Sat June 9th - Cyclopark, Hillingdon and the Nocturne!

Team Pink were out in force on Saturday, racing or supporting (or racing and then supporting!) the various women’s only races held in and around London. Get yourself a cup of tea, this blog post is a little lengthy!
  

Cyclopark

With 3 women’s only races all being held on the same day, it was disappointing to see that only 6 riders lined up for the Cat 3/4 only race at Cyclopark. However, you can only beat those who show up on the day. Steph reports that the group worked together for almost the whole race, dropping a couple of riders, then “the gloves came off for the final lap”. She finished 2^nd to claim a podium spot in her first year of racing, and will be back next Saturday to take on all-comers on the same course!

Steph with the winner, Hannah Evans

Hillingdon

On Saturday 4 pinkies headed to Hillingdon (plus Kate on the sidelines) – Charmaine, Anna and I with a mission to gain BC points, and Vikki, racing to lead-out anyone on her wheel at the right time, chase down any breaks, and for general mother-hen duties! As always, Nellie was also present, watching proceedings closely from the clubhouse. Much to the point-scroungers disgust, there was 13 women in total on the start-line (compared with 6 the week before!) and the standard of the field was high. Anna charged off the front with another rider early on in the race, achieved a decent gap and put the hammer down for a couple of laps, until the bunch (obviously not helped by any of us, as we tried to control the pace to help Anna stay away) finally caught up. The bunch then generally stayed together, nearly catching up with the boys, who were clearly napping, until the final lap. Charmaine had cleverly worked her way to the front and was in a good position, I had been sitting nicely on Vikki’s wheel until a few elbows made me lose some places, Anna sitting just behind me but paying the price of her exciting move earlier on. The sprint began just out of the last corner, with Charmaine managing to outsprint most of the field (in the saddle!!) for a valuable 3rd, myself being boxed in and gaining a couple of points in 8th, Anna coming in just behind at 10th and Vikki, not wanting to challenge any of us after points, rolled in relaxed at 13th. Stephen also raced and gained an excellent 3rd, moving up to 3rd Cat. Good day for Pearson Pink and Blue!


Nikki


The London Nocturne

I had been not so quietly crapping myself about this race for at least a couple of weeks, especially when the start list came out with 69 riders on it. 69!! Last year there were about 30. This year I thought it was going to be kept to 50. The quality of the field didn’t really faze me on this occasion, as I had raced most the girls at some point in the year at Team Series. I knew they were fast. I knew that in all likelihood I’d get lapped at some point. It was just a matter of when. My genuine goal of the race was not to finish last, and not to put my bike or myself into a barrier. I’ve ridden my new race bike 5 times and it’s already been repaired once. Not a good ratio.

After raining all week, at least the weather gods decided not to take the piss and put on quite a warm, and more importantly, dry day. I got there mid-afternoon to check out some of the earlier action. This was my first visit to the Nocturne, as it usually co-incided with early summer jaunts to the continent. I lost some of my nerves and got quite excited whilst watching the men’s support race. It was fast, but actually looked quite fun.

Cam Fraser was kind enough to lend me his turbo to warm up on, so Team Pink (ie. Kate and I) set up camp in the space where Team Sigma had occupied earlier in the day, right amongst the pro-team cars inbetween Raleigh and Matrix-Prendas! We had a whole host of “support crew” in the pits with us, as the sign-on staff were quite liberal in giving out wrist bands – Stephen, Char and Chris (turbo providers), Nikki (Nellie minder), Matt Statue (with his statueing box). Kate and I were both quite nervous, so thought we might as well start warming up, a good hour before the race. We’ve always wanted to feel a bit pro, but this was a bit much, with dozens of people watching us from across the road behind the barriers, some spectators even taking photos of us. I said to Kate, I wonder when they’ll realise they’re taking photos of the wrong people! During the break in proceedings, we were allowed onto the course for some warm-up laps. This was a bit surreal. We had been turboing on the back straight, and I didn’t realise just how many people were on the finishing straight. Everyone was yelling and cheering, and I saw a number of familiar faces and heard them calling out to me. I tried to keep my cool during those warm-up laps, smiling and waving at those I knew… with heart rate at 175! And this was just the warm-up.

After a last minute pee and a tiny bit more turboing, it was time to line-up at the start. Everyone had said that to have any chance at all of not being spat out the back by the first corner, you had to be at the front, so there I was, second row, crammed in like a sardine, and feeling very nervous. Someone asked if there was a sighting lap. “No” was the official’s reply. “As soon as the flag drops, go for it”. And they certainly did! I think I was passed by about 10 girls before the first corner, then another 5 or so as we sprinted out of the bottom corner. They were sooooo fast! The beginning of the race was all a bit of a blur. I pushed as hard as I could, but couldn’t manage to hang on to any real groups, but was never riding by myself. There was quite a lot of dry wretching going on, and I couldn’t even reach down for my bottle as any slowing at all would mean I lost the fast-moving wheel in front.

30min seems like an eternity when you are going at that pace! I remember looking at the lap board on a number of occasions thinking that it should surely start counting down soon (with 9 to go) I did notice lots and lots of shout outs on what seemed like every corner and straight, which did encourage me to keep pushing hard, some voices I recognised well without even seeing them, some I couldn’t quite place. I was eventually lapped by both the lead and second groups, and finished amongst some familiar faces (pink “cousins” Catherine Hills and Clare Leonard). The adrenaline was still pumping as I pulled back up to our camp on the back straight. Wow, what an awesome experience!

Results were only published for the first 31 riders, of which I wasn’t one, so I’m not sure where I ended up in the field, but it wasn’t last! Not that it mattered. It was soooo much fun!! And despite nearly losing my back wheel on a few occasions on the bottom off-camber corner trying to sprint out a little too early, I also kept off the ground and out of the barriers. Goals achieved! I’ll be signing up again next year. Will have to learn how to put the hammer down a lot harder between now and then…

Nicole