Saturday was my first race of the 2022 season and my first race for my new team, Brother UK Orientation-Marketing! As it was the first race of the season I had no idea how I would perform especially as it’s been a few months since my last road race. However, it was my first race for my new team so I hoped that I could get off to a good start and progress from there.

After doing a few sighting laps on the top circuit, I noticed how windy it was on the first corner on the race circuit, so I was able to practise that a few times and got the feel of it. There was only seven of us on the start line so my aim was to just give it everything I have on the day, see how I’d get on and obviously enjoy it! My start was good, I managed to clip in quickly but I made the mistake of being first into the corner. On the descent, a rider overtook me and was already putting the pressure on - perhaps a little too much pressure so soon into the race in my opinion! The pace on the first lap was crazy. There was 4 other riders in front of me so I just tried to hang on to the back of them and thought to myself “they will ease off soon because of the wind”. I hung on until we got to the first time up the climb and I just couldn’t stay with the other women. This is very strange for me as I’m normally at the front on the first climb. Plus, when looking at the line up for my race, I would normally be one of the strongest and quickest climbers in that field.

After getting dropped on the first climb, I knew that my form just wasn’t there, which I did find quite frustrating after having a good couple of weeks training and my legs feeling the strongest they have felt for a while. I looked behind to see if there was anyone else behind me who I can work with, but there was no one, I was in no man’s land! At this point I had to change my game plan and go solo (like a solo TT) and hope that I could pick up riders as I went along in the race, which I did for the next 45 minutes. I managed to lap a rider towards the end, so I’m glad I didn’t finish dead last, but I still did not get the result I hoped for, or expected! Overall I finished 5th- which at the time I was not happy with!

At first I was a little disheartened and frustrated about how this race went, as I didn’t think my form was still so far from normal. I haven’t had an ideal winter training as I had started off with a cold, then a sickness bug, Covid, had surgery, then another cold, all within a short space of time! So I was on and off the bike constantly since November, and only returned to training properly a couple of weeks ago. Therefore I realised that I am a bit behind compared to other riders so I just need to keep training and racing to get back to where I was. I’m sure with the help and coaching from Tim I’ll be back to my usual self soon! :))

Amy Harvey

ELV Hoghill Crit, 13 Feb 2022

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