Andalusia Bike Race 2018 Time Trial

BY: Melanie Alexander

Published: 25th February, 2018

Andalucia Bike Race started today with a 33km time trial, riders setting off at 20s intervals. Mark was the first of us to go with Crispin following a minute later. The Elite Women then had to wait for the old men to clear the track before we set off, so my start was 2 hours later, by which time the boys had finished, completing the course in just over 80 minutes. Both seemed pleased with their rides and just encouraged me to keep pushing hard throughout.

At 13:30 it was my turn and in big event style I rolled down the start ramp and wound up the power between the barriers, heading out of Linares. We’d ridden the course yesterday so I knew what to expect. After a tarmac start there was a mixture of mostly wide tracks through olive groves and rocky single track. It wasn’t a course with lots of climbing but you needed to focus to ride the twisty trails well and to maintain speed. I struggled on some of the loose dry surfaces, wishing there had been slightly more rain than the sprinkling we”d had that morning, but I felt good on the single track descents through the middle part of the course.

After just over 1h29 I crossed the finish line. After yesterday‘ pre-ride I’d have been happy with this time but the girls here are rapid and I was over 10 minutes behind Chloe Woodruff in the lead. So for now I’m sitting mid-table in Elite, but there’s rain forecast later in the week. I’m hoping those wet Welsh weekends will play to my advantage. ;)