Andy Schleck may have narrowly missed out on the Yellow jersey, but it turns out he prefers pink instead ;)

Yesterday was my first race back from my crash at Dwars door de Westhoek just over a week ago. Unfortunately since then, my ribs have made little to no improvement, however, I have still been training everyday (although confined to rollers and the ergo) and equipped with painkillers I thought i’d take a crack at the first Post Tour Criterium held in Stiphout.


I found some nice smooth bike paths to warm up on then went to go suss out the course. When I saw the course, a little piece of me died when I realised the whole circuit (1.7km) was bricks and that there were multiple corners which no doubt would require me to get out of the saddle and sprint out of (something which i haven’t managed to do yet :s) but I was itching the to ride and the pain from my ribs was nothing compared to how badly I wanted to race so after taking my spoonful of cement and sending myself some HTFU vibes – I was on the start line ready to roll.

The gun went and from then the pace was on. I managed to complete 2 laps sprinting out of the saddle coming out of the corners with the bunch but soon after my arm started going numb and equipped with the constant vibrations from the bricks, I could no longer sprint out of the corners and dropped back off the bunch. Determined not to give up, I TTed the race for about 20min before getting lapped by the field. At least I got some good training!!! When I got pulled from the race i could barely move my arm and the pain was a constant stabbing in my ribs....which is why I’ve decided not to race for the rest of the week and train instead.

Yep, that's starting to hurt :s (photo courtesy of Bart Hazen from dailypeloton.com)

Part of me knew that I wasn’t fully recovered to ride but I needed to race to prove to myself that yes, I did get injured and that injuries take time to heal. It’s a fact of life. I can still turn the pedals over so I consider myself fortunate but it looks as though i will be spending more time on the rollers/ergo and doing SEs uphill and avoiding potholes like the plague so I can be fit and ready to go for the Holland Hills Classic, a UCI race on the 8th of August!

Luckily for me the night only got better post race. After my team mates finished the race (Davina got a very respectable 5th place and Emily 15th) we went out to dinner to a pretty classy pub to get ourselves something to eat. I am still working on my Dutch so the menu might as well have been written in pretty little symbols...It managed to decifer the word fish and vegetables so that’s what I got! Although one thing i didn’t expect was it to come out on a dangling kebab stick waving in front of my face :S I litterally laughed out loud when it came out but it tasted delicious and turned out to be a very pleasant meal out with the girls!

Davina dropped us back at the race to commence her immense TomTomless journey home (when she said she used a map to get here, part of me was like.. what on earth is a map?!?! Haha) the fun really started to start :)

The Pro riders were racing later in the evening and Tracey, Emily and I went over to the registration to see if we could catch a glimpse of Contator and Schelck. There we were fortunate enough to meet up with Bart Hazen, a photographer for the Daily Peloton and the person responsible for the majority of these great pics! When Andy Schleck walked passed, equipped with our SwABo Ladies jerseys, Tracey asked if he would be able to get a photo with us. He willingly accepted even saying ‘Nice jerseys girls’!! pretty sure that made my night.



If that wasn’t enough, Bart said that he could get us a photo with Contador as well! Before we knew it, we were on the course with all of the photographers with the Pros. We had just walked onto the course and were now literally in arms reach of some of the best cyclists in the World! Contador was presented on stage and moments after, standing with us getting a photo. What a legend!

photo courtesy of Bart Hazen from dailypeloton.com

People may say that bike riders are just like average people, and in one sense they are. What makes these people so incredible is what they do. People like Andy Schleck, Alberto Contador and Mick Rogers put their bodies through incredible amounts of pain and display such strength, determination, dedication and passion for what they do. This is what makes them Idol worthy, and why us girls weren't ashamed to have red faces after meeting them :P

We spent the rest of the night walking the course, cheering for random riders and getting some very odd looks – but making a douche of yourself is half of the fun right??? There was even a DJ playing, an all too friendly reminder of nights out at home...verrrrry tempting, but taking one look at my outfit and unbrushed hair, I quickly was put off the idea of hitting the town! That’ll just have to wait :p

So what's next? Well I head to Belgium tomorrow to see my Dad. We were originally meant to be racing a crit down in Herentals but we didn’t realise it was on invitation only but i’ll probably still go have a look at it as Dad hasn’t been to one before! Then I will stay with Dad in Liege until the team recon of the Holland hills Classic course on the Saturday. In Liege i’m going to see if I can ride part of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege course...would be awesome!


A week and a bit later I’ll be off to Italy for just over a week – will be good to see some hills again! So a very exciting few weeks ahead in my standards which will make it even harder to make myself do my Uni work...Meeting pro riders, riding in the hills or learning about OH&S...hmm tough choice! I would much rather be on the bike than learning about the importance of washing your hands... :p

So until next time, stay safe and take care
xx