Pearson Ladies RT Training Camp: Day 6

We woke to find a cloud in the sky this morning, although it was considerate enough to go away before we rolled out. The boys opted out today, so without troublesome boys, our thru-and-off was in perfect silent synchonisation, or was it the fact that we were too tired to talk!

The first activity was sprint lead-out practice in groups of 3. Diesel pair Coralie and Nicole lead out Debs "Forrest Gump" Mallison, whilst pink sisters Nikki and Helen lead out Charmaine "big guns" Brown. Cav, watch your back! We then rolled to the bottom of the evil climb from Day 3, but from the other side. Tanja promised that it was much nicer from this side... Yeah right. We all made it to the top, with a comforting hand appreciated by some. What goes up, must come down. Most of us enjoyed the descent of the evil climb, refining corning technique whilst avoiding gravel.

A quick transition into a 15min run had most of us wondering halfway through what the hell we were actually doing. Running? Why would you that? The house husbands did well though, having prepared a full lunch on our return (main ingredient spanish omlette), complete with set table and flowers. Usual afternoon activities... eat, sleep, sunbathe. When the sun went down, some of the girls retired to the bar, some watched more bike porn (Chasing Legends... again), whilst the boys convened back to the kitchen to prepare tonights meat feast!

Pearson Ladies RT Training Camp: Day 5

Following our "easy" day (80km, coffee, ice-cream, shopping), coach Tanja promised to rip our legs off today. Fortunately, it was another sunny mid-20's day, so we were up for the challenge. Before we left, team mascot Nellie was put in "the rack" to continue her stretching program whilst we were away.

We followed the same course as Day 2, heading to the seaside for some rolling roads, then turned inland to the foot of a 3km climb, followed by some thru-and-off race pace training. The first 20min was "steady", if you call 45km/h steady, before turning right into a headwind and picking up the pace for "10 or 15min". A few of us were shelled off the back, a few of us wanted to cry, a few of us threw our toys out of the pram, but we all made it back to the villa in one piece.

Ice/pool bath, Spanish omlette (standard lunch) and some sleep/sunbathing before going out on our afternoon "recovery" ride. However, with legs feeling like lead and a nasty wind, it was still a little tough. We managed to sqeeze out 6x10sec sprints before gladly rolling home.

Tonight's entertainment was dinner and a quiz night at Kinetic PB headquarters. Uniform was Pearson jackets and team issue heart-shaped sunglasses, as well as taking Nellie on her first official outing. We were joined by Man Tri club and the TriLife, who quite frankly, must have thought we were a bit weird. Mental note, do not become cyclists. Nikki's competitive quiz spirit came out, so luckily her team won, or Nellie may have ended up in the lake. First prize was some Mule Bars... just want we needed.

Pearson Ladies RT Training Camp: Day 4

Another awesome day in Spain, 27 degrees and a light breaze. Today was recovery day which meant a steady flat ride along the sea front, then a gentle climb of about 3km up to the view point for group photos and, finally absorbing the beauty of the surroundings. A fast descent led by Dave, Chris and Nicole and some team tactics for the other girls took us to Cafe Blu for a "degustation" of local icecreams and the fine discovery of Kinder egg flavour.

The coffee stop included impromptu shopping for new aero-retro-go faster-heart shaped sunglasses (Vikki, don't worry we got you some too) and the adoption of Nellie, the new pink team mascot. Team Pink then set off with their new kit and their new friend in Neil's (aka Debbie) back pocket for a roll home, completing 80km. The traditional ice bath in the pool was followed by a serious sunbathing session. Some (triathlete Char dragging boyfriend Chris) found the energy to go to the local pool to swim 3km with Coach Tanja.

Forgot to say that after a full assessment by Physio Nicole, Nellie is now subject to a serious stretching/core programme that will improve her bike position and allow her to compete with the Look Mum No Hands Honey badger. Watch out!

Quotes of the day:

"Nicole, you have to stop eating cake. I'm not dragging your arse around the Marmotte" (Coralie)
"Nellie, that's my grandmother's name" (Debs)

Pearson Ladies RT Training Camp: Day 3

A leisurely wake up at 9am to be greeted by another warm, sunny, cloudless day. After a couple of relatively "easy" days, on the menu today was a 100km+ ride including three climbs. We loaded up at breakfast on cereal and yoghurt drink, after the boys lack of Spanish led them to mistake milk for yoghurt on their trip to the supermarket last night.

Uniform for the day: New pink racing kit (and didn't the locals love it!).

The first climb needed the application of Rule #5 in vast quantities, with gradients of 18% in parts. I (Nicole)failed miserably, and actually got off my bike along the way for the first time ever (including two ascents of Ventoux). Note to self... drop some weight before the Marmotte. At the front of the field, Chris set off at a cracking pace, only to be chased down by super-coach Tanja Slater, with Debs closely behind.

A bit of a descent and some rolling roads took us to our next climb, another 8km but of a friendlier gradient, so much so that we even were able to look at the lovely views along the way. The road didn't really go down after this one, so by the time we got to the foot of our last climb, we had just about had enough. We were assured by Tanja that this 4km climb "is not as bad as it looks". She lied. The only thing that kept a few of us going was the promise of a coffee stop at the top. Debs proved to be undisputed Queen of the Mountain by racing Tanja to the top, whilst the rest of us were just happy to get there.

The coffee stop was welcome by all and gave us the opportunity to compare tan lines/sunburn. The long sweeping descent was also welcome, especially by Dave Keaton, who is not a great fan of going up, but can certainly peg it downhill hitting 55mph. The last 25km home was thankfully assisted by a tailwind, and we all jumped straight in the "ice bath" on returning to our villa to aid recover

Home-made dinner once again followed by viewing of "Chasing Legends" for inspiration, before some very weary cyclists hit the sack.

Quotes of the day:

"I love you triple, I won't let anyone be mean to you" (Nikki at the top of first nasty climb)
"Oh look, there's my teddy from the other day" (Dave when we re-visiting our climb from Day 1)

Pearson Ladies RT Training Camp: Day 2

Uniform of the day: Light blue. Arm and leg warmers banned for optimum cyclist tan lines.

It was extremely stressful waking up this morning knowing that all we had to do was check our bikes, eat breakfast and go cycling for the day.

The day was split into two rides – the morning ride was full of small undulating hills with one longer climb of about 1.5km. Debs certainly showed she was the Queen of Mountains as she flew up to the top.

After some intense sunbathing and relaxation, we set off for the afternoon ride – short and flat with a few sprint sessions in the middle.

Quotes of the day:

‘Coarlie, you dress like a Ninja’ (Nikki as Coralie was sunbathing full dressed)
'I don't know anything, I'm French' (Coralie about the quiz night)

Pearson Ladies RT Training Camp: Day 1

After a late night and early morning, we all arrived at Gatwick Airport bleary eyed and boarded the flight to Almeria in Spain.  We almost didn’t make it after Coralie was asked to remove the gas canisters she had carefully stowed away in her bike box….(she didn’t realise they weren’t allowed – honest).

On arrival at Almeria, we were greeted by Tanya and some interestingly sized cars to put all our gear in. If you ever wondered what happened to the yellow car from the Inbetweeners….it is currently being used by Team Pink!

Having put the bikes back together, everyone was keen to get out on the road and test the rolling hills so we went on a gentle bike ride. It was quite tricky for some to get this concept but after a bit of telling off we got there in the end!

A quick trip to the supermarket which included various hypoglycaemic fits and getting lost was certainly not the easiest shopping trip we thought it would be! After Coralie fell asleep at dinner, we thought we had better tell the chefs to hurry up with the cooking and explain to the waiters that we had very little patience having been up since 3am! 

Quotes of the day:

Where are we flying to again?’ (Debs)
‘Nicole, you are more like a dog than a horse’ (Nikki assessing Nicole’s spine)

Rollapaluza!!

On Tuesday afternoon, I found out that the London round of the Rollapaluza Nationals were being held the following night at Look mum no hands, and thought it sounded like a whole lot of fun. So, a few texts and Facebook posts later, we had a bit of a Pearson CC contingent ready to join in on the madness. Oh the fun we had been missing out on!

Knock out rounds were open to all. I was rubbish – definitely a diesel and not a sprinter, so I spent the rest of my time enjoying the fine beer and doing what I am good at… cheering, yelling and whistling at my team mates. Charmaine, Chris and Andrew all made the knock-out rounds, so there was plenty for Coralie and I to cheer about.

Char made it to the semi-finals where she was narrowly beaten by a very swift triathlete. In the 3rd place play-off, she was up against veteran roller-racer Anna Glowinski, and quite frankly was robbed! Chris came up against some tough competition in his knock-out round, and despite clocking 22ish seconds, didn’t progress to the next round. Andrew, youngest male rider in the field, did fantastically to knock out the 4th placed qualifier in the first round, but then was also unlucky in the quarter-finals after a timing system malfunction.

It was a fantastic night and left us all buzzing with roller-racing enthusiasm. Time to find another competition…