I was not happy about! I had a strong end to the bike leg and entered transition where I ran straight past my trainers. I had used someone’s box as a marker but I was looking too far ahead and ended up going up and down the aisle trying to find my bike spot. What a nightmare. Still standing there I was looking back double checking I had run in correct row and eventually spotted my red trainers. These turned out to be valuable seconds lost as only 5 seconds dropped me 2 places. I put on my soggy trainers and ran hard trying to catch the girl ahead who had been drafting off me on the bike. She beat me by just 2 seconds which was very frustrating, and when she said ‘well done’ at the finish I just nodded.
Unfortunately the draftbusters can’t catch everyone and the girl who won the bike leg was almost a minute faster than any other girl. Slightly suspicious, but I had given her the benefit of the doubt until I got the inside info from the other athletes that she was also drafting. I had the 6th fastest bike time, 6th fastest run time and guess what.....I was 6th overall. My swim let me down on my consistency here. My overall performance was fairly average. None of the disciplines were especially outstanding but I was only 5 seconds off a girl who had raced for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, so I can at least take that positive outcome away with me. Unexpectedly our girl’s team won silver! Well done to Kate and Josie for raising their game and producing a great performance. It was so unexpected we didn’t even stay for the medal ceremony but a great way to end my BUCS career! Great effort from the rest of the Bristol Uni crew. I should also say thanks to my boyfriend for cycling round to cheer me on at various points in the cycling race and cycling 70 miles in the wind and rain to support me at the triathlon.
So, during my numerous years at Bristol Uni I have taken part in: BUCS Pentathlon, BUCS Fencing, BUCS Netball, BUCS Cross country, BUCS indoor athletics, BUCS Swimming, BUCS Biathlon, BUCS Super sprint and Sprint triathlon, and now I can tick BUCS Cycling off the list. From these I have now won 4 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. If there was an Olympic sport that consisted of about 10 different sports (I count the decathlon as just athletics), then I would ace that. I would also probably be the only competitor! Until then I will stick to Triathlon and will continue to work hard at being the best I can be, whilst still enjoying training and even more so, racing!
So, during my numerous years at Bristol Uni I have taken part in: BUCS Pentathlon, BUCS Fencing, BUCS Netball, BUCS Cross country, BUCS indoor athletics, BUCS Swimming, BUCS Biathlon, BUCS Super sprint and Sprint triathlon, and now I can tick BUCS Cycling off the list. From these I have now won 4 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. If there was an Olympic sport that consisted of about 10 different sports (I count the decathlon as just athletics), then I would ace that. I would also probably be the only competitor! Until then I will stick to Triathlon and will continue to work hard at being the best I can be, whilst still enjoying training and even more so, racing!