Wow- great effort by Sinead!

Race report: Curlew Cup by sineadburke What a race! Today, I did something quite scary - my first national race. Alongside my teammate Martha Gill (usually found smashing it on a mtb), I rode the Curlew Cup, part of the women's national rode race series. We'd be mixing it up with teams such as Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International, Epic Cycles - Scott WRT and Matrix Fitness - Vulpine, with riders like Katie Archibald and Dame Sarah Storey on the start list. Exciting! The race was 62miles (100km); 3 laps of a smaller, 13.9mile circuit and then 1 lap of the bigger, 22.3mile circuit, which included the climb of the Ryals. Up until now, the longest race I've done is 35miles, so I was quite nervous about the big jump in distance. There was also a feed zone to think about, something I'd never had in a race before. This is where you can drop off empty bottles, then pick up fresh bottles and gels to keep you fuelled up. Simple enough... not. Actually taking a bottle as you pass in a group travelling at over 20mph is tricky. It was an early start in the morning, up at 5am and leaving by 5.45, to be in Stamfordham by 8am. Despite the A1 being closed and getting diverted, we arrived in plenty of time and got signed on. More differences! Here, we were given 4 numbers; 2 for your back, 1 for your right shoulder blade and 1 for under your saddle, plus a transponder to go on your bike. Number 53! And that's not all of them... After a quick warm up on rollers, we were soon lining up on the start. There was a short, neutralised roll out, then we were away! Martha (blue helmet) and me before the start. (Photo credit: Neil Hendry) From talking to a few people, I'd expected the start to be very fast and very painful. My aim was just to stay with the bunch for as long as I could hang on. However, for the first 2 laps, it didn't seem too hard - the only surges being for the primes on the line. Both Martha and myself were staying with the group, I'd even managed to drop off a bottle (although I did accidentally launch it at someone, oops). So far, so good. However, in the third lap, there started to be a few attacks. The pace picked up and my legs started to burn, but with a bit of digging in, I was still hanging on. Until... Just before the 40mile mark, I'd let myself drift to the back of the group as we approached a corner, which was followed by an uphill drag. As the last few riders came around the corner, the leaders surged up the hill and I felt my elastic snap. With nothing left in my legs, I could only watch as the group rode off. From then on, I was riding on my own. Which was probably a good thing, as a few moments later I was throwing up on the side of the road. Very glamorous! I think the combination of energy drinks and pushing myself to the limit got the better of me. Yuck. Poorly episode over, I finished the 3rd lap fully expecting to be pulled out. However, as I was within the 15 minute time gap from the bunch, I was allowed to start the last lap. After picking up a bottle, a gel and some persuasion from the boss in the feed zone (just what I wanted, yay), I set out to finish as quickly as I could. As I wasn't riding in the bunch, I didn't have a lead car to follow and quickly realised I hadn't a clue where I was going. Not a problem, as there were the occasional 'cycle event' signs and marshals to follow. This worked perfectly fine, until I missed an unsigned left hand turn and got very lost. Luckily, after riding a big loop, I came across a lemonade stand. Doubly lucky, they knew where the race went and were able to give me some directions. 7 miles later, I rolled across the finish line, tired and very glad to have made it back! As it turns out, Martha had been dropped at around the same time as me and been just behind until I went the wrong way. Despite being dropped, being sick and getting lost, I still really enjoyed the experience and see it as a challenge to improve on my performance. Martha came 39th and I came 40th out of 41 finishers. We all have to start somewhere though and I'm happy to have finished my first one. Plus I've got some epic tan lines from the lovely weather! Big thanks to the boss Neil Hendry for taking me and looking after both of us. Also to Karen for looking after us too! Next week, some CDNW action at Pimbo. Looking forward to it! :)