Blogs
Mon, 21 Jun 2010
Back from Belgium
By Annie Simpson - Horizon Fitness Racing Team
After 2 back-to-back races in Belgium last weekend, I packed up and made the journey back to the UK. I only went as far as Birmingham though, where I stayed until the Horizon Fitness GP in Stoke-on-Trent.
I met some of my team mates Wednesday afternoon at the team hotel where we chilled out and had a good old chat. I was sharing a room with my team mate Britt! I was trying to pick up a bit of Dutch from her, and she was trying to understand my Yorkshire lingo - we had a good laugh!
The day of the Horizon GP was a very busy one. We crawled out of bed at 7.15, which for me is very early, and from there on it was non stop. We met a lot of the local school children and it was really great to see so many of them all getting on their bikes!
After lots of pictures and filming, we finally got on our bikes and hit the course. I loved it! Fast descent with some challenging corners; I was raring to race with the rest of my team! I started out on the front row with Helen, and from the start was right up at the front. Everything was going well until I sprinted out of one of the corners and that familiar feeling of pain in my knee came back. Right there and then I was devastated and knew that my race was over. I made the decision to stop because I didn't want it to get any worse! More time off my bike with such a busy month coming up would have been awful!
Looking back, I hadn't managed to do my usual amount of stretching over the days leading up to the race. When I was in Belgium I would stretch 2-3 times a day, and I just hadn't done that. I left disappointed I couldn't be up there, but so proud of the rest of my team! Class act they were!
So now I'm back home in Yorkshire, stretching all day, everyday, trying to loosen off my knee again ready for National Championships at the weekend. Then I'm off back to Belgium on the 29th June to continue my preparation for the Tour of Limousin at the end of July.
As always, I'll keep you posted.
Annie :)
For more information about the Horizon Fitness Racing Team, visit www.onthedrops.com.