Three weekends, three race wins!

Three weeks ago we packed our van and started our annual Euro road trip. We'll be driving around Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and France for the next 3 months. Our trip started with the UCI World Series Race, Roc D'Ardennes, in Houffalize, Belgium. In the weeks before the race heavy rain meant we were faced with a mud-fest and very challenging conditions! Despite the cold my legs and body worked well and I was able to win ahead of BH Suntour rider Helen Marcouyre (France). At the finish I looked a little bit like a Belgian mud-chocolate - and it took more than 30 minutes in the shower to wash off the Houffalize mud!

The following weekend I was eating dust rather than mud at the UCI World Series Race, Rothaus Hegau Bike Marathon in Singen, Germany. It's a fast 80km course with only 2000m of climbing so it's not easy to make a break but after 40 minutes an opportunity came and I grabbed it building a lead over the chasing group of 8 riders. Riding solo for so long on such a course is a bit of a gamble but fortunately there were light winds and the gap gradually increased. After just 3 hours I finished almost 4 minutes ahead of Swiss rider Esther Suss with German Silke Schmidt a further 3 minutes back. 

Last Friday we headed back to the stunning Ardennes for the 3 day Belgian Mountainbike Challenge. Stage 1 kicked off on a beautiful warm sunny day BUT it was Friday 13th - and our hotel room number was 113 - so perhaps it was unsurprising that after less than 5km I heard the heart sinking sound of air and sealant leaking from my tyre. A huge sidewall cut which was tricky to fix saw me sidelined for more than 15 minutes during which time the whole field of pros and then amateur riders passed me. Chasing back lost time while over-taking hundreds of riders was a big challenge but I tried really hard to regain some lost time. I finished 5th with a 20 minute deficit. The next two stages were all about chasing and trying hard to see how much time I could recover. Amazingly, on the second stage I closed nearly 8 minutes, leaving 12 minutes to try to recover on the last day - a seemingly impossible task! On the final stage I gave everything and crazily managed to take the lead in the last 30kms! How cool is that!!!???? I felt a bit guilty taking the leader jersey from Serbian rider Jovana Crnogorac after she wore it for the whole race but that's bike racing! After 13 hours and 15 minutes I won with a lead of 6 minutes over Jovana, with German Stefanie Dohrn finishing in 3rd. 

Thanks for following!

Sal :)