Rider Diary: Sally Bigham
Interview with Sally Bigham
The Exceptional Realist - November 2009
Sally Bigham: Minding The Gap - January 2011
Racing for just four years but already ranked number two in the world for marathon, Sally Bigham has had an extraordinary rise to fight against the World elite. From balancing a full time job and racing, to taking on her first season as a professional mountain bike rider, every step of the way will be documented. To find out all about Sally read parts one and two of her feature-length interviews, and get the latest from her epic adventures right here.
March 26 2011
Readying For The Season
It took me a long time and many, many conversations with colleagues and friends before I finally decided to take a sabbatical from my academic career in October last year. At the end of November, and only one month into my year off, I got a pre-patellar bursitis and I was unable to do any real training throughout December. I was feeling pretty glum and seriously questioning and regretting not having a job to go to, especially given that my 2010 season was hampered by an injury to my other knee! I felt like I'd made a stupid decision: I didn't have riding or a job! When we headed off to Gran Canaria (GC) at the beginning of January for some winter training I was still unsure if I'd be able to train because the bursitis was still a problem.
Fortunately, the three week trip to GC was a total success and I was able to follow my high mile training plan (set by Matt Hart at Torq) to the letter. I was absolutely buzzing and loving every minute of full-time riding :-)
After GC we went to Club La Santa, Lanzarote for two weeks. During the first week I was helping out with the Club La Santa Cape Epic training week, which involved a two-stage MTB race, plus five days of guided riding. I was a little bit tentative about racing so early in the year, not least because I'd only had three weeks of training but also because the races were really short for me (30km and 60km), and short generally equals fast! Although I'd had some great endurance training in GC and I was starting to feel stronger, I certainly wasn't fast!
Once the gun went off I soon realised how much I'd missed racing over the winter and at the finish line I was beaming from ear to ear! I was really looking forward to the race the next day, which was going to be more technical and longer. I finished in second place on both days and second overall, with Gunn-Rita taking third place. Super fast Annika Langvad won and gave a hint at what will, I predict, be an excellent 2011 season for her.
After the race I took a break from structured training while I helped guide the Cape Epic training camp. It was really nice to ride off-road with the group without having a training agenda. At the start of our second week, however, I was eager to get back into my training. It was great to be back into our routine and we fully explored the Island by road (but on my MTB) when we covered just over 750km in five days.
When we returned to the UK I had a couple of weeks of lower miles but higher intensity training before heading out to Malaga for the Andalucia six day Bike Race where I teamed up with Kristine Norgaard (Denmark). We had a lot of fun out there and in doing so we won the race :-)
Our aim was to ride at a comfortable pace and use it as base training without having to go too hard - this was especially important for me in the run up to the Cape Epic eight-day stage race three weeks later. It worked perfectly with the exception that Kristine got a heavy cold during the last couple of days. A few days later I also got ill :-)
I'm now in South Africa preparing for the Cape Epic which starts on Sunday. It took me two weeks to recover from the flu and I've only just started to train again in the last couple of days. It's been a long waiting game. I didn't want to start training too soon and risk being ill at the start line on March 27. So I've kept a close eye on my heart rate and I only started training once it had returned to normal.
This year I'm racing the Epic with the newly crowned South African Marathon Champion Karien van Jaarsveld. I'll be a guest on her team - Team USN. There's some super strong competition in the ladies pairs, including 2010 World Cup XC race winners Eva Lechner and Natalie Schneitter, and our very own Downhill World Champ Tracy Moseley who pairs up with Anka Martin. Fingers crossed for fun and good luck!
Happy training and racing,
Sal :-)
