3-2-1 VICTORY
Well what can I say, 6 hard years of living, racing and trying to be the best cross rider possible in Belgium and finally I won my first race here, oh what a race it was to win too!!!
This week has been pretty hectic what with our return from the Czech republic on Monday, race in Woerden on Tuesday, Zonhoven on Sunday and finally Koppenberg on Monday. If you don’t know or I haven’t mentioned it yet to the entire world, (I’m pretty sure there are some people I haven’t contacted in outer Mongolia just yet), well I won the Koppenberg cyclo-cross yesterday. I may mention it a little later too.
Nacht van Woerden is a night time cross run under floodlights. Last year I got given a massive block of cheese on the podium which tasted pretty spectacular. This year it was the same course with hyper people from the fair ground that surrounds the race, cheering when they weren’t going around in circles on the rides. Once again I took 3rd place and this year I was given a selection of cheeses including ‘spicy’ and the tastiest block of Oud Amsterdam cheese I have ever had. I really have to get my arse in gear and win it next year as then I might get a massive block of it instead.
Sunday’s race was back in Belgium in Zonhoven, near Hasselt. On arrival I realised I had raced a junior race here before a few years back except between then and now some one had blown a massive bomb hole into the middle of the course adding a couple of huge sand descents to make the course a little more interesting. It’s fair to say I wasn’t going to ride down them at first so waited to see what the other girls did. The first descent although longer was actually not quite so steep so using my fake bravado, dived straight of the edge plummeting to the bottom pretty quickly but in control. The second descent however took a little more courage than I was able to muster at 9am in the morning. But after a stern talking to myself and butt cheeks clenched I again rode straight of the edge allowing gravity to do the rest. It was wild and not pretty but wow did it feel exhilarating!
After a really bad start I eventually moved my way up to a really solid 2nd place where I stayed for the last 2 laps taking my second podium in one week. On the podium we were presented with a fair trade food basket with chocolate, coffee, drinks, stuff like that. It looked really nice. As I was walking back to the car one of the Belgium racers said ‘oh that’s nice, oh no, it’s from Oxfam!’. I replied, It’s ok, it’s not 2nd hand; no one has eaten or drunk it first.
Straight after the race it was back in the car to drive home. As my race was 11am in the morning I was back with lunch and my feet up just in time to watch the men’s race on the TV. There were some massive crashes on the sand descents in all the races, it was almost like watching ‘Americas most amazing crashes’ with audible ‘oooohhss’ from the crowds. But as its sand no one hurt themselves it was purely for crowd pleasure.
So now nice and rested we get to my favourite day of the week. Have I mentioned I won the Koppenberg cross yet? Well on Monday I won my local race, the epic muddy, savage, Koppenberg cyclo-cross and am now the very proud owner of my very own heavy weight cobble stone trophy. It was wicked!
Living so close to the course we rolled up at 11am on the bikes in cycling kit ready to ride the course. It was a pretty amazing feeling. One of our friends is the owner of Morgan Blue and he invited us into his motor home before the race as although it was dry the weather was still a little chilly at that time. The course was slippery on the descent and muddy as hell on the ascent and I genuinely loved every minute of it. Maybe it would have been more painful and less fun if I didn’t come first but I tried my hardest and couldn’t have gone any faster. It really was the best feeling in front of so many people (680,000 watching on TV and a further 20,000 at the race to be precise). There were so many people cheering, my favourite was a women on the muddy uphill who shouted ‘Come on Helen it’s your time’ every lap, for a very short time I felt like Sven Nys ha ha!
After the race the boys didn’t want me to get big headed so have been trying their best to keep me grounded. Mostly by replying to every request I make of them with ‘just cause you win one race doesn’t mean you can be a diva’, its your turn to do the cooking and your not getting out of it!! Oh well at least I have a smile on my face while doing it ha ha!
This weekend is the European championships in Germany. So once again its back to usual training and preparation for the weekend. It’s a wicked course we have raced the last 3 years as a UCI race so I’m really looking forward to it.
Till then.
