Kicking off in Limousin

The Tour de Limousin was to be my 1st pro stage race so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. With around 170 starters it really was going to be tough race and looking at the stage profiles basically showed that for the next 4 days there was to be no flat, just ups and downs.  The drive to France was really long and when we arrived we did a quick spin which was really needed as my legs felt horrendous. Alex  Greenfield attempted to get us lost in rural France but luckily she failed and we made it back to our box of a hotel room to enjoy an evening of free Wifi.

Annie rolls out for stage 4

Our main accommodation for the tour was in a school, with school dinner type meals, consisting of food that had been cooked to within an inch of its life! A personal favourite of mine being the sausage which you could peel (which we then found cut up in our salads the next day). Most meals you had to just tuck into mountains of bread as unlike Helen Wyman we weren’t fans of miscellaneous lentil dishes. I was rooming with the notorious Alex Greenfield and fellow Yorkshire lass Penny Rowson and we were the ‘naughty room’ although after having to enforce a ‘euro in the pot’ rule for Helen’s immature ways I personally feel we were wrongly labeled.

Anyway on to the racing… well in the words of Penny ,“It were ‘ard”. The first day was definitely a shock to the system as we set off round 4 start circuits which were raced so chuffing fast. We were all basically hanging in for our lives and one by one got spat out, apart from Wyman who was up there all race. For me personally I was in a group of about 7, who all witnessed me kicking off on numerous occasions as they were incapable of doing any work. It’s hard to estimate how many times I used a certain not very nice word, but it’s definitely up in the hundreds. This then became a trend for most stages. I finished stage 1 a little annoyed at myself as I knew I could do a lot better.

The Time Trial was an experience for me being one of my 1st ever TT’s. My severe lack of experience was clearly obvious as I battered off the start full pelt to eventually blow after 7km and then had to crawl the last 10km…I’m no Sarah Storey let’s put it that way.

Stage 3 was a much better day for me, I felt good and was ‘Dancing like Lance’ up the climbs. I managed to stay in the bunch for 80km until we hit this really steep climb and my legs just died on me. I managed to finish not too far down on the main bunch and I was genuinely chuffed with my ride as I knew I could do it.

The 4th stage for me was short lived.. I set off up the 1st climb and pulled my knee and I was suddenly in a whole lot of pain, I had to get in the car as I couldn’t risk it getting any worse, this must have all happened in the first 5km. I was clinically annoyed and sat there in a God awful mood, but soon perked up when I was given a pile of Horizon Fitness rider postcards to lob out the window. I wasn’t trying to hit people on the head, honest:)

Britt and Annie

On reflection of the trip it was a very valuable experience. I know I have a huge amount to work on but at the same time I know it’s not out my reach to be up there in these races. The team banter over the week was pretty unstoppable and would personally like to thank Britt for her comical Dutch way, you never fail to crack me up.

So this next block of racing we have is post Tour crits, from one extreme to the other of getting my head kicked in in the hills, to now getting my head kicked in in Dutch crits. All I can say is bring it on!

Annie x