Diabolical Stage Races and some flat Races
Kate Cullen | Thursday 29th July, 2010
Kate Cullen |   |
In the past month I have driven thousands of Kilometres to races. The first race was the Tour of Czech, which was a 10-hour drive in a non- air-conditioned van. I have ridden this race a couple of times before so knew I would suffer big time. In hindsight I should not have even gone, as I was still not 100 % recovered from my crash at Road Nationals.
The first stage was steady, when it got a bit sticky I got myself into a group and just pedalled around to the finish. The second stage had several very steep climbs which involved getting out the saddle, which my back was not very happy about. Rather than aggravate my injuries I became ‘bottle girl’ for the remaining 2 days.
The following week I did a lot of rollers to try and loosen my back and rode a flat race in Anderdonk in Belgium. The race was due to start at 6pm but due to the weather it was delayed to 6.30pm- a massive storm passed with high winds and torrential rain. I was late getting to the start so started right at the back, it was lined out straight away so I took a while to get to the front, I stayed near the front and soon a group of about 15 of us where away. With 15km to go a crash allowed 2 riders to get away so the rest of us where sprinting for 3rd. I ended up 6th.
We had a couple of easy days, which was just as well as I had a constant pain down my left side.
The next race was a 60km crit on a heavy circuit, there was a good field riding including a strong Aussie team. In the first 15km I was feeling awful and then I managed to get in the break of 9 riders so the suffering continued for another 45km. We stayed away and collected all the primes. There were a couple of attempts to get away in the last 6 laps but it came down to a 9 up sprint, I was so wasted I could not sprint so just followed wheels for 4th position.
I was really wasted after the race and had a couple of cans of coke as I had a 2.5 hr drive to Boezinge , Belgium for a race the following day, which was a UCI 1.2. I was a bit sluggish in the first 50km but started to perk up on the finishing laps, with 2 laps to go I got a puncture on a narrow section of the course, I made my way back though the pack and rode for a while on the flat before the team car arrived. There was a sizable gap to chase down, which was too much so pulled out on the last lap. After another couple of cans of coke I drove 3hrs back to the house in the Netherlands.
The following day I went to see a masseur which was well needed as the next day we where driving to France for the Tour of Linousin. The best thing about the tour was we had a brilliant soigneur called Holly. After the first 50km of the first stage I was particularly grumpy as my back and left hip hurt more than my legs, which was not right as I find climbing very painful on the legs. I drifted of the back and was soon caught by a reasonable sized group and we just pedalled to the finish. That evening Holly had her elbow in my back causing me more pain but necessary if I wanted to continue riding. The 2nd stage was a TT so I just ‘got around’ then took the final 2 stages at my own pace just getting into smaller groups each day - the incentive of finishing was an elbow in my back and to get some miles in. Not an ideal racing attitude, just a realistic one especially as I am not the very good on the hills.
I have realised at my age I no longer bounce after crashes which is particularly frustrating in the middle of the racing season.
