So, what do I enter? CDNW's Bole Hill road race in Buxton, with men. Yes, you may think that I was slightly bonkers (as the great Dizzee Rascal once sang), however I wanted to do a few hills and this gave me the perfect opportunity. I'd never ridden the course before, but I had marshalled on it at various points over the years, mainly when Stretford Wheelers used to organise the old Division Championships on it.
Well, how hard could it be? The organiser did check with me when I signed on to make sure that I knew it was horrendous but I was prepared for it. Anyway, it was glorious sunshine and 25 degrees, which is practically unheard of for Buxton! To be honest, I used to love racing with the blokes when I was younger, but this time I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up so I wasn't stressed out about it because nobody expected me to keep up!
We set off, and I got dropped up the second hill in the neutralised section, which didn't seem that neutralised to me, but hey, I kept going! What did make me laugh was the whole bunch braking when they came to a bit of water in the middle of the road - absolute lunacy!
It was really windy pretty much all round the course and Bole Hill itself is definitely steep! What made it worse was that I wasn't turning the pedals fast enough to go on my bottom sprocket, so the lowest gear I had was 34 x 21, yes, a granny gear, but I could have done with being able to use the 23 sprocket (shameful I know).
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| Photo courtesy of Richard Towse - taken from the lead car at 40mph! |
Maybe you don't think it's remarkable that I took part in a men's race on one of the hardest circuits in the country, but to me, getting on that start line was an achievement. In 2010, I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue, and last year I could only manage 10 minutes without nearly collapsing from exhaustion. If you look at pictures of me from last year, I was quite large, not massive, but too big for my liking. I have now changed medication for my epilepsy, lost nearly two stone and I think you can tell from the photo that I am a lot lighter. This time last year I would never have been able to ride out to the course, let alone do three and a half laps of it and ride back to the HQ, so I am really proud of myself.
I packed on the bell lap, but only because it wouldn't have been fair on the helpers for them to have to wait for me, as I was quite far behind. But you know what, I don't really care as I enjoyed every second of it and can't wait for my next road race now!
Roll on this season, they'll be no stopping me next year!
