Czech out them Hills!
“Rene! Ik ben mn broek vergeten!”
“OK”, was the response from our Acting Team Manager, Rene Groot, striding straight to the team car. Cool as a cucumber he was set to drive back to the hotel to retrieve Nina Kessler’s forgotten cycling shorts with 30 minutes to the start of the 5th and final stage of the Tour de Feminin. Seconds later Nina realised she was sitting on said shorts so no speed limit breaking drive for Rene, sigh..

Thanks to Rene, a bunch of British junior riders and I had the opportunity to ride alongside Nina of Hitec Products in our first UCI stage race. I use the term “alongside” more figuratively than literally here. Because it was flaming hard to keep up with her and the the field of 183 international riders. Total elevation for the week was a whopping 6000 meters over roughly 400km. Suffice to say that i wasn’t quite as prepared for them there hills as I could have been but there’s no doubt the experience of racing in a UCI peloton has brought me on leaps and bounds. every stage I learned a little something that will make the next attempt that much better.

Stage 1 for example, the pace went off like a bat out of hell, we’d been warned of course but any dead weight was shed from the peloton within minutes and God help those that were too far back too soon, that would have been me, in case you hadn’t guessed! However, Nina showed us how it was done and came away with 2nd place and youngest rider Sophie stuck with the peloton til the very end of 119.4km, amazeballs! What did I learn? That a transcontinental team bus journey, no matter how lush the bus is, or how slick the driving, is gonna have serious blocking power on my legs and better alleviation measures are required pre-race day.

2nd stage saw us take in 3 laps of the Doubice Climb (amongst other things) and fortunately i was positioned much better before them and had a little more gas to get me over. I used up a lotta gas though and the 30 DEG heat cracked me after 60k so what did i learn? keep on top of food and hydration consumption if ya wanna keep going! Biggest misfortune of the week was a departure form the race by our Missus Positivity, Beth. But it meant she could shout abuse from the car the rest of the week!

3rd day was a double whammy, a 14k TT and 77k afternoon RR, I might just gloss over the TT if that’s, all you need to know is it had 500m of elevation and I may have vommed a little. Also have you seen how sick Maddie’s bike is?? Then the evening race, Holy God, the pace was monumental. 3 laps of a circuit with (you guessed it) a hill or 7. So, if you can imagine a string of 170 riders strung out in one long line winding their way around said circuit, sounds pretty right? WRONG!! When i looked up at one point and saw the tip of that line cresting one of those beautiful hills the bottom of which i hadn’t even reached it was like a knife to my already exploding lungs. All i could do to get over alive was pick out Nina’s Dad who was handing out bottles near the top and aim for him. That day took it’s biggest toll for sure, if you can be drunk on exhaustion that’s how you would have described me and a few others that evening at dinner. Amy smashed into 25th on the TT so her good spirits were definitely infectious, Hetty gave it her everything also and placed 87th which i am in awe of!

5th and final stage, the Queen’s stage, some tired legs, mild panic over missing shorts and a lap of the town and we were off. Usually you look at a Queen’s stage and there’ll be a horrible long climb with a lovely long descent to look forward to. Well this pretty much began with a mad crazy decent with a horrendous climb out of it. So crazy, with a somewhat inevitable crash involving yours truly taking a tumble. Luckily i was able to get straight back on the bike and after some jiggery pokery by mechanic Caroline and calming words from Rene I was set on my way. But the race was gone from me, there was no way i was going to catch the back of the peloton with the speed they were going and with the convoy up the road pretty quick I had to hang my head in dismay at having to finish the other 80k left solo. Until I look up and see the stationary convoy up ahead and riders everywhere. The earlier crash had resulted in a rider being taken away in the only ambulance meaning we couldn’t continue riding safely. Relief at the expense of another’s misfortune is what i’ll have to admit to as it meant that after 20 minutes or so when the race restarted i was able to stay with a group to finish the race.

Which meant we had just completed our first ever UCI stage race, all in one piece… how epic is that!!

I’ve mentioned some swanny’s already but the healing powers of our evening massages were invaluable, I think Sav managed to fall asleep on the table. And we have to thank Nina’s folks, Anja and Jan-Willem, for that and their bottle handing out skills. Caroline and Steeve’s skills with the bikes and camera were also hugely appreciated!
But biggest of up’s to sir Groot. Without whom, I for one, would be hard pushed to get the opportunity to experience and learn as much as I have this passed week.

PS Crowds on the sides of the roads were on point and the views were breathtaking..
cough*107th*cough
#edcoadvantage #energizedbybounce #getthegrip #