Race Report - The Peaks 2 Day
By Daisy Barnes
A steep start to the season is the only way I can describe my first race of 2022. I don’t think there was one bit of flat road throughout the whole weekend. Saying that the courses were fantastic and it made for great road racing.
The British Continental did a preview of the weekend that I read the day before travelling down to the Peak District, it was then that I realised just what I had let myself in for; it hit me just how much 2000m of elevation was in only 85km. But with the attitude of what goes up must come down I was hoping to make the most of the descents to recover for the relentless climbing.
“Nothing aero and complicated, just about turning the pedals.”
I think, looking back, I was most looking forward to stage 1, I’ve always liked time trialling, it was actually really nice to do it on a road bike for a change, nothing aero and complicated, just about turning the pedals. For me, the time trial was a great success on Saturday, I came 7th, 1 minute 15 seconds down on Becky (ex teammie but still fab friend).
Stage 1 gave me the confidence I needed this early on in the season but clearly not enough confidence to prepare me for stage 2 on Saturday afternoon that was just brutal. After 2 laps with the front group my legs and lungs completely gave up and I was riding on my own between the leaders and the group behind, at this point I just wanted to ride hard enough to stay away from the group behind but save some legs for Sunday.
“I cleared my head of Saturday and hoped my legs would do the same.”
After a lie in on Sunday I cleared my head of Saturday and hoped my legs would do the same. I was grateful that the women’s race wasn’t until the afternoon, those extra few hours in the morning really did help. With no expectations, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself back in the front group on Sunday. The race was steady for 7 laps except for the mad sprint everyone made for the QOM each time round, my observation skills known to be fairly lacking meant I didn’t realise this was the QOM until about lap 5, but that did explain why everyone ‘kept attacking’ in the same place. Lesson learnt for the next race to figure these things out first.
The final lap was tough and a crawl to the line as the last lap there were riders everywhere and the group had split up coming onto the finish straight the penultimate time. On the whole, a good experience, lots of fun, and lessons learnt.
Thank you to the organisers and volunteers of the race and our team sponsors for their support as always.
Daisy Barnes