Latest training sessions

In all of my years of pro cycling, today’s ride will go down as one of the more entertaining I’ve been part of.

There was everything… from a specialized tarmac with deep carbon wheels, to an old colnago with mechanical shifting and rim brakes. Plus the unrestricted e-bikes ⚡️
Then there was me… the only girl, with 2 bottles, a pocket full of precision and no mitts 👀
However I got a nod, a handshake and a “bon” from one of the guys on the e-bikes and I don’t think I’ve had me or Matt banned from future club rides.

Turns out, when people shout directions in French from the back of the group, I have no clue whether they’re saying “right” or “straight on” 🫣😂

The other thing I learned today… no matter whether they’re 12 or 72 - boys will be boys.

Perfect day to be out on the bike. Beautiful weather.

1 hour opener session then 75mins z2 to get the legs going again after a rest day yesterday.

3x 10’. Legs felt suprisingly good after bit of illness. HR through the roof as can be expected. 🥲

Another controlled ride, buildig the base and making sure the legs are ready for this evening´s KOM attempt

Well... this was a bit of a baptism of fire to be honest!!

Given that TTs is how I got into cycling in the first place, I realised on the drive to Perpignan that it's been almost 2 years since I raced my TT bike. I only entered this event on the train back from Copenhagen after my half marathon, deciding that TT training had gone okay and I fancied a fun, low pressure race to reintroduce myself to the hurt.

I arrived in the region at 15.00 on Wednesday and headed out on the bike to check out the route. The course had a few km of flat at the start and end but otherwise the remaining 19km was effectively climb-descent-climb-descent.

Given the nature of the descents (the first being narrow and twisty, and the second being exposed and windy) I opted to run my zephyr front wheel rather than the deeper, 100mm Titan.
For some reason, despite working perfectly in warm up (and cool down), I started my race effort and looked at my Garmin to discover no power numbers 🙄. I have zero clue why, though with the course not being one for “average power” it allowed my to just ride on feel - pushing the climbs and recovering on the descents.

A lot of people opted for road bikes and honestly I don’t think it was much of a disadvantage, especially with how windy the last descent ended up being.

I’m really happy I chose this as my first TT back because it was a really fun course, very pretty and a low pressure event. I’ve never done a Gran Fondo race before as I’ve always had UCI points but the atmosphere was super friendly and made the whole day very enjoyable.

And, as a bonus, not only did I win my age category but I won the women’s event overall 🥳 so now I just need to decide whether to add the Wolrd Championships in Japan to my race calendar for the year 🙈

(Early?) Mid-life crisis in full swing! 😂
My first ever running event and strangely really enjoyed it. Only goal was to run sub-2 hours and I finished in an official time of 1:52:17. And yep, I've already registered for next year... 🫣