The Junior Brabantse Piljs

I got to the race circuit, which was near the centre of Brussels and rode down the hill (featured in the race) to the HQ. I was wondering how we were going to cope racing up that hill 13 times!

Before the race I decided to do a loop to test it out, while Melissa was on rollers. The start of the cobbled climb luckily had a non cobbled path up the side and the steepest part of the climb wasn't cobbled - not as bad as i'd thought. When I got to the top of the climb I saw some riders waiting for the start, so I decided to ride back down to get Melissa. When I got to the bottom I realised she'd already set off to the top!

The climb

Being last to the start line ensured I was yet again at the very back! I decided pretty quickly that this bunch was definitely going to split, so I had to make my way quickly to the front.
On the first lap, the descent was mayhem. It had rained earlier and the surface was slightly slippy, so there were lots of crashes. Luckily I managed to avoid all of them although unfortunately Melissa got stuck behind one. After 3 laps the bunch had split and I had made selection being in a group of 20 away. The pace increased again as there were a few attacks on the hill. Ian (Mel's dad) kept shouting for me to move higher up the bunch at the bottom of the climb! I asked him how many laps to go - he said three, although it actually turned out to be eight! After lots of attacks, 4 riders eventually managed to break free. Another attacked with two to go. I saw it go, but had nothing left, so had to settle for sitting in and waiting for the sprint. The last time up the climb we took a right instead of a left and onto the finishing straight. The other girls were really going for it, but I dug deep and despite being rolled, managed to kick round another rider ahead to finish 7th.

Me next to the Champion-
System Lorry

The atmosphere was amazing, since we were a support race for the spring classic and going through the finishing straight with all the barriers was a brilliant experience.

After the race, it was time to head home back to England, saying bye to Melissa (she was staying till Sunday) and putting the bike in the car I noticed we were parked next to all the team lorries, and close by were all the Champion Systems lorries! I had to stop and have my photo taken with, which made me miss the Eurotunnel train!

I had a brilliant time racing in Belgium and can't wait till the Cheshire classic on Sunday.

Eagle RC Team Series Race – Hog Hill

I started the race at the very back of a bunch of 76 riders, not the place to be..! Fortunately I managed to make my way to the front in the first lap and tried an attack. This was brought back and a few more attacks went. The bunch stayed largely together, although the attacks made the race a bit harder – just my sort of race!
With 4 laps to go, a Mule Bar girl attacked and got away. I was in the middle of the bunch, so could not react myself and willed the others to chase, but it never materialised. She got a16 seconds on the bunch very quickly and coming into the last lap it seemed we were racing for second.  Unfortunately for the rider off the front, she punctured. I had moved up and was 4^th wheel as the sprint opened out. I managed to sprint past two and hold off the others for 2^nd place following Emily Barnes who took the win! Another good race for me (especially considering the problems I had on the course during the Essex Giro with punctures last year) and can't wait for our week in Holland/Belgium!