British National Marathon Champion :)

On Saturday I won the National Marathon Championships :) Follow the link to xcracer.com for my race report ......

Thanks for following!

Sal :)

Catherine Williamson (3rd) and Jane Nussli (2nd) 

Sunny Scotland!

Trudging through snow in Austria last week, basking in sunny Scotland this week. The contrast couldn't be greater! We're here in Selkirk, not too far south of Edinburgh for the National Marathon Championships starting tomorrow at 12.30pm. 

Being based so close to Glentress we couldn't resist a couple of hours at their famous trail centre and, naturally, at their fabulous cafe. The roller coaster descents there are so much fun with plenty of berms and jumps! If you haven't been, then add it to your bucket list; you’ll not be disappointed!   




After checking out the feedzones and some small parts of the course, it’s now time to chill and relax. The weather forecast is predicting more sun tomorrow, so we’re preparing for a hot one. Strange…never thought I’d be saying that about a Scottish race ;) It really is very beautiful up here and even more so in the sunshine :)

Hopefully Dave will be giving Twitter updates during the race so follow me on @ironsally1 Just got to show him how to use it ;) 

Inspirational

Kristine Norgaard is one amazing lady and truly inspirational. Pregnancy didn't stop her from biking, racing and winning! A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of racing - and winning - the Andalucia Bike Race with her and now she a proud mother after giving birth to baby Sally last night. Congratulations Kristine!!!! Lots and lots of love to you both!!!!!

Photos courtesy of Torleif Jensen

Alpen Tour Stage 4: landslides and flooding

Very heavy rain yesterday morning greeted me when I opened the curtains. No surprise there then ;) With full waterproofs packed in my start bag - as well as a kayak ;) - we headed off to our team area to warm up. I wasn't especially looking forward to getting cold and wet, but I know that once the gun goes I just get on with it. The planned stage was shortened to avoid the snow line and my aim was to ride cautiously while defending my overall lead.

Sitting in the car with the heater on I wound down the window enough to hear talk of landslides, flooding and road closures, closely followed by talk of cancelling the stage. Meanwhile I was also tweeting with British cyclocross star Helen Wyman whose preference was to have a 40 min race up and down the downhill course instead....of course Helen would be the likely winner of that race ;) Team mechanic, Peter Felber, was busy setting up our turbo trainers while Dave went to the race office for confirmation.

Relief was my initial reaction to the news that we wouldn't be racing in these terrible conditions, but then I felt disappointed because I was, after all, there to race. Nevertheless the race organisers made a tough but sensible decision. Having won the first 3 stages I also took the overall race victory :)

Our thoughts quickly turned to getting home so we booked new flights before dashing to the podium and then driving the long way to Munich airport avoiding the flooding around Salzburg. The rain didn't stop lashing down until we were cruising at 25,000 feet above Munich!

Now I am warm and dry in sunny England. Next stop: National Marathon Championships, Selkirk, Scotland on Saturday :) This will be my first marathon race in England for a few years and I'm pretty excited :D

Thanks for following. Have fun!

Sal :)

Lasting memory: Alpen Tour 2013

Alpen Tour Trophy: Stage 3 without waterproof shorts ;)

Opening the curtains this morning and not seeing rain was, well, quite a shock! It actually threw me: what to wear!? For a brief moment I actually thought it'd be more simple if it just kept raining, but that was short lived ;)

Wearing the Race Leader Jersey brings the advantage of a front row start, allowing a little longer to make my final decision on the day's attire and an opportunity to avoid the usual scrum during the neutralised start. Over the last 2 days of racing I haven't truly felt my strong self; sore muscles made me wonder what was the matter: could it be last week's massive training load; was I getting ill; or was it the waterproof shorts!?

On the first climb I felt good and almost 'normal', confirming my suspicion: the waterproof shorts made me sit in a different position on the saddle - perhaps sliding around a little - and incorporating different muscles. Perhaps I'm wrong, but whatever the reason I felt much better today.

The race was a bit uneventful with a lack of snow and rain - and having feeling in my extremities - but I can live with that. The views were pretty impressive: snow capped mountains, mountain rivers and low cloud; and there were some fun trails: steep loose switchbacks, wet slippery roots and of course the last slick descent on the downhill course to the finish.

Double victory for Alban and me :)

The respite from the rain has been great, but now it's time to get ready for some more wet racing tomorrow - the forecast looks biblical!

One more time I cross my fingers for good luck, fun and reasonable warmth ........

Alpen Tour Trophy Stage 2: 15km with 1100 metres of snow hiking ;)

Enjoying the trails before I got lost yesterday

Changing into my race clothes in our team trailer I could hear the rain drumming on the roof. It's actually a nice sound; feeling warm and dry when it's wet and horrible outside. But when you know that you have to leave the warmth and set off up the mountain towards the snow, it's not such a nice sound anymore!

Decisions, decisions....what to wear?! Warming oil, leg warmers, overshoes, waterproof shorts, thermal vest, arm warmers, a gillet and winter gloves. Is it really June tomorrow?! Within minutes of setting off I wondered if I was wearing too much, but once we reached the snow line then all I wondered was why I hadn't put thicker gloves on....completely numb hands once again made shifting gears tricky!

Setting off last is great because it means that I can chase rather than being chased. Team mate Milena set off 1 minute ahead of me and it wasn't long before she started to come into view. For some reason I couldn't find a good rhythm for the first 10minutes and I found it hard to raise my heart rate, but once I had targets in view then I was able to push on a bit harder.

Tyre sucking fields and mud made the going tough, but things got a whole lot tougher when after about 40minutes I was off the bike running up steep slippery snow covered trails. Not quite what I had in mind for an uphill time trail, but once the rain turned to snow and I entered a winter wonderland then I actually started to enjoy it - if only my cleats weren't totally covered in snow then I might have been able to pedal a bit more ;)

With one reasonably rideable line through the deep snow it was practically impossible to overtake slower riders; going off line to overtake resulted in sliding to a halt and then having to chase back again before being held up once more. After a while I gave up trying to pass and just enjoyed the amazing scenery. My heart rate dropped and my fingers froze so I was pretty happy when I finally ran - yes ran - across the finish line (think that's a first!).

Now where's the hot chocolate! 

Anyway, now I am warm and dry after taking the cable car down the mountain - yes I think that's a first too ;) And I finally found out that I won the stage too. Fingers crossed for some respite from the rain tomorrow!

Thank for the sunshine Peter Felber (team mechanic) 

Alpen Tour Trophy: Stage 1. 69km/2880m plus an extra 200m off course!

We knew it was going to be cold; everyone was talking about the weather forecast. And cold it was! We woke to rain, which didn't stop throughout the race. The rain became sleet and then snow as the altitude increased. It was actually kind of pretty; snow flurries and snow covered trees. Racing in waterproof shorts, thermal vest, arm warmers, gillet, leg warmers, overshoes and a waterproof jacket isn't so comfy, but today it was essential!

Calm before the storm ;)

After the neutral start I was able to move up past the other ladies and I stayed ahead, gradually building my lead for the next two hours of tough climbing and some technical singletrails. But alas, after approximately 2 hours a missing course marking resulted in a wrong turn and 200m of climbing in the wrong direction. Riding back downhill to rejoin the course meant that I was also reunited with the other ladies who were behind me. Checking my SRM data file shows that in total I lost 15minutes off course :(

Motivation waned from here onwards. I had no idea if any of the other ladies were now ahead of me. This combined with my freezing muscles meant that I had to really fight to finish the race. Freezing and painful hands meant that I could no longer change gears with my thumbs; palms of my hands became my gear levers ;) Eating and drinking was also not so easy!

After hand washing all of my clothes - we have no washing machine here! - eating, drinking and warming up, we now have to go to the event dinner and prize ceremony. Then it's all go to get everything ready for tomorrow's uphill time trial.

Fingers crossed for some better luck and warmer weather, though the forecast isn't looking too optimistic re the latter!

Sal :)

Oh, sorry, failed to say that amazingly I won!