So yesterday I was picked up and taken to a race on the border of France (100m walk away). It was a field of thirty elite women including the Belgian champ. I recognised Lotto team and body soul. After getting a feel of the cobbles and heaps of tight turns and accelerations, really thin country roads with cracks and the busy streets full of whistles and spectators I felt really comfortable and strong. My bottle had bounced out of the holder on the first lap and first bump! So can fix that for next time, got good at catching bottles in the feed station.

Got to see how fit the euro girls are and how they ride. I went off the small roads a couple of times, the second time got shoved on the last lap in the ditch and went from the front of the peloton to the back, so finished in peloton. I did make a couple of jumps over to breaks that didn’t work and the peloton got us, the girls got tired and wanted to stay on my wheel.

Next time I’ll go on my own for sure. I was feeling faster than the peloton. But wanted to get a solid finish for experience and played it safer this time. the Belgian champ had broken and gone by the time I was feeling comfortable on the course, it was handy to have mtb skills! I jumped a few gutters I’m really happy I’m up with them and will be looking for a win here. I’ll send you some pics of the race soon and data.
 
Thanks! Myra