Season end round-up by Hannah

Just Starting to get back into a routine of training after having a few weeks off my bike and enjoying some time to be a normal teenager. I finished my season on a high this year after competeing in 2010 commonwealth games in Dehli.

Hannah Rich - Bart Hazen

Dehli was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and after all the anticipation i felt travelling to Dehli all the doubt left my mind as we got to the Athletes village and it was amazing! We all got settled into the accomodation and tried to get straight into a training programme to get all of the flight out of our legs.

Liking my new Sidi’s!

 

Hannah Rich

Since my first race back at the Crit Nationals a few weeks back I’ve been getting stuck into some real serious training to get my fitness back for the Tour of Holland which starts next Monday. I went to the Crit Nationals after only training for 5 days after having 6 weeks off  because of my knee injury.  Thinking that I would be able to get by fine but was  wrong and I SUFFERED!

After that race I had to re-assess the situation and think about how I was planning on getting fit for the Tour of Holland and the Commonwealth Games, and realised some hard training was in order to get really fit!

 Since riding again I haven’t really had any problems from my knees and my new Sidi shoes have worked a treat as they fit perfectly and it was my previous shoes which had done the damage so I am really happy with the new sponsors!

I had a bike fit as well to try and help with the problem and touch wood everything seems to be really good at the moment. My next race is the Welsh Crit Champs before moving on to the Tour of Holland which is going to be a really hard 7 day stage race! Then moving on to the track nationals before heading out to India for the Commonwealth Games which should be a really good experience.

I am really looking forward to it!

Hannah x

Hannah Rich back riding after Nationals

After the nationals I haven’t been riding my bike but should be riding my bike tomorrow so all is looking up! I have been having problems with my calf tendons so haven’t been able to ride but have been to the physio and I’m on the mend.  I don’t know how as I’ve had needles (acupuncture) put into my legs 3 times this week already but it seems to be working!

Hannah Rich - Welsh Road Champion

I’ve been enjoying my time off though and enjoyed being a normal teenager by going out and meeting up with friends so it has been nice to have abit of normality but looking forward to getting back on the bike now

Hannah Rich on the Horizon Fitness GP

I was really excited to be going to Stoke to race at the tour series as its a really big event and a good oportunity! The whole team was really excited and we all had really good morale going into the race!

Hannah Rich - Horizon Fitness GP - Larry Hickmott

We all road around the corse to get a feel for it and it was good riding as a team as we could test the corners to see how fast we could get around them! We lined up on the start line and had a good team plan and right from the start we all stuck to it and the race was going really well.

Attacks were going and the Helen told me to attack coming out of the bottom corner so I did.  That killed me and Hannah Barnes flew past me and thats when Dani and Helen got away so all was going really well.  Dani then was of the front by herself so things were perfect for the team and all of us worked really well together, We knew Dani had the win in the bag so it was all down to the bunch sprint and we got 6 in top 10 so cant really complain about that can we? The Team road really well together and was a really good race…FAST!

I loved it!

Hannah Rich - Horizon Fitness GP by Larry Hickmott

A lot of hills and a top 10

I woke up this morning looking forward to the race and I also woke up suprisingly early as Annie was making a lot of noise.  I think she was wanted me to say happy birthday to her haha!

Hannah races into top 10 - by Bart Hazen

We drove down to the race and got there quite early so we started to get ready and sign on. The weather was drying up nicely so was looking forward to getting stuck into racing! As we lined up I heard that it was a hilly corse but I definately didnt expect it to be as hilly as it was!

After the first lap i was already finding it hard and it was so hummid but around the midway point it absolutly hammered it down.  I have never seen rain so bad and this is no exageration!  The race was savage doing 3 hills every lap and doing that 14 times takes it out of your legs! It was coming towards the end of the race and I had ajusted to the faster pace over in belgium and was starting to feel my legs come around!

I was coming into the last corner and i wasnt in that good a position so I just went for it with around 400m to go, so by the time i got to the line I was nailed.  I wass gald to have finished that race it was SAVAGE!  To top it off, I finished 10th, which is a great result in my first set of races in Belgium.

Anyway I hope Annie had a lovely birthday doing this race and taking me back to Calais to go home

Cheers Annie……………..celebrate tomorrow

Hannah Rich Photoshoot – Spy Shots

Hannah Rich has been busy getting her photo’s taken for the Western Mail and Echo and Wales On Sunday.  Hannah, the current Welsh Road Race Champion, was especially chosen as an up and coming cyclist.

Having only got back from racing at7am, it was a tough day after an all night drive to Newport Velodrome.

Hannah still managed to look great, and we’ve got a few behind the scene’s photo’s for you.  We’ll have more pictures soon for you.

Hannah Rich Photoshoot

Hannah Rich - Behind the camera

Hannah Rich - Welsh Champion

Bart Hazen Photographs from Lille

We wanted to share 3 great photo’s with you from yesterday’s race in Lille.  These are taken taken by Bart Hazen.  Bart is a regular writter from Daily Peloton and was covering yesterdays race.

Bart will be with the team next weekend in Belgium as the team fine tune their preparation for the Horizon Fitness GP the following week.

Hannah Rich - Lille - Bart Hazen

A hot race day in Belgium

Today in Lille, Belgium, Britt Jochems, Hannah Rich and Annie Simpson were racing against some of the best in Europe.

Britt Jochems - Horizon Fitness - Bart Hazen

The 3 Horizon Fitness riders we’re racing on one of the hottest days of the year in a massive peleton in West Flanders. Here are their versions of events today:

First race in Holland for Hannah

This was my first race in Europe as a senior rider.  The last time I rode in Holland was as a youth so I was sooo nervous before the start it was unreal.

Hannah Rich

Everyone started to line up dead early and we had already been at the line for about 5 mins and then they announced that it was 10 mins before the start. I was thining great, I was already feeling sick enough as it was!

Hannah racing at home and abroad

The 3rd round of the Women Series took place at Hillingdon with Horizon Fitness being represented with a relatively small team of just me, Dani King and Alex Greenfield. The race went well considering we were outnumbered by quite a few of the other teams with all of us showing our aggression to take the racing by each of us winning a prime.

Hannah Rich - Horizon Fitness RT

Coming into the finale of the race I had good legs and wanted to make sure the team sealed the win by leading Dani out for a full lap making sure no last minute attacks spoilt our race. With Dani winning the bunch sprint it turned out to be perfect!