Fun in Austria

So things didn't entirely go to plan: I wasn't able to race at Mountain Mayhem 24 hour event in the UK.  An injury became infected and it wasn't possible for me to ride :( It was a hard decision to make not to go, not least because I didn't want to let the Ergon 24 riders down, but in the end I made the right decision. Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture: continuing to ride would have meant more time off the bike in the long run.

Days were spent swimming in mountain lakes instead of riding and, although I'd like to have been biking, a forced rest was probably a good thing. It's a long season and some days resting are not a bad thing even though it sometimes feels it at the time. It's hard for me to rest when I'm surrounded by beautiful mountains.

Yesterday I was able to race in the Hill Climb at Brixen im Thale, which is part of the Kitzalp Bike Festival  More than 300 riders set off at 18.30 along the 6km track up 500 metres to Filzalmsee. It was good training and much more fun to do a 20 minute interval session with other people - and I won :)

1. Sally Bigham (Topeak Ergon Racing Team) 22:09.4
2. Janka Stevkova (CK Epic Dohnany) 23:47.0
3. Maria Osl (RV Team Tonis Proshop) 24:51.5

Today we had a downhill day: gondola up the mountain and bike down. Although I love to climb, it's also fun to spend a day being purely gravity assisted :)

Tomorrow is an easy day, followed by the Kitzalp Bike Marathon on Saturday. The Ultra marathon is a toughie: 95km with 4400m of vertical ascent....good job I like to climb ;)