The first 40km of the race went well for me, felt really comfortable up the front of the bunch, strong up the hills and even went with a little chase group... but that’s where my good ride ended. I think given my current level of fitness, I was a little too keen... got a bit excited :p After then I started having trouble breathing when the pace lifted and think I let the heat get to me a little bit... I got dropped just before the peloton entered the finishing circuit at 50km (they completed 9 rounds of the circuit afterwards) and the commissaries pulled me from the race. Not exactly what i’d planned to happen, but an improvement from my last race – step forward in the right direction! The other SwABo Ladies girls found the weather conditions a bit difficult and another was also coming back from illness but our latest recruit Emily Collins from NZ represented SwABo in the 2nd bunch across the line – very respectable result from someone who has only just arrived in the country!
My next race was due to be yesterday (Tuesday) except I woke up Monday morning sick as a dog again – surprise surprise. Turns out it probably wasn’t my brightest ever moment deciding to race so I decided not to repeat it and sit out the race in Noordwijk.
My next race is a 60km crit in Epe tomorrow evening, about 1hr15 away from us. One thing i’ve noticed is that anything over 60min is considered ‘a long way’ to travel to races here... I’m just grateful if it takes less than 2hrs!!! Mind you, our newly acquired car has no radio or air-conditioning in it, so i guess the least amount of time we can spend in there the better!! So hopefully my tonsils will stop trying to dig their way out of my throat so that I can race :)
On a side note, I was getting my stuff organised for the race today and was looking at my Zipp 404s when Sofie said to me – I don’t think that is a good idea... there are cobbles – i quickly banished my Zipps back to their bags. You can definitely tell who the tourists are at races by looking at the people who rock up on carbon wheels to cobbled crits! Either that or they are people who are obviously quite comfortable wiping their noses with spare $100 notes... It appears I am still on my “L” plates when it comes to racing here in Holland but by the end of my stay I am sure I will be a fully qualified Dutch racer :)
Apart from training, the rest of my days have been spent catching up on things back home, reading and discovering my long lost love in “Underbelly” – all I can say is “where have you been all my life!!!!” Sadly I have nearly finished the season and am looking for something new to latch onto...any suggestions??
On Friday the Netherlands are playing Brazil in the Soccer WC so we might head into Gorchiem to a pub and watch it with the locals on the big screen.
Personally, I’m looking forward to Saturday – the start of none other than the Tour de France, the Mecca for all cyclists. This year the Prologue is in Rotterdam – that’s only 50km away baby!!!! So guess where i’m heading??? TO LE TOUR!!!!!! If things go well, I will hopefully be watching my idols and some of the biggest names in cycling compete in the biggest cycling event in the World. I will definitely be cheering extra loud for the record amount of Aussies competing this year – Awesome stuff!!! Will also be taking my camera for sure, so expect some happy snaps!
Fingers crossed i’ll be racing tomorrow, i’m super pumped! I know it may sound cliché, but I really am enjoying ‘living the dream’ . To the average person, training for hours a day, punishing yourself in races and travelling for hours to races may seem stupid and somewhat crazy– but for those keen cyclists, you know what i’m talking about :)
Until next time
xxx
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