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Blog: Sarah Storey
It's been a fairly even balance so far in 2011 and after two weeks on the track doing some big gear speed sessions with the team pursuit group it was time to head out to Mallorca and the mountains I love so much for the second 2 weeks of January!
Above: Sarah with a young cyclist from Chippenham Wheelers CC - Sarah and husband Barney attended the club's annual club dinner.
With the para-cycling squad having four days left when I arrived in Mallorca in mid January, I managed to get some time in with the men's tandems before they went home. It was great fun as their average speed rarely dropped below 35kph on the rolling terrain and after 90 minutes with them I then headed into the mountains by myself and got some good work done on the climbs. After two days of 5 hours on the road bike the team pursuit girls arrived for the final 11 days of the trip.
Above: The stunning scenery and roads of Mallorca are a haven for cyclists keen to escape the chill of early season UK winter training.
As a group there has been a variety of sessions to get stuck into and some gut wrenching work on several climbs. For those that know the island, the climbs up towards the Lluc monastery from both the Pollenca and Inca sides as well as on one day heading to Sa Calobra. Having enjoyed the 15 minute drop down towards the sea, I did a quick U turn and then headed back up the 10km climb at threshold pace. There's no easy way to climb out of Sa Calobra especially not when an extra litre of drink has been added to the bike!
Trying to better my previous time up the Lluc climb from the Inca side has been good fun throughout the trip and earlier this week I managed a 22.5kph average for the 8km climb. We've also been out to the Formentor Lighthouse which is a first for me! It was a magnificent view as we got further and further out on the peninsular and then quite a scary descent back through the tunnel!
On the split session days there has been plenty of TT work to get my teeth into and with a double TT day booked in twice during the camp I've had plenty of time on the aero bars! With some Team Time Trial sessions as well, we've done lots of quality riding in between the long hilly rides.
In between the team sessions there has been some time for individual rides and on a couple of days I hooked with one of V C St Raphael's recently signed riders for their new look women's team. Sarah Byrne, a very talented young lady, came on a rolling 3 hour ride with me and we worked on some power activation on a very undulating route. It was a good ride and tough work into the headwind on our way out to Arta, but we enjoyed the benefits coming back! On a previous ride with Sarah I had rolled up to meet her in Puerto Pollenca, but due to the strong winds blowing across the bay it took me 35 minutes to get there! Normally it would be about 20 minutes!
On another ride I was out by myself and hammering along trying to get the average speed for the ride a bit higher, when I hit a rock in the road. There was that moment every cyclist has when they wonder if the wheel will survive without a puncture, but then sure enough the sound of air hissing out of the front wheel and I had to stop and change the tube. Just as I had started to add some air to the new tube, a car stopped and two German cyclists jumped out and asked if I needed some help. Fortunately for me they were on their way home from the track in Palma and had a track pump in the boot of the car! What was also fortunate, was they didn't like to see me struggling to roll the tyre back over the rim of the wheel and so between them stepped in and completed the job and I was on my way in half the time it would have taken me to sort it out by myself! Thanks guys!
It's not long until the end of the camp and when I get home Barney and I will be heading down to Chippenham to spend the evening with the Chippenham Wheelers Cycling Club at their Annual Dinner. We're both really looking forward to making the trip as many of the guys in the club were chaperones for the Deloitte Ride Across Britain in 2010. It will be good to have a catch up and reminisce about the hours and hours of riding we did in that nine days. I'm also looking forward to a couple of rest days before we hit the track again.
Sarah X
