French Criteriums  4-6^th September

I met up with Rene and some of the girls from Rapha in France to join them in some races.  Catherine Hare and Rachael Heal had already raced the day before in Luxembourg where Rachael came 1^st and Cat 2nd! A great ride by both of them!  The first race was a tight criterium of about 36 laps around a small town in the Dijon region of France.   I was feeling a little jaded but put it down to the World Cup race I did 2 days ago.   Fenix Colnago where there to work for Bubnenkova and some French teams and team China.   Buba attacked early on in the race with Rachael bridging across with another rider to form a group of about 7 girls.  Me and the rest of the girls kept things together in the bunch until we got lapped by the break and then it was all a bit of a mess with our group joining there's and the Chinese riders not understanding the commissaire when being asked to drop back!! Finally we got things sorted by which time the break had about 4 laps to get ready for the sprint.  Rachael was looking strong but with 2 Colnago riders in the break it was going to be hard to go with every attack that they made.  Buba and her team mate got away with Natalia Boyaskaya (Fenix Colnago) taking the win and Rachael taking 4^th place, cat in 10^th  and me in 18^th place.   A good result for the team but slightly worried about tiredness!  

5^th September  France. Criterium

Today's circuit was a large circuit of 16.5k with the main climb of about 1.5k.   We had to drive about 5 hours to get to the race and arrived in time for some food and then had to get ready to go which seemed to be the layout for all the races with the organisers putting in each race 300-400k from each other for some reason!  I was feeling strange and very dizzy before the race but just shrugged it off got on with my race routine.  We wanted to keep Rachael up on GC so we just had to chase every thing that went especially Fenix Colnago team.  On the second lap Buba's team mate attacked at the bottom of the climb so I bridged across but then Buba countered with the break going of about 13 girls including Cat and Rachael just behind.  I could not get myself motivated to chase although I tried my hardest my head was spinning and I just felt crap!! Not good!! Catherine was riding strong today and stayed with Buba until the last lap when the break split with Buba taking the win and Catherine coming in 6^th.  Rachael was 12 and me in 19^th.  Another good day for the team but a bad day for me again.

6^th France

Today's race with in Claremont Ferrand a beautiful town in the south of France.   After another long drive of about 4.5 hours we arrived at the hotel with just enough time to pin our numbers on before heading off to the race.   The circuit was 1.5k and it went up 600metres and down 600metres with a few hairy twists in!   I changed one of my carbon wheels for safety as it was not a circuit for these wheels as I had already slipped on the warm up laps!  I know I was feeling tired right now but I still wanted to go down trying which is what I did today!  The pace was high from the start with a group of about 12 girls away and I dropped of the group early on as I could not keep the pace up I was spent!  Catherine and Rachael stayed with the group and Rachael attacked with Catherine countering with formed a break and then Fanini and 2 chinese girls stayed away until the end with Catherine hot on there wheels!  I was behind with a group of girls but they where going to slow and I thought oh well I feel crap so lets see how much pain I can take even when I am really tired! So I rode away and for the next 30 or so laps time trialled my way to get some places back!  Catherine and Rachael finished in the top ten with china taking the win and I was in about 19^h place.  I finished 23^rd overall and Catherine finished 8^th and Rachael in 7^th and Bubnenkova from Fenix Colnago taking the overall win.

I was really glad to finish the race as I feel mentally and physically tired at the moment so I need some good rest and recovery before heading back to Italy next week for the Giro Del Toscana and few local races.   I had a great time with team Rapha it was a successful race for the girls and they made my pain enjoyable!

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