If you play any kind of sport, you take your chances with injury and cycling is no exception. The stuff that I do, I almost expect that at some point I’m going to hurt myself – it’s just kind of inevitable that at some point I’ll crash. Despite appearances, I’m actually not a reckless person at all –  in fact sometimes I wish I was less cautious – so I’m careful to balance pushing myself with staying safe. But sometimes stuff happens, eh?!

I try not to think about it too much, but I’m always aware of the possible outcomes of what I’m doing, whether I’m riding or racing road, track or mountain bikes. What I’ve chosen not to do is make calculations based on what might or might not happen.

Take this example: I decided to enter a mountain bike race fairly close to the date of the Red Hook Crit fixed gear race in Brooklyn, one of a series that I’ve been gearing my training towards over the last 8 months or so. In the very depths of my mind was an awareness of the fact that a crash at that particular race would mean no Red Hook Crit, but I chose to race regardless because there’s always something important or exciting coming up. The way I see it, if I always skip events because of what might happen, I’ll miss out on more stuff than I would through injury.

Unfortunately, a crash at that very mountain bike race did put me out of action, and that was around four weeks ago. Despite a medic at the event telling me that I hadn’t broken any bones in my hand (clearly his X-Ray specs were broken!), I cracked a bone in my thumb into three pieces. I was out for six weeks and naturally, rather unhappy about it.

What followed was a rollercoaster of emotions, one I’m still riding for the next couple of weeks!

It began with panic. I’d been focused on training for months (with a few breaks for various reasons) and the thought of not doing it was pretty alarming for two reasons – firstly, as a freelancer, I’d come to enjoy the structure the training gives me through the week and I kind of planned the rest of the schedule around it so without the training, I felt unanchored and aimless. But the bulk of my panic came from the thought of losing all the gains I’d made through training – I’d been working hard to get stronger and faster and didn’t want to go back to square one.

My panic was accompanied by refusal; a refusal to be stopped by this injury. The first few days, I went to the gym with a cast on up to my elbow, hopped on the turbo trainer and created rivers of sweat that poured into it (ew!) and dug out my dusty running shoes. No way was I going to let some broken bones stop me from training, even if I couldn’t ride my bike. I was grumpy as hell, missing the good endorphins that come from cycling – I didn’t seem to get the same ‘fix’ from the gym and the turbo.

The furious workouts (and temper!) lasted about ten days, and then came acceptance, the next step. I realised that in some ways, rather than helping myself I was kind of beating myself up. What I actually needed, way more than to stay on top of my training was to be nice to myself, to show myself a little kindness and compassion. Being injured sucks and turbo training in a cast and doing one-handed gym work isn’t exactly fun and doesn’t make you feel any better about the situation. What I really needed was to treat myself like a good friend who needs a hug, rather than some kind of army cadet. I needed cake, wine, movie marathons, books, bubble baths, family, seaside strolls, pubs, friends, a hair cut, BBQs, cats, picnics, lie-ins and a bit of a break. I gave myself all of those and before long, relaxed into the whole idea of relaxing.

After a couple of enjoyable weeks, now I’m at the next stage. The end of my injury is in sight so I’m trying to motivate myself to get back into my former routine. The doctor told me not to use my thumb for six weeks, which I’m sticking to, so I still can’t ride properly. Whilst I was in New York for Red Hook Crit, I did cycle a little bit – possible because the city is flat, I rode incredible slowly and carefully and I didn’t use my thumb to hold the handlebars – but now I’m back in hilly Devon I’m not cycling again.

So here’s where am I now. This week, I went back to the gym after my short break and despite being worried that I’d find everything really difficult, I actually think the break has done me some good. Well rested and recovered, rather than feeling unfit I actually feel just about the same as I did before and I’m able to do the same number of reps with same number of weights as before the crash. There are a few exercises I can’t do because of my injury, but other than that, all good.

But it’s not all good; here’s the thing. What’s really worrying me, weirdly, is getting back on my bike. I felt like I was in a really good place with my training and now I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with the rides/groups/races that I was only just able to keep up with before – I’d worked hard to build my power and speed up over many months and I’m scared that it will all be gone and then I’ll get super bummed out. So rather than looking forward to riding again, it’s the opposite. Which is stupid, because I love cycling.

I guess what I need to do is take some of my own advice and just treat myself kindly – get back on the bike, enjoy and do my best. Fingers crossed I’ll be back to racing in no time. I’m wondering whether to just throw myself in at the deep end, climb straight back on and enter some races or whether I should give myself a few weeks training before I potentially demoralise myself. What do you think?

Assos just released their brand new women’s specific Off Road rally jersey and bibshorts so I hopped on the CX bike and headed off down the local Bridleway to check them out for the first time.

Assos began from scratch when designing this new line rather than just changing up one of their existing products, so the shorts are really different from Assos’s other women’s offerings. The fabric feels strong and supportive – it’s thicker and more robust than the silky fabric of something like the S7 LaLaLai shorts,  so should be able to withstand a bit of mud and the odd stone being flicked up. As the outer face of the fabric is textured rather than smooth, any accidental abrasions probably won’t show up like they would on something smoother.

The cuffs do a good job of anchoring the legs of the shorts which helps minimise any rubbing or chafing and the hand stitched chamois means you stay comfortable on the saddle.

The soft, seam free straps are unusual in that they cross at the back and do up with a magnetic closure at the front. It means you don’t need to remove your jersey to go to the toilet.

You’ve also got some removable hip pads, in case you feel the need for some impact protection.

But the best thing about these shorts is the fit – they’re super flattering and snug and make me feel dead fancy. I am always at my fanciest when cycling – I’m a bit of a scruff the rest of the time…

The jersey is quite a work of art. Constructed from 5 different fabrics, it makes use of 25 patterns and features a full length zip, three pockets and interestingly, a mesh back. The mesh back means its mega ventilated so you should stay as cool as can be, though its recommended that you wear the accompanying base layer underneath for protection from the sun.

Again, the cut is super and it fits like a glove. The sleeves are short, side panels are nicely tailored and the collar looks rather smart – it’s part of the same piece of fabric as the body of the jersey, rather than being stitched on separately.

In conclusion? A really rather nice outfit. Thanks Assos!

Revisiting the relaxed, friendly format of the inaugural Ride-Outs in global cycling hotspots across the world that I kicked off with last year’s London ride, the second Fred Perry London Ride-Out takes place this Sunday on May 22nd.

Just as cycling means more than just pedaling, the Ride-Outs are more than merely routes through a city – they speak to the heart as well as the body. They aren’t about summiting hills for glory, they’re about cycling’s camaraderie.

Beginning at Fred Perry’s Covent Garden store on Henrietta Street, our social group ride mixes a spot of sightseeing with a pedal around the hallowed Regents Park ring, much loved training ground of the cities ‘serious’ cyclists. We aim to leave no one behind – this is not a training ride, it’s a hanging out, chatting shit, cruising about ride. But of course, do be realistic about your ability as we’ll be on the move for about
an hour and a half.

Keeping a steady pace, we’ll head over Waterloo Bridge for a stunning view of the Thames, cruise past Big Ben and roll up to Buckingham Palace before turning North and making our way to Regents Park. We’ll test our legs with a few of laps before heading off to cycling café Look Mum No Hands for coffee and cake or pies and ales.Or whatever you want – it’s on Fred Perry!

Places are free but strictly limited and nearly all gone so sign up now to secure yours. Hope to see you there!

I’m a proud ambassador of women’s cycling initiative Strongher. A worldwide collective, our aim is to encourage, inspire and assist fellow female cyclists, learning from one and other, putting on workshops for each other, hosting rides and more.

Strongher just launched their brand new cycle kit, and mighty fine it looks too. The fitted padded shorts come without shoulder straps, the full length jersey is cool, lightweight and comfortable and to top the lot off, you’ve a matching cap and socks.

Grab your Strongher kit here.

I’ve been to a whole bunch of bike shows all over Europe and let me tell you, they can be really quite boring, I mean, I like bike stuff as much as the next person but spending an entire day looking at displays of components inside an airless, fluorescently lit exhibition hall can do my head in.

Luckily, Spin LDN is a bit different. An eclectic mix of talks, shows and stands, the show is still relatively new but really coming into its own this year with a whole host of things that are really interesting – print workshops from cycling illustrator Eliza Southwood for example, talks by cool women such as Jenny Gwiazdowski from London Bike Kitchen and an interviews with people such as Martyn Ashton.

On Sunday 22nd at 3pm, I’ll be on stage with fixed gear rider Patrick Seabase, discussing his adventures riding a track bike through the Alps and Pyrenees and how they compare with my own experiences racing fixed gear crits in Europe. Whilst both of us ride fixed gear bikes, what we do is very different from one another so it should make for an interesting conversation.

I’d love to see/meet as many of you as I can there and I’ll be opening the floor to questions from the audience so please come armed with some for myself and Patrick!

www.spinldn.com

I’ve been running Mavic Ellipse clinchers on my track bike for a while now, and whilst they certainly do the job pretty decently, every time I go to the velodrome, I do get wheel envy. I’m generally a pretty cheap date and a scruff bag – sharing a portion of chips on the sea front and bumming about in a tracksuit on rest days but there’s something about shiny, deep section carbon track wheels that make me hungry with desire for the posh and expensive. The situation is worse if I ever turn up to race, either at the track or one of the fixed gear crits such as Red Hook – there are more blinging wheels than you can shake a stick at. And there’s one particular set of wheels that’s had me drooling for yonks –  Fast Forward‘s carbon tubular wheels, either the limited edition F4Ts or the F6Ts. Imagine my delight when Fast Forward sent me a pair of F6Ts to race on the velodrome and at Red Hook Crit!

The F6Ts are are made composed are multiple layers of differently composed carbon, design to give ultimate stiffness without being brittle and even with the tubular tyres pumped up to a really high pressure I’ve found they feel very, very smooth. The Double Arc rim profile means the wheels are super aerodynamic and slice through the air with minimal drag. Put it this way, they feel very fast.

In my latest video I check out the new wheels for the first time at Torbay Velopark. Stay tuned for a full review once I’ve given these a thorough testing.

I’m still relatively new to both training and racing – it was only last June that I impulsively entered the inaugural London round of the Red Hook Crit series and signed up for a month’s intensive training in preparation. Before that, I’d tried training for about two weeks, disliked it and given up but with an ambitious goal to work towards and a coach who really listened to my needs, last year I suddenly found myself liking training.

I fully committed to it last summer, strictly adhering to the rest days, never skipping a session and always giving my full effort to a workout. The results were great even though I’d only been doing it for a few months but once the crit racing season drew to an end I found myself craving a little more flexibility and a lot more time on my mountain bike or riding trails. Last autumn, I decided to forget about structured training for a couple of months and just have fun riding my bikes.

My plan was to get cracking again on January 1st and I found myself looking forward to that date and wanting to get stuck into working hard, so in my mind the break was a good thing no matter the consequences for my fitness. I decided not to work with a coach/trainer, mainly for financial reasons but also because I felt I had learned quite a lot through studying and testing out training plans in 2015.

From the start of January 2016, my week generally looked like this:

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: Morning – Gym.

                Evening – Turbo Training intervals

Wednesday: Recovery Ride / Mountain Biking

Thursday: (fast) 80km group ride

Friday: Intervals

Saturday: Mountain Biking

Sunday: Road or MTB

And it continued to look like that until disaster struck and I broke my stupid thumb of all things, at a mountain bike race in Wales.

The injury came at a really rubbish time and messed with my head. I felt like the winter training was starting to pay off and things were looking good for the summer and it was right at the start of a ten-week block where I had a race every weekend; road, mountain bike or fixed gear crit. The injury also coincided with me undergoing treatment for something else, so not only couldn’t I ride, I also had to inject myself in the bum twice a day. The result was I became extremely moody and put on 3kg.

So where am I now? Well officially, I was allowed to ride again last week, but of course I was impatient and got back on the bike a little earlier (the week before? Or was it two weeks before….?). Unsure whether to ease or throw myself into things, I went for the latter and entered a local closed circuit road race. It’s always difficult to know what to do post injury and many would advise that you take it easy at first and build yourself back up slowly. I decided against that for more than one reason – firstly, because I want to fast-track my recovery as I don’t have much time to get fit before Red Hook Crit London, but also because I’ve been in need of the structure, focus and endorphins I get from training hard. I was really pleased to take 3rd and it gave me a big mental boost, so I’d say it just goes to show, advice is helpful but at the end of the day,

you just need to do what works for you

I had a bit of a set back last week and was in hospital on Wednesday morning but I was straight back out on the bike as soon as I was able. Again, I’m not sure everyone would recommend my approach, but riding hard and fast makes me feel better. Laying around in bed generally does the opposite.

Back at the gym, I’ve found I can still lift the same weights and work through my standard routine. I’ve done a couple of longer rides and do feel like I’m a bit slow and fatigue rather early. I coped alright with the local club’s insanely fast chain gang though, so not all is lost!

On the whole, I’d say my main issue is recovering effectively – I seem to be struggling to recover as well/quickly as I’d like, particularly because I tend to  ride my mountain bike on what is meant to be a rest day. I’m going to try and stick to my one rest day a week, but it’s not easy. The problem is, there aren’t enough days in the week to train AND recover AND have some fun, mess about rides and hit some jumps.

When I’m not riding, I take my recovery seriously – I’m sooooooo lazy if I’m not on a bike! I’ve also been having recovery shakes, foam rolling my legs and stretching. Sadly, I can’t afford massages so that’s about the best I can do, but I find it frustrating when I can’t give my training all I’ve got because my legs still hurt from the day before or because I’m really tired. It’s annoying, because really, I’d like to do even more, such as run.

Do you have any tips for recovery that you’d like to share?

PowerBar, one of the original manufacturers of on-the-go sports nutrition just celebrated their 30th birthday by releasing a new PowerBar ENERGIZE Muffin Mix along with a revamped ENERGIZE bar made with natural ingredients.

I love getting sports nutrition products through the post – I nibble and slurp my way through quite a lot of different stuff as I like the ease of just grabbing a bar, some gels or a shake when I need one. I eat plenty of ‘real’ meals as well but as I train a lot, I find these kinds of products really handy. I’ve tried loads of different stuff and I know which I like best (that’s a future post) but I do enjoy trying something new.

So the Muffin Mix is indeed something new and seems to follow a mini trend I’ve noticed for kind-of-but-not-really DIY sports nutrition. I’m not totally sure where this has come from – maybe people like to feel something is more natural if they make it themselves, but they haven’t the time or inclination to shop for a bunch of different ingredients and bake up something from scratch? Personally, I have no problem with ready-made sports nutrition. I like a lot of it.

So the Muffins. Well, the first thing I thought was why? According to the manufacturers, the muffins “are the perfect alternative to our classic energy gels or bars and feature the same high-quality nutritional profile: with the special C2MAX carbohydrate mixture, they deliver over 20g of carbs per muffin.”

PowerBar have come up with quite a few new things recently – I haven’t tried the Performance Smoothies yet but I want to – and to my mind, the reason they’re offering these is because people who eat a lot of sports nutrition products get a bit bored of eating the same old thing all the time.

The muffins are designed to be consumed before or during exercise. As I don’t consume sports nutrition products before cycling, only during, that means I’d have to carry a cupcake in my jersey pocket which isn’t really practical.

Because of that, I chose to make them to consume before a tough evening ride (the local chain gang) before which I would generally have a snack, just not a sports specific one.

Making the muffins:

Each box contains three sachets of mix with making between 4-6 muffins (according to the pack). It’s all very straight forward; you simply tear open a sachet, mix with 80ml of water et voila, muffin mix. I added some chopped nuts and dried fruit at this stage to cram in as much nutrition as I could, but you can just bake the muffins as they are.

After mixing everything together, you divide the mixture between the paper cases provided in the box. Its quite runny so I reckon it would have been easier to put mix everything in the measuring jug then you just pour the batter into the cases. The runniness made my cases lose their shape a bit – maybe because they were standing around for a while whilst I took photos.

I bunged them in the oven (it takes 40seconds in a microwave but we don’t have one) and seventeen minutes later, we had muffins.

The verdict?

The taste really, really nice and it was hard not to just eat all of them. In the end, we nearly did – we had two each, but hey, they’re small. Without the nuts they’re approximately 100 calories each, and they’re lower in fat and dietary fibre than regular muffins so that you can digest them more easily whilst (or before) riding.

The main downside to these yummy little cakes is that the box of mixture costs £9 and makes between 12 and 15 muffins, which is a bit on the expensive side. I suppose if you’re comparing the cost per unit to an energy bar then it’s not as bad, but I’m comparing it to the cost of cake, and £9 would buy an awful lot of really nice cake.

I’m off to chain gang now to see if they have made me faster!

I’ve presented or been a part of several women’s cycling events and forums in the past and one of the things that seems to interest quite a few people is what to eat in order to fuel yourself properly for cycling, training or gym workouts.

I’ll cover on-the-bike, race and away from home nutrition in part two of this post; here in part one I’ll focus on the day-to-day food I consume when I’m at home.

I really enjoy food and cycling really fires up my appetite but I take a sensible approach 90% of the time and don’t just stuff myself with any old rubbish, mainly because it doesn’t fill me up like ‘real’ food but also because I know it’s not particularly good for me. I don’t follow a special diet and I don’t cook using weird, hard to source ingredients, such as chia seeds, coconut oil, brown rice syrup and all that stuff. Those kinds of things are really, really expensive and I don’t have a lot of money, plus, I don’t like to be such a blind sheep and conform to whatever silly thing the marketing people are rubbing their hands in glee about this month. I just eat normal food.

In a week, I probably eat cake once or twice, have a few biscuits several times and possibly pinch a few of Dave’s sweets or have an ice-cream if it’s summer. I’ll eat crisps if Dave buys them, ditto chips, but to be honest I tend to crave something like peanut butter on toast way more than anything like that.

Going out with Dave has definitely normalized my eating habits and helped me find balance in what I’m eating. In the dark and distant past I worked as a model and developed all sorts of peculiar anxieties about food because of how much I needed to restrict my eating in order to be sufficiently tiny. The guilt of eating a chocolate bar was enough to send me into a spiral of despair but Dave’s happy enjoyment of stuff like that rubbed off on me and I now longer suffer from the same issues. It’s just a chocolate bar! Cycling really helped with that too – you can’t ride properly if you don’t eat well and a piece of cake post ride always feels well earned rather than gluttonous.

Anyway, let’s begin with toast, because that’s how I start my day. I’m not shy of carbs because I love them and I need a lot of them to fuel my training. I’m not coeliac, so I have no need to avoid gluten. Dave makes huge loaves of bread using a mixture of plain, wholemeal, brown and rye flours and I’ll have a couple of thick slices toasted with peanut or cashew butter, marmite and jam (on separate pieces, not together!) Two cups of builders tea and I’m good to go until mid-morning when I have a piece of fruit.

Lunch is usually a protein rich soup, such as lentil, plus homemade bread with hummus or occasionally cheese. I’ll usually have some tomatoes, cucumber, carrots or something like that as well. If there’s no soup, I’ll have a sandwich or a salad made of buckwheat, beetroot, feta, whatever salad stuff I have lurking in the bottom of the fridge and a dressing of lemon juice and olive oil.

Mid afternoon, I may have a couple of biscuits and a cup of tea if I’m just working at home rather than doing much training. If I’m hungry, I’m off to the gym or just back from a hard training ride I might have toast with peanut butter or sardines, Greek yoghurt with a sprinkle of nuts, dried fruit and honey, or a piece of fruit.

Dinner is something I always look forward too and Dave and I nearly always cook everything from scratch. I don’t eat meat so typical meals are:
Quorn spaghetti Bolognese.
Smoked Mackerel and vegetable stir fry with noodles.
Coconut and spinach daal with rice.
Spaghetti with tomato, tuna, capers and olives.
Black bean and butternut squash burritos with cheese, salsa and guacamole.

The portions I eat are fairly substantial, though I try not to eat an enormous lunch as it just makes me want to have a nap! And speaking of sleep, I try and avoid eating large meals late evening (which can be difficult if I have an evening race) as it stops me sleeping properly.

And that’s it. Stay tuned for part 2 where I’ll discuss the foods and drinks I consume as part of my training and how I fuel myself when I’m racing or away from home.

With multiple timed stages reached under your own steam, Enduro races have invigorated grass roots mountain biking over the last few years introducing the thrill of racing down technical terrain to a new generation of riders. Unlike a Downhill race where riders use single discipline bikes, Enduro or ‘trail bikes’ are equally at home in the bike park as they are out on the moors, something that more closely reflects people’s diverse interests.

This season the Welsh Gravity Enduro series decided to take a new look at the Enduro format, tweaking it ever so slightly to provide even greater fun for riders looking to test their skills and have a great time doing so. The Mash-Up format allows competitors to try as many times as they like to set their fastest time on the downhill stages in any order they chose.

I was drawn to the event as it resembles an ideal day out on the bike – riding all day with friends, pedaling up to the top to ‘earn’ your fun on the way down and finally, a competitiveelement – who doesn’t like to see how they stack up against their buddies?

To read how I got on in my first Welsh Gravity Enduro mash-up race earlier this year at Afan Forest, click here to read the full article from which the excerpt before was taken.

Whilst you’re there you can find out about plenty of other Enduro events to enter too. I’d really recommend giving one a go. Enduro events are (in my opinion!) way more fun than slogging your way round a cross-country course. For me, hard work on the bike needs repaying and in Enduro  you still get to pant and wheeze your way up climbs but you’re rewarded with awesome downhill sections. It’s the best of both worlds.

Do you speak Spanish? Fancy finding out a little bit more about me? Click here to head over to Spanish cycling magazine Cyclosfera‘s website to read my interview.

Don’t speak Spanish? Here’s a translation:

. . .

What do you enjoy the most of your work?

The best thing about my job(s) is the fact I don’t have to go in to an office and I get to spend a LOT of time riding bikes.

Why do you bike?

The root of the reason is that riding bikes is just simple, innocent fun. I think that those of us that live the kind of lives where we are able to spend timing doing pointless things entirely for pleasure are extremely fortunate. Riding bikes is a privilege!

How does it make you feel?

Riding bikes keeps me feeling happy.

You prefer to ride alone or with someone else?

Hmm, it depends what I’m riding. If I’m training, it’s easier to just do that alone. Anything else and I prefer to ride with other people.

Why are there still more men on bikes than women in our cities?

Well you can’t change things over night! There have always been more men riding than women, but there are more and more women beginning to ride.

There are so many why there are fewer women riding but a big reason is definitely safety. Woman are naturally more risk averse than men and so many women feel unsafe riding in our cities.

What do you do when not biking?

If I’m not out riding then I’m doing something very lazy or relaxing as I’m usually trying to conserve energy or recover from training. So normally, I’m cooking, because I love good food, or I’m reading or watching a movie. Or I’m napping or taking a bath. I like hanging out at home with my husband and four cats.

Your favorite book, album, movie

Ooh, this is a hard question. Actually, impossible! Hmm…. Favourite book, I’m not sure. Off the top of my head, I really loved Dave Eggers’ ‘A Heart Breaking Work Of Staggering Genius,’ and Bugalkov’s ‘Master and Margherita’ always sticks in my mind. Or Gunter Grass’ ‘The Tin Drum.’

The bike of your dreams

This is also a really hard question. Honestly, I’m not sure I have a dream bike, but I’d really like a new fork for my jump bike and a Downhill bike. And a lovely steel tourer.

The best place to ride is…

Wherever it’s sunny and warm!

The weekend before last, I hopped on a train to Paris to go and race the inaugural edition of La Petite Course crit. It just so happened to be the same weekend that the London Nocturne was taking place and my husband was racing the track bike crit at this prestigious race in the capital. So why wasn’t I?

Quite simply, there was no women’s track bike race. We could race with the guys if we wanted, but guess what? Barely anyone wanted to. What a surprise.

If you happen to have been reading this blog for the past couple of years or so, you may know that I feel passionately about separate races for women. Women’s cycling is on the up and female participation in competitive cycling is growing, but it’s pretty dumb to expect women to be ok with racing against men.

Bike racing isn’t like a marathon where it’s each person for themselves and what counts is the time you take to cross the line. You can’t chuck the women in with the men and just work it all out at the end because bike racing involves riding with others, tactics and cooperation.

Most importantly, bike racing requires confidence and steely nerves. Funnily enough I find I’m lacking both when I have to race amongst men who are far faster than I am. And I’m not naturally timid or scared of racing, so imagine how women who are very new to the sport may feel?

To Paris…

So, I went to Paris, where the organisers had taken note of the huge surge in female entrants in the Red Hook Crit, the Rad Race, Wolfpack Hustle, the Dutch Crit Cup and more and included a women’s race. I’d been contacted personally by them and invited to attend, sent maps on how to get there and given every encouragement and assistance. As women racers have had it tough for so bloody long, naturally there are still fewer of us than there are men so that kind of thing really helps with numbers. I applaud the organisers, in particular Caro Paulette for taking the time to do that and to help grow the female race scene. And it IS growing; every single race I go to there are new faces, in fact, it’s the women’s scene that is growing the fastest.

The Race…

Arriving in Paris rather late, I grabbed my number and had a look around the location, the old Hopital St Vincent De Paul. The course weaved its way around a complex of buildings now given over to social enterprises, artists studios, bars accommodation and such – the whole place had a really nice feel and was thronged with people enjoying the ambience, drinking wine and cheering on the athletes.

Photos: Caro Paulette for La Petite Course

The track itself was very short (600m) and had very sharp corners that were made even sharper by the fact the course was super narrow. I had to go pretty slow in my qualifications as I hadn’t seen the whole course and didn’t know what to expect. There were also a few puddles and holes in the tarmac to keep you on your toes!

In the main race, I got a really good start but was quickly overtaken by Sami Moreno, who I simply couldn’t get round for many laps. Suffice to say, I’ve learnt my lesson from that and will not be so polite in future!

If you’d like to see how the rest of the race unfolded, follow my day racing in Paris and find out where I placed, check out my video and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more.

One of the things I love most about cycling is going fast. The other is getting airborne and doing jumps, which isn’t really relevant to riding a road bike at all so when it comes to riding asphalt I get my kicks from speed.

So how to ride faster?

The most obvious way of getting quicker on two wheels is quite simply by riding more, but what I’ve learnt after many, many years of just riding aimlessly (enjoyable though that is!) is that you get better results, more quickly by really focusing on what you’re trying to achieve rather than just kind of hoping it’s going to happen, you know,  as a by-product of what you’re already doing.

Another thing I’ve learned is that tips really do help. I’m a big one for asking for advice and always want to hoover up as much knowledge and know-how as I can. I absolutely do not get weird about people butting in and offering advice – I actively encourage it. And once I’ve gleaned some valuable facts? Well it’s only fair to share.

So head over to bicycle insurance folks Bikmo to read my guest post and my top ten tips for cycling faster.

Juliet Elliott: “My top 10 tips for riding faster”

Questions? Please leave me a comment below!

Though I absolutely detest all those feel good slogans people post all over Instagram, I will concede that a little positive reinforcement can work wonders if you’re feeling a little bit crap, and let’s face it, all of us feel crap at some point.

I have a not-so-secret desire to be really strong, very fast and kill it on all kinds of bikes, so having set the bar ever so high for myself, I can find it difficult not to give myself a really hard time when I’m feeling weak.

I really enjoy challenging myself, whether that’s by riding with people who are way faster than me, racing extremely tough events or riding really technical trails on my mountain bike but the upshot of all that is that I can’t help but compare myself against others, and as my energy/speed/ability or mood fluctuates I find myself doing so unfavourably.

I’m aware of how irrational it is to kind of kick yourself when you’re down or not having a great ride, but I know I’m not alone in doing this. I sometimes think to myself, ‘if I heard someone else putting me down the way I do myself, I’d be really annoyed and I’d defend myself.’

What’s the answer?

Am I going to start cycling with slower people or riding easier trails so I feel faster, stronger or superior? Hell no! But what I have found can be helpful is answering that critical inner with a ready-made positive response that counters the stupid stuff it’s saying. So it effect, you’re defending yourself… against…. yourself!

So if any of this resonates with you, don’t let your inner voice crush your confidence – check out my guest post on the Velovixen site and find out more about silencing that inner critic. Because riding bikes is fun, so don’t spoil it for yourself!

Apologies for the tardiness of this post, I’ve been pretty flat out trying to catch up with work and travel these last few weeks!

In the middle of June, the ‘Fixed 42‘ Fixed Gear World Championships took place in Berlin, the second time the event has been held by the German ‘Rad Race’ organisers. The race took place over the weekend of the Velothon, a huge event in Germany’s capital that sees roads closed to traffic with two sportives (60km for beginners or 120 km for the more experienced) and a UCI sanctioned race for the pros.

Photo: Bjorn Reshabek 

I was in Berlin to compete in the fixed gear race, which started outside the city in a small town called Ludwigsfelde before racing along the (closed) autobahn and finishing with the same city centre circuit as the UCI race.

I had little idea of how the race would pan out I’ve only ever raced fixed gear bikes in crits (short, multi lap circuit races) and never from point-to-point. I’ve actually never entered this kind of road race on a geared bike either, because I really enjoy the short, sharp intensity of crit racing with its tight corners and demand for nifty bike handling. A road race is definitely on my to do list, but so are a lot of things, so anyway, back to Berlin.

Photo: Adrian Vesenbeckh

The men’s race was a pretty crazy 500 hundred strong and there were over 50 women registered for my race. Having suffered a lot of maddening injuries and endured plenty of hospital shenanigans this year, I wasn’t even sure I was going to go to the race in Berlin. Even on the morning of the event I didn’t know whether I should really compete and remember this discussion with Dave over breakfast:

Me: My back is so screwed, I think I might just go to the race and then ride the course at my leisure… seeing as I’m here.

Dave: You’re full of crap. If you line up on the start there’s no way you’ll just let everyone go and pootle along at the back. If you take your bike, you’ll race.

So I took my bike and I raced.

The experience of riding on the Autobahn was pretty unique but it was riding the streets of Berlin that I found really fun, riding past places I recognised such as the East Side Gallery and passing our hotel en route. Very few riders were willing to ride at (or even near) the front, which was their loss – the experience of leading the pack through the streets of Berlin was amazing!

Photos: Carlos Fernandez Lazer

In the end, the race came down to a sprint for the line and I crossed the line in Second Place behind Jasmie Dotti and ahead of some very fast, strong ladies. So that was rather nice!

My latest video explains a bit about my latest injury (sigh!) and why I wasn’t going to race and then a blow by blow account of the race with onboard GoPro footage and annotation.

Enjoy! And if you like the video, please subscribe to my channel. Thanks for watching!

Oakley’s newest sports sunglasses, the EVZero are the company’s lightest yet and ideal for both running and cycling.

Available in two shapes – the Path and larger Range lenses, the glasses do away with a frame altogether to shave off precious grams and increase the field of vision.

I opted for the Range Prizm road lens in Infrared, the look of which has proven to be divisive in the extreme – this bright, bold pair of shades are definitely not for the shy and retiring. Personally, I’d have preferred them without the etched outline of the individual lens – I don’t think it adds much but I do love the colour.

Clarity of vision is superb. The Prizm lens blocks certain colour wavelengths to increase clarity, which in practice means that you can see better on both sunny and overcast days. I definitely felt that everything looked sharp and I was able to spot rough patches on the road with ease. Despite being large, the edges of the lens didn’t make my vision distorted and I really liked the unobstructed view made possible by the lack of a frame. An Iridium® coating reduces glare.

When it comes to safety, Oakley have opted to cut the entire lens from a sheet of Plutonite®, that filters out 100% of all UVA, UVB and UVC light. Because the filter is part of the lens rather than a coating, you can’t scratch it off so there’s no danger of light getting through the scratches and damaging your eyes. Supposedly the lens material is very durable in a crash, though luckily I’ve not tested that feature yet.

The arms are coated with the same soft, rubber coating that the nose pads are made of and the glasses stayed put well, even when I sweating profusely. It’s worth noting that during a brutal HIIT session I didn’t even notice my glasses at all; they must have been very secure, light and unobtrusive as I was doing a hell of a lot of sprinting.

My conclusion? Feel fantastic, look kind of crazy!

Model:
Oakley EVZero Prizm Road. Infrared
RRP £140

Availble from Igero for £112

The second edition of Red Hook Crit in London will forever be known as ‘The One That Dani King Entered’ so it’s hard to remember that hidden somewhere within all that are the unique, deeply personal stories of the other sixty or so female riders who made up the rest of the field. Without them, there would be no race.

Here’s my story

Last year, inspired by watching one of the first women’s Red Hook Crits in Milan back in October 2014, I randomly took the plunge and entered my first RHC; in fact my ever fixed gear crit. I remember sitting on Torquay beach processing my application on Eventbrite then quickly posting evidence of my intentions on social media so I’d be forced to go through with it. It was just a month before the race so I had little time to prepare but I found the process of training and the focus it demanded extremely therapeutic, albeit tough! The race itself was one of the hardest but most amazingly exhilarating things I’d ever done, so after London, I signed up for the next race in the series, in Barcelona.

Photo: Sam Dunn

Over the next winter I paid attention to my training and began preparing early for the 2016 Red Hook Crit season. I put in many hours on the turbo trainer, bulked up my little leg muscles at the gym and entered as many local races as I could. I thought about Red Hook Crit A LOT. It was what inspired me to race and kept me training hard when I felt like bunking off.

In the end, I injured myself racing mountain bikes and couldn’t ride. I also had to go back and forth from hospital for some (unrelated) treatment I was receiving. Then I totally buggered my back, so my training was cut short and I spent loads of time off the bike. When off the bike, I just kept thinking about how this period of inactivity would affect my chances at RHC.

The point I’m getting to, is Red Hook Crit really matters to me. I absolutely love it. I love the way it’s made me stronger, more competitive, more focused and given me more drive. I love the new friends I’ve made, the party atmosphere at the race, the sheer exhilaration of huge crowds applauding my friends and I when we ride. It’s killer!

So, London. Here’s how it went down.

When I’d found out the week before that Dani King was entering the women’s race, I’d just laughed. In case you don’t know who she is, Dani King MBE is an Olympic Gold medallist and World Champion on the track. As she’d been expecting to race in Rio but for some reason wasn’t chosen, she was bound to be exceptionally quick, but I wasn’t too bothered – to be totally honest, there are other women in the race who are faster than I am so I figured the race for the podium would be fought out between those guys. I was just looking to improve on how I did last year and maybe (hopefully) make the top ten. The Red Hook Crit is the fastest, toughest fixed gear crit in the world and attracts enormously strong athletes, so doing that is still a really tall order.

Unlike the men’s race where 250 riders compete for entry to the main race by setting their fastest qualifying laps, all female riders go through to the evening’s ‘feature race.’ We still ride a qualifying heat but it’s done to determine your starting positing on the grid.

The higher you qualify, the closer to the start you get to line up.

There are fewer teams in the women’s race and so fewer riders are able to work together to set a fast lap time, either by leading each other out or by working as a  ‘chain-gang,’ so a lot of solo riders (such as myself) try and watch what the few teams (Why Be Normal, La Classica Speedgang) or fast women are up to during qualification. It’s almost impossible to set a fast lap entirely on your own, particularly  last Saturday as it was really windy.

In the end, I saw a few fast girls sprint off to take their ‘hot lap’ and pursued them, hoping I could use them as a windbreak and set a fast time too. I was sat about 4 women back and the woman in front of me turned out not to be as fast as the two in the lead who rode off and left her behind. In the end, I managed to get round her on the long straight and just ride the rest of the lap solo. From 62 women on the start list I qualified 15th.

Dani King qualified 1st.

Lining up at the start, I had no idea what was going to happen in the race. I’m a good sprinter but having had so much time off this year I was wondering how I’d fare fitness-wise in this crazily intense race. Last year I was fully ‘in the red’ for the whole race; from about two laps in, every single turn of the pedals was incredibly hard, I could barely breathe and felt like I couldn’t go on, even though I did of course, go on!

I wasn’t really concerned about Dani King. I was more focused on myself to be honest.

Photo: Calvin Sherer

We sprinted off from the start. My aim was to stay in the front group, whatever it took. The first lap was quite slow; everyone was sussing each other out and eye-balling Dani King to see what she was going to do. Things sped up on the second and third lap, and then at some point, Dani King tried to sprint off, everyone tried to reel her in and the bunch got strung out. I tried to stay with the front group but a gap opened up and I was stuck on my own for a lap until I eventually caught Ashley Faye. It turns out I dragged quite a few people over when I closed that gap to Ashley. Meanwhile, those in front had broken away.

Ashley, Corine Price and I took a few turns each on the front then Marion Dwiznik joined us, at which point, it became just Marion and I taking turns for several laps. Having managed to catch up with us, Marion was desperate to bridge over to the front group but with just me and her working it was really hard to do that. Eventually, Johanna Janke took one turn. No one else did and I started getting quite annoyed. I gave up any hope of bridging over.

And then.. confusion.

The motorbike came up behind us and seemed to be telling us to pull over. We saw a blue flag.  We’d been lapped by Dani King.

Our race was over.

Unbeknownst to us, whilst I was working hard to catch up with those in front of me, Dani King had pulled away from everyone and soloed her way around the circuit hoovering up slower riders. Those at the back of the field only got to ride a measly 4 laps before they were caught and pulled out. We were the penultimate group to be pulled out (having ridden 13 laps) and shortly after we figured out what the hell was happening, we were joined by the rest of the women’s field, bar Ash Duban and Jasmine Dotti who had still not been caught by Dani King.

At first, I just shrugged it off. We’d been outdone by someone far faster than us, so what was there to worry about?  It then became apparent that we’d been assigned our finishing positions based roughly on where we were when we were pulled out, which was a bit rubbish, because knowing who was near me and looking at my 14th place and some of the data (speed, fastest laps) published afterwards, um, possibly I might have come a couple of spots higher. Or maybe I wouldn’t have? Who knows?

It would have been nice to have had the chance to sprint to the line with my fellow competitors rather than having the race finish in such a way, but hey, the organisers had to do what they considered safest. The protocol was that lapped riders would be pulled out, so it’s not like they could suddenly change their mind in the middle of the race.

In the end, the crowd got to watch three riders going round and round in circles for the second half of the race, so whilst I think Dani King is amazing, that much have been less interesting than watching 60 fast women battle it out with all the high octane drama and tactics that crit racing involves!

So what now? Well the next Red Hook Crit takes place in Barcelona and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.  I’ve always relished the chance to pit myself against some seriously fast ladies – that’s part of Red Hook; it’s meant to be tough. It means too much to me to give up because someone outdid me, although yes, it’s disappointing to only ride half a race.

What will happen there is anybody’s guess. Will Dani King race, will they allow the chasing group to stay in if they’re lapped (like they frequently do in road crits) and most importantly, will as many women enter as last time? I don’t think a fast competitor should be a deterrent to racing but if you train hard all year and spend all your money travelling to the Red Hook Series then get half a race and awarded an estimated finishing position, I understand it might make some people think twice.

Not me though. See you in Spain!

Watch my race day video below with onboard race footage.

I recently headed out to Verbier for a few days shredding on the Marin Trail Attack courtesy of Verbier Tourism, my first visit to the exclusive Swiss resort since I went their on a summer snowboard camp back in the day. My memories of the place were a little hazy, consisting mainly of a very fun snowboard park and winning a Morrow snowboard for being the ‘most dedicated camper,’ so I wasn’t too sure what to expect when we rolled up.

I hadn’t really noticed the fancy pants aspect of the resort the last time I was there, being so entirely focused on my snowboarding but what about this time? Would I spot Hugh Grant about town or one of the royals trotting about with a pair of hiking boots on? Would the bars serve only champagne and foie gras (ew) or could they cater for my more proletarian needs of beer and pizza?

Well, truth be told, Verbier in summer is a different beast to what it is in winter. Lured by stunning, steep terrain, an impressive number of Enduro itineraries and an extremely fun and addictive bike park, in summer the resort is mainly populated by mountain bikers as well as couples and families on hiking holidays. As such, it has a totally different feel to its winter vibe and you’re more likely to see riders eating sandwiches in the back of their vans than nibbling canapés from silver platters.

I was in town to check out Verbier Bike Park’s opening weekend for Wideopen Magazine – a tough job which I volunteered for – and also to spend a couple of days riding singletrack for an MBR feature, which again, I ain’t complaining about!

Head over to Wideopen Magazine to find out more about my visit to Verbier Bike Park opening weekend or watch the video I made for their channel below.

Stay tuned for the MBR feature later this year.

From London to Paris, Tokyo and NYC, Fred Perry’s Ride-Outs take place in global cycling hotspots around the world, and this time we’re coming to Bristol!

Bringing together pedal pushers for a route that celebrates the best of the local area before finishing up at a local caff for some food and drinks on Fred, the rides are a chance to enjoy cycling’s relaxed, social side and cafe culture without having to navigate. All you need to do is have a good time.

Join me this Sunday 31st July at Fred Perry’s Bristol store on Philadelphia Street. We’d like to roll out at 2pm so please arrive with time to spare.

Our social group ride begins with a pedal through Aston Court. After keeping a steady pace along the Festival Way cycle path, we’ll test our legs on a hill or two before heading back over the suspension bridge for a lap of the downs.

We’ll finish our ride with food and drinks courtesy of Fred Perry at cycling café Mud Dock.

Sign up is free but essential, so claim your place now before they’re gone!

Sign up here.

When it come to injury, the best advice has to be ‘just don’t do it,’ and I don’t mean don’t ride your bike, I mean don’t get hurt! I know it’s easier said than done, but there ARE actually things you can do to at least try    and avoid getting injured and one of those things is simple; ride within your ability.

I’ve had many, many crashes that I’ve walked away from unscathed, so I’m accustomed to hitting the deck and it doesn’t come as such as shock as it would to say, an office worker who does no sport. I take tumbles as a part of pushing myself, but I can push myself too hard and that’s when the impacts get serious. My worst injuries have always come from trying too hard and riding stupidly or badly, so I’m really trying to work on staying relaxed on my mountain bike even though I want to do well, and trying to find speed from flowing well down the track rather than riding erratically or peddling then braking when I shouldn’t.
But sometimes, injury strikes almost randomly and a bit of bad luck can mean time away from cycling. Like most sportspeople I find time away from cycling/sport/exercise/training pretty hard to deal with so I asked pro mountain bikes including Manon Carpenter and Joe Barnes how they cope.

Head to the Wideopen Magazine website to see what they told me.