Yesterday I found myself on the top spot of the podium, for the first time ever! Well, not including those stolen moments when you think no one’s looking and you have a quick jump on. You know, you pretend you’re Rachel Atherton, stick your arms in the air and make a fake crowd noise with your mouth. No? Just me?
It was Round 5 of the Southern XC series. I’d missed Round 4 due to be away with the fam so it seemed ages since I raced. One the whistle went, we were off and I managed to stay with one of the Vets for a while, until she dropped me on a climb and I never saw her again. As the women all go off together in these races, it’s always a bit of a job to try and keep tabs on who’s in my category and I had no idea where the other girls were.
Thanks to Kevin Sheldrake for a great race shot
I didn’t actually see many other riders the rest of the race, apart from a Fun guy
who’d stopped on a climb for a breather and then a handful of Sport guys warming up (how is it they pass me chatting away to each other at break neck speed and I’m slogging away, chuffing like Thomas the Tank Engine?) Having a bit of race experience, I knew to get my head down and push on. I knew I was struggling on any hill (I’d like to say it was the heat, but it was only down to that a tiny bit!) so had to keep up the pace on the singletrack.
I rode over the finish line and had to wait to watch for the other girls to see where I’d come, which all added to the excitement! As I stood on the podium, Roo asked to join me, which was lovely. After all, one of the reason’s I race is to inspire our little juniors. It was great to hear him loudly telling everyone “my mummy winned over all the others. Icing on the cake was it happened to be the regional championships, so you’re looking at the Southern Region Open Women’s Champ. Boom.
