Women’s Cyclo-cross Training Weekend
Hope WMN cyclo-cross riders Vic Peel and Ruby James are already prepping for cross to arrive and recently took park in a Women’s cyclo-cross training weekend.
Here’s a little insight into what they got up to……….
As cross is always coming when British Women’s cyclo-cross legends Ffion James (Hope WMN Ambassador) & Amira Mellor, announced they were organising a women’s cross camp it was a no brainier to get involved!
The itinerary was jam packed and it looked to be a class weekend! Vic living up North was a local to the training camp base, but coming from South Wales myself & Ffion traveled up on the Friday together (I’m used to being a passenger princess so driving was a shock to the system!).
On arrival I had a chill in the sun after the drive while Ffion and Amira set up the cross course for the weekend at the Rolls Royce Leisure grounds. A big thanks to Robin at Hope for organising for us girls to have access for the weekend!
Post set up it was back to the accommodation to welcome the people arriving and get dinner on the go. Having not met everyone before I was super excited to get to know some new racing gals and very quickly everyone was laughing and joking like we had known each other for years.
After a big feed of pasta, pasta with a side of pasta it was time for some shut eye before day one of camp officially started.
Day 1 began with a spin over to the cross training ground, with local gal Vic leading us on what I can only describe as a magical mystery tour of every puddle in Yorkshire en route and by the time we arrived my feet were already swimming (perfect cross prep)!
The mornings training consisted of starts, starts and you guessed it more starts with some super fun skills practice added in. Ffion led a session on bunny hopping hurdles, which being one of the most skilled riders I know she made look so easy (I dream of having Ffion’s bike handling skills), with Amira leading a skills session on cross remounts. Now this is my most proud part of the weekend because anyone that knows me, knows I remount my bike like a granny (I have always blamed my dodgy hips on too many crashes on the velodrome in my youth). However within 20 minutes Amira had me remounting in style BOTH sides of my bike!!!!
Back to base for a quick lunch it was then out on the road bikes for a 40km spin and of course a cafe stop for the biggest slab of rocky road and the best hot chocolate ever. The rain came down on our afternoon ride, but nothing can dampen the spirits of a group of gals loving life full of hot chocolate!
A lovely evening at the pub followed with good food, sharing stories and lots of laughter.
Day 2 started bright and early with a very relaxing Yoga session thanks to Emma Smith, straight into a cross training season with some race efforts.
To start we did a timed flying lap of the course, with Ffion & Amira then leading everyone around the course giving coaching points on the corners, getting everyone to try alternative lines and having a bit of fun getting the elbows out.
It was then back for a second flying lap to see if we could improve our times with the flying Hannah Mccorley coming out the champion!
The real fun then began with some mass start racing efforts and of course ending with a team relay which are always the most competitive part of any training session.
Then it was time to pack down the course and roll up the tape before the drives home, at the end of a class weekend!
A huge thank you to Ffion & Amira for organised such a class weekend and to all the girls for making it so friendly and fun. Cannot wait to see you all on the start line!
#crossiscoming
Photos & Words: Ruby James
