GO GOLD Athletes

And just like that the mountain Bike season is on! So after finishing the cyclocross season and taking a couple of weeks of needed rest, I have have been back training for this years cross country mountain bike season. A silly cold and tonsillitis have set me back in my training by a week but today I am off to join my GB team mates on a training camp in in Spain. First stop will be a race in Banyoles and then a week of training with the team.

What a crazy few weeks! A trip to Belgium over Christmas to race four races was great, tiring and fun all at the same time. Racing with the best in the world in Belgium was on another level. Results wise was ok although I was hoping for better. Back to GB for a national race and the national championships was a hard slog with major mud in both races. Again the legs were good but not quite good enough with P5 on both races. End of the CX season for me now and a big rest before the challenges of international cross country mountain biking.

Lots of work behind the scenes in December with Physio and Osteo treatments to get my scoliosis sorted and comfortable and back to racing. What a relief to get a a second at the last national race in Barnoldswick and some definite form coming back.

October was a busy month with the first national cyclocross race of the year in Derby where I delivered a strong 2nd, then onto Clonmel in Ireland where I took the win and then up to Falkirk in Scotland for another national race which ended in disappointed with illness so I had to pull out. Not a great week followed with further illness at a GB MTB camp and although I had been selected for an 11 day GB trip I had to miss the first 2 races in Belgium whilst I recovered. All being well I will travel to Belgium this week to regroup with Team GB and race the Euro Champs next weekend - keep your fingers crossed for me!

After finishing last years cyclocross season early due to illness with glandular fever, I can't believe we are now back at the start of the new season for cross!

Two regionally races down so far and soon to be racing a national... update to follow soon.

So the Ras na mBan is Irelands biggest women's stage race and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to race his with four of my Tofauti Everyone Active teammates. Six races over five days was tough and the worst of it was the weather! It rained everyday all day for the whole week and it was so challenging with miles and climbing being tough everyday. With 108 starters in this elite women's race I was pleased to finish 34 on GC and finish my road season with a tough stage race.

I was invited to guest ride for the junior development team Liv Halo at a gateway race in Plouay, France. The four girls in the team are girls I had race with for the past few years so I knew we would be a strong team together. The race was hot and rapid on a course with steep climbs and I was able to facilitate several attacks, it was hard work. On the day I finished 11th and gained loads of experience and I look forward to kore road races like this in the future. The weekend ended with being being able to watch the elite women race their world cup and mix amongst their teams to see what it is really like to be a pro rider.

Finally I made it to a junior world cup! After the awful start to the season with glandular fever, I was able to represent Team GB at the Proffix Junior World Cup in Basel, Switzerland. The days before the race it poured down with rain making the course really slippy and muddy but on the day of the race it was 30 degrees and soon dried the course up. Starting from a grid position of 41st didn't make it easy to get past the girls in front and with three huge crashes on the start lap I soon found myself struggling to get anywhere near the front of the race. I finished in 30th position out of 61 so disappointed with that but knew I had done my best on the day against girls that had been racing all season.

Well can't hard my disappointment with this result. I have had such a short season following having glandular fever and I wanted to boss this race! Immediately off the start I realised that my front brake was sticking which made it feel like I was racing with a brake on. After, I long stop in the pits it was not a quick fix I had to race on and cope with it. At this point I was in 8th position and raced like a demon on a very techy course and finished 4th and only 9 seconds off 3rd. Still not a bad result and considering the past year I can't complain.

For the first time this year I was able to race for my road team - Tofauti Everyone Active. I travelled to Belgium where myself and team mates raced in a two day stage race in very hot weather. I came 15th overall after two days of racing and I am happy with that considering it was my first road race this year and there were over a hundred riders in the field. I'll hopefully have another couple of stage races before the end of the season.

I just entered my first national mountain bike race after only 7 weeks of training. I had worked hard and had no illness so wanted to see where I was at in terms of competitors and timings etc... I told myself it was a starting point and I could only improve in future races.
As expected I was gridded at the back of the race and this gave me challenges as I needed to overtake other riders quickly before getting into the single track if I was to be competitive for the podium. My start wasn't amazing, having got stuck behind other racers so I had to work hard and after lap one I was 5th and and after lap two I was 2nd and that's where I maintained to the end. So super pleased to get a national 2nd after such a short amount of time training again.