Liz Randall's Cycling Blog - a life behind bars

"With ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable"



Sunday 27 April 2008

Aftermath, analysis, a naming ceremony and a farewell

The aftermath:

Sitting at my computer on Sunday 3 days after the last race on Thursday followed by a boring drive home on Friday, I just can't seem to get enthusiastic about riding my bike(s)..any of them..not even a fun ride on Gary the MTB. So I shall just have to sit it out and hope to regain some interest by mid week.

Analysis:

Road Race:
  • I think the most satisfying aspect of the week came in the road race when I was able to work to gap Rosemary, who annihilated me last year.
  • That and not being dropped from the big(gish) bunch.

Crit:
  • This is a race I lost.
  • I really have to remember to actually sprint at the end of a race, ie get out of the saddle and also to use a gear with more grunt rather than 1/2 way across the cluster.....
Time Trial:

  • The weather was the same for all of us, but some(me) react to cold more than others.
  • The mechanical was my fault
  • My position needs tweaking.

Scratch:
  • What a blast.
  • The ideal thing for me to do is to use my TT ability for part of this race, but somehow it never happens.. lack of experience as I do one of these races per year & as a result anything I do is purely reactive.....
  • Our time for the 5km was only a few seconds slower than the younger grade.
500m TT:
  • 43.9 is slow for me, but then I'd not trained for it, so expected nothing more and in fact had said if "I can get under 45 I'll be happy".
  • I'm happy.
Naming the TT bike:
  • The name is.....Bo/Beau. Short for Boadicea (now more correctly known as Boudicca )
  • This lady was Queen of the Icenis a tribe who lived in Norfolk which is close to where I grew up in the Lincolnshire fens.
  • She was a warrior and her name means "Victory".
  • When the Icenis went into battle, they painted themselves with woad..a blue dye (neat eh!).
  • Boudicca's chariot had spears attached to the axles ...hmm good idea!
Farewell:
  • Colin the Colnago has been delivered to his new owner.

Plans:
  • Get down to race weight (lose 2-3kgs).
  • Learn to align gears.
  • Get priorities right..work comes waaay behind racing/training!!!!!

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