I have had my bad luck... looking forward to better days!
Photo: Rabo Koepel Race Lierop. Chasing back after crashing with Maaslandster Nicheliving CCN team car ready to pace me back on.
It was the Rabo Koepel Race Lierop in the Netherlands last Sunday 19th March. After a bad mental state of mind in my previous race, I had focused on really mentally preparing myself for this race. I emptied my mind of all the negative crap that had been built up in there from those previous races. I told myself I was not going to be waiting and constantly thinking about when the first crash of the race would be. I was not going to think about how chaotic and sketchy it can be and most likely will be in the race and I was not going to let obstacles such as narrow roads, tight turns, road blocks and so on get to me. This time I had told myself I was just going to go for it 100%. For me this meant I was going to go into this race basically without any fear, despite what might happen.
On the start line of the Koepel Race Lierop I was feeling confident in my strength and ability and suprisingly calm. I knew what I had to do and was focusing on the role I had been given at the team meeting before hand which was to be at the front and cover any attacks that went. Having this role in my mind made it a lot easier to forget all the things I had been worried about before. The demons in my head had gone and I was more than ready to race and knew that I could do my job well. The team was at the front on the start line so we were already off to a good start. I could translate the dutch over the speaker to one minute until the start. I can always feel when I am in the zone and ready to go and this was definitely one of those times. We start and from the gun I have my tattoos and piercings on ready to ride aggressively. Approximately 20 kilometers in to the 127 kilometer race (ten laps of a 17 kilometre circuit) and I really had my mind switched on. I had held a good position up the front for the majority of those 20 kilometers. There was one moment when teammate and manager SJ (Sarah-Jeanne) had to give me a heads up that I was drifting back a bit, as soon as I heard her I was moving up through the bunch again. Unfortunately moments after this there was a bit of yelling in the bunch, a knock from my left side from another rider and I was on the ground. After a few expressive words I unclipped, did a quick body check... yep my knee definitely hurts and my arm doesn't really feel right but I can move them both so I am fine. A quick bike check, and SJ who had waited for me, and I were on our bikes chasing back through the convoy. After an awesome tow from SJ I was dropped off onto the team car where I spent around 40 kilometres chasing before finally making contact with a group of 20 or so riders. Unfortunately at 85 kilometres or so we were pulled out of the race for being too far behind the lead bunch. I was pretty dissapointed... crashing, chasing, and then being pulled out. I knew that I could have had a really good result in that race. My next race however was on Wednesday only three days away so I gave myself a pat on the back for a positive first 20 kilometers of the race and for fighting hard to get back on and not giving up until being pulled out and then started preparing myself for an awesome race on Wednesday.
It is now Wednesday and I am on the start line for the Dwars door Vlaanderen race in Belgium. This race is a Flanders Classic, 101 kilometers in distance and involves a few climbs and cobbled sections including the punchy cobbled climb known as the Paterberg which was also part of the course in my first European race, Omloop het Nieuwsblad. I was really pumped and ready to go for this one. The race starts, I am feeling good once again. I have really got my race mind on today and all that I was thinking as we rolled out onto a nice smooth wide road was that I have to stay in the top 20 riders. I was doing everything I could to stay up the front; jumping onto the bike bath next to the road, getting right out into the wind to move up, rolling straight to the very front of the peleton. Even if I was exerting more energy than I needed too I knew that I needed to stay up there. We get to around 20 kilometres in and we had so far been on wide smooth roads which had been nice and I was feeling really comfortable navigating myself through the bunch to the front when I started to lose my position a bit. As other girls move up the left hand side and roll over the peleton someone chops a wheel hard at the front of the bunch and I can hear riders coming down in front before I can see them. I thought that I was going to miss it as I hit the brakes hard to move around the crash. There is a gap to the left that I was aiming to get through however it was very quickly blocked by girls also hitting the deck in front of me. After quickly untangeling my bike from another, I get my chain back on and check my wheels. My wheels were rubbing so I back out the brakes as much as I can and get on my bike and as I do our team mechanic runs up beside me and gives me a push to get me going again. As soon as I gave the pedals a push I knew my wheel was pretty buckled and my brakes were rubbing quite badly, sucking the power out of me. The team car rolls past and teammate Erin who had also come down in the crash jumps on the back. I am giving it my all to get on the back of the car but it's just not happening with the bike issues I was having. That was the end of the race for me.
I have had bad luck for those last two races I competed in. That is just part of bike racing at the end of the day. Although it is very frustrating for me, I have moved past it and am now focusing on my training and preparation for my upcoming races. It is a good feeling to finally be getting comfortable with European racing and I know there will be good racing to come now that I know my heads in the right place for these races.
