11th July 2021
Yesterday my dad and I drove up to Scotland. It was about a 7 hour drive there. When we got there; we went to the hotel, got changed and went to have a look at the course. It was 26 miles (about 41 km) and quite bumpy. It was mainly uphill and downhill but the hills weren’t too bad.
The next day we went to the race and everyone was very nice. I warmed up on rollers before riding to the start. I started 1 minute after my main competitor who is 14 (number 21) . She had a good start but when I started, I couldn’t get clipped in for a while and lost about 5 seconds.
Within the first mile, my chain fell of and I couldn’t get it back on quickly and the person who started a minute after me, overtook me there.
When I got back on the bike, within another half mile, my chain came of a second time. At this point I didn’t think I would be able to catch up to number 21, as both 23 and 24 had gone past me while I was not moving. I lost about 2 minutes and 20 seconds and 21 was a further minute ahead, so 3 minutes 20 to try and catch 21.
I still kept trying and by around 18 miles in to the race, I had caught up to her/21. I overtook her and then down a hill near the finish, she overtook me again and crossed the line 2 seconds before me.
I beat number 21 by 58 seconds overall which I think is quite good considering all the time in lost earlier in the race. My maximum power was 580 Watts, although that would have been for a reason and not my average, which would be a lot lower.
It was really fun and I reckon it was worth the drive.
