Day 3 - World Cup Road Race, Segovia

I didn't have time to write this blog yesterday after my race as the day and night got away from me.

The day dawned a brilliant beautiful blue sky with not a cloud. But I knew it was going to be a hot one. I was racing at 1pm so it was important for me to employ some strategies to combat the heat if I could. My MS doesn't do well in the heat so I wanted to try and stay as cool as I could before the race.

I went for a warm up ride and about 15 minutes into it got stung by a bee! It hit me square in the upper chest and boy did it hurt! That was where the warm up finished. I went right back to our staging area and got some ice to put on it. The start was about 20 minutes away so by the time of the start the sting had gone out of the area. I made sure my head was completely soaked before I put my helmet on, put ice in the back pockets of my jersey and at the start line staff members were keeping my arms and legs wet.

All the trikes started out together with David Stone (GB) and Hans-Peter Durst (GER)taking control at the front of the group. I went with them along with a Columbian rider and Marie Eve (CAN), with the rest of the field stretched behind us. The pace was fast and furious on the first lap with an average of 38km/hr, at the first corner I was 3rd wheel behind David Stone when there was a huge bang and he hit his breaks fast and hard, I had to swerve to miss him, his seat had come off! I jumped in behind Hans-Peter and we kept going.

We hit the downhill going 49km/hr, but then we hit the hill! I made sure that I was in front going around the corner to the hill as the road was fairly narrow and all cobblestone! The hill almost killed me! We were down to 16km/hr and I got passed on the hill by GER,COL,CAN then near the half way mark Jarrad Langmead from Australia and a French rider passed me.

We were then back on the flats for lap 2 and I thought I would be able to catch Jarrad and FRA. Marie Eve had been dropped from the front two riders and Jarrad and FRA caught her so trying to get back on their wheels was my main goal. Unfortunately at the next corner the heat hit me, it was so hot! I think I put more of my water over me than in me!

I was unable to bridge the gap and when I hit the hill for the second time I was absolutely spent, the heat had robbed me of feeling in my hands and feet. It was all I had to get up that damn hill. But once I did and crossed the line I had Australian support who helped me to our staging area plying me with water, a nice cold wet towel and a bag of ice! It didn't take me long to recover and it was time for the medal presentation. I had won silver and to be honest I was extremely happy with how I raced. I couldn't have given anything more and that was all I asked of myself. It was an end to a great European tour winning 3 of the 5 races I had entered with seconds in the other 2 races and beating the current World Champion in those races!

Bring on London!

The Australians had another very good day:
Sue Powell -1st WC4,
Michael Gallagher - 2nd MC5,
Carol Cooke - 2nd WT2,
Simone Kennedy - 2nd WC3,
Jarrad Langmead - 3rd MT2,
Alex Green - 3rd WC4,
Claire McLean - 5th WC5,
David Nicolas - 10th MC3