SportsShoes Blog

Well it’s been a bit warmer this week so I finally took my bike off the turbo and ventured outdoors! It was so much more enjoyable and the time just flew by! Did a good 3hr ride on Wednesday with Joel Davidson, a local rider and went up to Gargrave and back via Skipton.  Had another nice ride yesterday from Bingley over to Queensbury and along the lanes in Halifax - much to Joel’s surprise - apparently he expected me to ’stay where its flat and avoid the climbs’ …what cheek!

Also been in the gym this week over in Leeds, need to get my core back in gear after the Christmas break but with a couple of planks every day its coming along nicely!

Got exams at the moment so busy revising for those but by this time next week they’ll be over until June!

Well I’m feeling much better now - dont think the antibiotics really worked but a long break over the Christmas holidays helped me get the bug out of my system and I got back on the bike a week ago.  The plan is to do as much riding as possible on the turbo for the moment and avoid the icy outdoors to keep the cold off my chest.  It pretty much takes all the enjoyment out of riding my bike- I’ve just finished a monotonous 90 minutes sitting in the saddle and going no where - but its definitely better than nothing!

Well I’m ill again! I seem to have caught every virus going so far this winter. Since the Revolution I picked up a cold which meant being confined to my bed and drinking honey and lemon on my 18th birthday! After a week off the bike I then tried a bit of steady training and a trip to the gym which then resulted in a chest infection. I’m on antibiotics at the moment so hopefully it will clear up soon.  I’ve just sorted out a 6 month gym membership with Cannons Health Club in Cottingley which they have kindly provided for free through the BOA.  Having a gym so near will cut down the travelling time as I currently train in Leeds.  I’ll continue to go there once a week as the strength and conditioning coach there, Mike Morely really knows his stuff, but then go to Cannons for the second session.  It’ll also be nice to finish off the weights with a quick trip to the jacuzzi and pool..all to help muscle recovery of course!

Had a weekend of track last weekend with Friday night track league and the Revolution track meeting on the Saturday.  Unfortunately there were only 2 womens events on - a 20 lap points race with sprints every 4 laps and a 6 lap dash!

I was perhaps a little bit eager to start with, going for the first sprint and up against the likes of Anna Blyth, an Academy sprinter - who needless to say passed me along with the USA’s Kacey Manderfield to leave me 3rd with 2 points.  I managed another 3rd in the 3rd sprint and finished 6th with 4 points.

The 6 lap dash was over really quickly but was a good result! I attacked over the top of the bunch with 2 laps to go and just made it to the finish line before Anna! (see pic! )

The Revolution meeting last week went ok, it was great to race in front of a sell out crowd and the velodrome was packed! My best result was 4th in the points race, I was tying on points for 3rd place with an American woman coming into the last sprint but she beat me so the 3rd place went to her. 

 I’ve been doing quite a few long rides recently getting in the winter miles! The weathers been pretty bad - wind and hail over Oakworth moor on Sunday but what doesnt kill you only makes you stronger I guess! I’ve been doing a lot of roller sessions to to build up speed for the track.

I had some good news last week as I found out I’d been nominated in the Junior Girls category for the BBC Yorkshire Sport Awards.  I was really pleased that someone had actually nominated me and I’m looking forward to the event in a couple of weeks!

JI have ust come back from a break off the bike and so I’m getting back into it again now. Went to the gym last Thursday and absoloutly died!! Apart from that I’m just doing easy riding at the moment as I don’t have any competitions for a while.  The weather’s pretty bad at the moment - typically it was lovely weather during my week off! I tried to go for a run to make the most of the weather but only managed 20 minutes and had aching joints for 4 days afterwards! I should be hearing pretty soon about whether I’ve got a place on the Olympic Academy Programme which I applied for at the end of August! Fingers crossed!

Trainings been pretty stop-start recently. I had my end of season break after the Europeans then got back on the bike, then picked up a cold, tried to train through it and it got worse etc etc! Im using Vicks first defence at the moment though and that seems to be really helpful - as soon as I feel slightly under the weather I start using it and *touch wood* seems to be doing the trick!

I found out about a month ago that I’ve been accepted on to British Cycling’s Academy Programme for U23’s! This has been my aim all year and it means that, when my A Levels are finished in July, that I can go full time as a cyclist It also means other things such as new bikes, so I have to leave my sponsor this year of BH -  they are great bikes and I would definitely recommend them. Also I will be going on the Athlete Whereabouts System…meaning that soon, testers will be knocking on my door at 6am!

I’m going up to Manchester this weekend for a few days on the track before my next competition, the Revolution meeting on 15th.  Other than that it’s going to be pretty quiet competition-wise for the next couple of months.

Better go… Need to get out training in that lovely winter weather!

Just come back from my long weekend in Manchester. It was really good to see all the other riders again and speak to them after their success at Manchester World Cup! We did a group road ride on Monday morning for a couple of hours that included a steep cobbled hill..it was the moutain bikers that took us up there! In the afternoon it was time to go over to the track for a bit of an induction talk and to collect new kit! On Tuesday we were up at 6 and left at 7 to ride to the track for an 8am track session.  It was strange being back on the track but it was a good session.  The others did madison training and me and Jess Allen did some rotating stuff behind the motorbike.  After that it was back to the flats for a quick lunch and a cuppa before riding over to the EIS for a biomechanical analysis.  This involved being filmed from different angles on my bike either riding normally or doing a 30 second effort.  This data will then be checked to see that there’s nothing weird going on position-wise on the bike! After that it was time to head on back home! It was really good to spend time with the other academy riders but a bit of a pain having to be back for school on Wednesday morning!

Well im now back from the Junior Track Europeans in Pruszkow and it was a very sucessful championships! We went on to win the final of the team pursuit, with both us and the Belgians posting faster times than in qualifying.  It was a really good atmosphere in the track and the crowd were really supportive, plus it was good to get the first gold for the GB team.

I then competed again the next day in the 2000m individual pursuit. I was pretty nervous cos I was warming up and watching the other athletes post times very close to my recently set PB and so probably panicked when it got to my heat.  I was off last against Jolien D’Hoore the World Junior Road Race Champion and 4th placed at the Junior World individual pursuit. I rode the first kilometre very fast and died a million deaths in the closing 2 laps, qualifying second fastest to D’Hoore by 0.2 seconds. This meant I was still in the ride off for gold and silver but it wasn’t the way I wanted to qualify. However, I came back to the final feeling confident and determind to give it everything but to control the first km.  I rode an evenly paced race and took the lead in the last 3 laps.  A strong rider, Jolien then kicked in the last lap but I still managed to win…by 0.4seconds!

This then meant another presentation and a second time listening to the national anthem! (I was glad I’d made the effort to get some nice new Nike trainers from Sports Shoes before I left for Poland to wear on the podium!) I also received another European Champions jersey…see pics!

I was really happy and phoned my family and gym coach then it was back to bed as I had another event in the morning!

For the next days event I was riding up a category in the U23’s 3000m individual pursuit so competing against girls potentially 5 years older, however the aim was to use it for experience.  I finished 13th in a respectable time of 3:50, 2 seconds slower than my PB but it was good to see where the standard was and how much I need to improve when I become an U23.

So all in all, a good trip and I returned hope with 2 gold medals and as Double European Champion!

http://track-pruszkow2008.eu/galerie/pretty_fast-31/1.html pictures from the event

Rode the qualification heat of the junior team pursuit this morning and we qualified fastest to the Belgians by 1.6 seconds! The team was myself, Jess Booth and Alex Greenfield and we all rode well apart from messing up the finish and narrowly avoiding a crash! The final for gold and silver is tonight!!!