It was very important for me to take a holiday after the commonwealth games. After using a lot of mental energy to stay strong during my injury and then the stress of having a month to qualify once I was back on the bike combined with the panic of lack of training this year I was feeling very drained. Through all this I kept positive and gave 100% to all my training as Glasgow was a dream that was still in reach. The 6 months before the games were certainly an emotional roller coaster so a well earned holiday was what I needed. Off to Turkey I went - 4 days on my own swimming, reading and sunbathing was exactly what I needed, after all it had been 5 years since my last proper holiday. Then my partners in crime came out to meet me, Eileen Roe and Katie Archibald. The last 4 days was basically fit as much as we can in before we go home which consisted of a boat trip, city top restaurants, swimming in the sea, getting our nails done, lots of good food and lots of chewy ice cream. Before long it was time to go home and on to my next adventure. The Velodrome Suisse was hosting a UCI track event with a lot of prize money to which I was attracted to. After having 2 1/2 weeks off and a couple of training sessions back I races Tickhill GP to get my legs back into racing and came away with a very disappointing 7th place. With high prize money at this event I was also keen to get some travel expenses back however it showed me I had a little bit more fitness to catch up on. This was a great event due to the equal prize money and length of race for both men and women so thank you Tickhill for putting on a great show and well done Tanya for a very gutsy win. Switzerland was soon approaching and I managed to get another couple of decent sessions in before so left and the fact that I arrived a couple of days before my event meant I could do some quality sessions on the track. One of my sessions I found myself on the front of the line swinging up to find Viviani on my wheel, as we rolled round the blue the rest of the world class mens omnium riders joined in and the pace gradually picked up, when I saw the world champion stripes of Boudat join the line I thought maybe I should retire from the line however I was having too much fun trying to stay in the line. Before I knew it the only other girl in the line popped and I was the only one left thinking my legs must be feeling ok as I look to the front of the line and Viviani is in the sprint position with his head cranked to one side I though wow Im still in here. I was a very good feeling and gave me good confidence for the up and coming scratch race and Elimination. The scratch race was filled with sprinters who didnt want to work and who definitely didnt not want the pace high so I tried 3 times to get away and the other endurance riders brought me back to I then say at the back and made a big effort to get back to the front with 3 laps to go. I was on the red line on the Norwegians hip and as we upped the pace it became a full on sprint with over a lap to go. I held 2nd position right till the last bend where I was pushed up the track from under me and a few riders squeezed through. I ended up 6th which was very annoying. The elimination was better as I took it from the front for the first part of the race staying out of trouble. I then found myself at the back and pipping the last riders on the line. There was 6 riders left and the crowd had figured out what I was doing giving me massive cheers every time I pipped a rider. There were 4 left and I was beginning to think I can do this but I judged my sprint wrong and was eliminated. I was happy with 4th considering these races were off the back of less than a weeks training. Yes of course I brought back some toblerone and yes its so much better than the British stuff. Now my focus is on the British Track National Points and Scratch races and training is in full swing again. Thanks for reading :) Cha
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 08:35:30 +0000
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