After finding the European Championships
were in a country blessed to be served with a cheap airline and for Rob,
excellent beer, it was hard to not just jump at the chance to enter the European
Championships and worry about the actual race at a later date! So, entry in, flights booked and
accommodation sorted I started worrying about the smaller matters: no mechanic,
flying with a high maintenance, unpredictable machine otherwise known as a
mountain bike (not Rob!), a country where not one word sounds familiar, and the
fact my first International race was going to be the European Championships!
So on Friday we flew to Prague surrounded
by stags and hens chatting each other up.
Collecting the hire car and armed with written instructions, a map, a
satnav and a printed route planner we still managed to sit in traffic for over
an hour in the centre of Prague but arrived still in the light at our beautiful
accommodation right in the mountains near Liberec. With the bike appearing to
be in one piece and finding our hosts were Dutch chefs so we wouldn’t be fed
pork and cabbage for the next three days, the worries were slowly fading. The next day I found the last few km s
of the race, got used to been off road again while Rob followed me in his
trainers.
Sunday’s race day started early mainly
thanks to the Italian cyclists staying in the B&B that had to have their
pasta at 6am! At 8.45 the nerves
finally disappeared as we rode off the start line. The start was fast and furious. I wasn’t that far forward and soon over the fields the
groups started to form. I was middle
of the second group, which was fast enough, and soon we caught a few riders in
the middle of groups. Once the
hills started the group got smaller.
I rode off the front after doing my fair share of work on the flatter
bits. One girl joined me and we
worked well together until she seemed to blow and disappeared outside the top
10. Despite one bit loop into the
hills, in middle of know where and even into a bit of Germany Rob kept
appearing at the feed stops having tagged onto a Hungarian with dreadlocks
following his wife, which was great as I didn’t have to stop and he was able to
tell me I was doing ok. One girl caught me and dropped me on the next technical
descent. I kept catching her back
on the climbs but, even though I was pleased with my descending i.e. I was
staying upright on the loosest, rockiest steep hills, she was a lot faster and
I finally lost touch at a big drop off which I’m afraid I kittened out of,
climbed off and clambered down!
The descents through the forest tracks were
fantastic, the hills steep and tricky but mostly rideable and the km flew by
except while I found myself bogged down literally in a real muddy patch where
climbing off my feet sunk so deep I thought I might lose my shoes!! 10km to go, convinced I was been caught
by two girls, and my vision was going blurred. 4 hour of out of breathe riding
was taking its toll and I had to really concentrate on the descents. I finished in 4hr34, way ahead of the
next girls… the 2 behind were actually men!! The winner, World Champion Pia
Sundstedt (Finland) just edged out fellow Brit, Sally Bigham, both only 15 minutes
ahead of me, which I was over the moon about.
I celebrated that afternoon by keeping Rob
topped up with beer, feeling way to rough for any alcohol myself!
