XC and Short Track in China.

Practice Lap

The whole trip was very last minute, I read a tweet, inquired, applied and a week later we were applying for our visas and picking up the visas the day before flying to China. We flew from Heathrow to Beijing to Guiyang which took around 15 hours in total, arriving on the Thursday. We were greeted at the airport and transferred to a luxurious 5 star hotel where we were to be based for our time in China. We were seriously treated well with meal times being a huge highlight with never ending options. On the Friday we started the day with a parade bike ride into Guiyang which was great for having a look at the surroundings and to spin the legs after the long journey then in the afternoon was a chance to practice on the Cross-country race course. Still feeling tired myself and Maxine headed out for 3 practice laps. As Maxine had raced on the course the year before and had a good idea of the layout it was great to follow her wheel. First thoughts were so hot, steep climbs, nice descents, dry and loose terrain: it was going to be a tough course to race on. 

We were to participate in two races: The Short Track Cross-country Race on the Saturday and the UCI Cat 1 Cross-country Race on the Sunday. The short Track was a 1 km loop and entailed riding as fast as possible completing as many laps as you could within 30 minutes without being caught by the leading rider. This was so tough and I found myself having a battle with the New Zealander Katherine O’Neill. We kept swapping between 9th and 10th but eventually I completed 10 laps in 10th position without getting pulled which I was really pleased with, 3 minutes down on the lead rider - Julie Bresset. Pushing hard in the heat I was shaking after.

 

For the Cross-country race we had 6 laps on the challenging course. Up the first climb there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing but over the top I gained a few spaces back working my way into 9th and on the wheel of the Swiss rider Sarah Koba. It was painful but I was determined to hold her wheel for as long as I could but I got a line wrong losing traction and a few spaces. Back on the bike I was in 11th with a small gap to 10th this gap stretched then closed a bit and although I was fighting to get in the top ten for the generous prize money I couldn’t move up from 11th. With the combination of steep climbs and the heat it was a really tough race. An absolutely amazing experience and I was so chuffed to not get pulled finishing 13 minutes down on Julie Bresset who had a 1 minute lead on Katrin Leumann in 2nd and a 3 minute lead on Blaza Klemencic in 3rd.

 We were literally there for a long weekend and early Monday we left for our return to the UK. The return trip was not as quick; we spent 8 hours in Bangkok airport and were travelling for twice as long. In total we probably spent as long travelling as we were there but the time we had in China far outweighed the time of travelling. I really enjoyed the experience, the people we met, the challenge of the race and the tiny amount of China that I experienced was all amazing. I would love to return and take part again next year. 

 Thanks hugely to my sponsors: Scott UK, Syncros, Sram, Torq, Schwalbe, Fibrax, Exposure lights and also to my coach Scott Bugden (Fit In No Time) it has been an amazing year and I feel excited for 2014.