Well I finally returned to racing after my crash, did just enough to get the rest of the points I needed to retain my 2nd cat. I had a hard job bouncing back into racing, I’d spend the first 30mins – hour convincing myself to stay in the race, my positioning was awful – normally I’d ride near the front but since the crash I was in was at the front of the bunch, my brain has decided it is better to hang around at the back and no amount of talking to myself would convince me to move up, even though it was killing me sprinting out of the corners and no wheels to fall back through on climbs. My shoulder is still injured but confidence is coming back slooooowlly. TTs are looking a bit more appealing at the moment 😐
Managed to make the break in the first race I did, cramped or strained a muscle in the final 10mins, tried to recover sitting at the back of the break soft pedaling with one leg (not easy on a hilly course), managed to bring it round with about 400m to go which was too late for a downhill and tailwind sprint finish, hung on to take 6th trying to go for the sprint with one leg.
Raced again the day after it, got new 1 min, 5min and 20min power pbs racing with the men on a hilly course, got dropped, got back on, got dropped, got back on and repeat for 92kms with savage cross and headwinds, and it rained too. Took 4th woman and 24th overall as the sprint went from the final corner all uphill for almost 1km and I was totally spent. Bit disappointed, normally capable of a better result on that course but riding at the back just took too much out of me.
Raced again the following weekend with the men and the junior RR champs. Horrific race, the juniors were mega twitchy, lots of crashes, horse riders on the course causing one crash just in front of me. Not nice seeing a friend down and trying to miss him as I braked and steered into the grass. Then there was a running race on the same course, more crashes, more horses, more hills. Decided after the race to pack in racing for the season and focus on shoulder rehab as it hurts to climb.
Here’s to a better 2016!