Thursday 12 December 2013

Di Lee becomes Midland CX Champ!

The last 2 weeks have been a bit up and down for me and Sneddon, I don’t like to moan about illness but we really haven’t been on top form. Both of us have been full of colds and working silly hours at work so our training has not been up to our normal standard. We both planned to do Milton Keynes National Trophy, but on the Friday morning I was cleaning my bike and managed to get chain cleaner in my eye. I gained an attractive eye infection and I couldn't face racing at the weekend - well actually I couldn't see and would have been a total liability. However Phoebe battled on and went to race, completing a good performance, considering she didn’t have the best gridding (I will leave her to tell you about the race). While I sulked at home I learnt that my Oakley glasses are not only amazing for riding but a good health and safety accessory for when cleaning my bike. I can hear you saying how the hell did, you manage to get chain cleaner in your eye, but using a toothbrush on a windy day is not advisable. You’d think having a best mate as a doctor, phoebe would give me some sympathy. Oh no she just said Di you look like you have a hangover, and only you could miss a race due to cleaning your bike. 

So we had one week to one of our main target race of the CX season, both still feeling ill we motivated each other to a turbo on Monday evening however it possibly was not the best thing. One day we will learn, when you are ill - rest. Training didn’t do us much good so Tuesday was spent lay on the sofa, we like to look at this as optimal resting. I felt a bit better toward the end of the week and I was pretty excited about the Midlands. Sunday morning came and I did a practice lap and found Phoebe coughing on the side of the course and told her not to race, quickly promoting her to chief cheerer. Phoebe then ensured I was well looked after she made me wear ever piece of kit I owned to keep warm pre-race – she bought her new puppy over to distract the nerves and generally nagged me J in a good way - of course she was very motivational. The race was very bumpy and hard going, but I held a good lead from the start and took the win becoming Midland Champion. There were some bonuses too with Phoebe not racing I was well looked after and I stole her picnic afterwards. So this week we are going to focus on getting back into training and ponder over how many Christmas trees we can get in Phoebe’s new house. Mule Bar Girl Louise also won her regional Champs which was great news. 

One last thanks and recommendation, we are loving our new Ana Nichoola Snowcat jackets, they definitely helped cheer us up.