No Pain No Gain............ Or Not.....

Ok so this weekend we had 2 races. Saturday was a circuit race. Taking in a lap of 4.5km 22 times. Or for me 13 laps. After my race last Monday I had an excruciating pain in my knee. I thought this was maybe due to change of cleats, However like many other people "who see it as normal" my pelvis is out of line and needs a tweak. For those of you unknown to this, everyday life causes strain on the body, moving parts often move where they shouldn't and then add that to riding a bike almost everyday and you get problems. See with your hips locked in the saddle and your ankles in the pedals your knee suffers in the middle, resulting in power loss too. Anyway enough of my terrible anatomy lesson, to cut a long story short, which I haven't done,... have I? .... I had to stop, I felt terrible and couldn't seem to get anything from my body, coupled with awful weather and cold wind this wasn't doing me much good....... Sound soft don't I!!!!!.... That won't do.

And so on to Sunday, I had planned to start and see how it went. I awoke to bright sunshine and instantly this made up my mind for sure. The race was an 80km loop taking in quite a good few 2+ km climbs leading on to a tough 7.5km finishing circuit which we had 5 laps to do. At the start I felt a bit sluggish, but after a good few miles moving up through the bunch I felt quite good. Luckily I recognised the road from a previous race and moved up to the front at the foot of one of the key climbs. And so it proved, a group chipped off 3/4 of the way up and I managed to get clear over the top and eventually bridge up to them. We were 2nd group on the road with the break 1 minute in front, including 4 of my team mates. After this move there were several other climbs, which despite the previous day I felt fine on, not good but fine.

 Then the toughy came, a climb that's been used in several Tour de France stage finishes. I rode up well enough and the break were in site just cresting the top. However by this point I was dieing and didn't have the kick to go with a small group who chipped off to try and bridge, so I just sat there looking terrible I'm sure.... But still there.

As we entered the finishing circuits I found a little something and was able to keep near the front of my group. 3 laps to go and the attacks started to come, Unfortunately by this point my knee wasn't feeling too great on the climbs and I had to ride everything seated and couldn't follow much, just ride up to wheels over the top. I really wanted to go myself, but my body just wasn't allowing me. I guess pain is the first warning. Fortunately within these last 3 laps only 1 little group managed to get clear and it was down a "bunch sprint" for us. I managed 6th in my group and an overall result of 34th. A shame considering the group who chipped off within the big loop managed top 15's, and I know from previous races I would have been able to go with them, However I'm confident after my treatment this week I'll be back to full strength.

Highlight of the day, slumped on the floor after the finish absolutely wrecked and been patted on the head like a dog. Good ride Hamish... Pronounced Haeemish....