Check out this ladies journey……and her review of her Dartmoor Classic 2017 experience….
Review of Dartmoor Classic 2017
This was my fourth year of doing the Dartmoor Classic, why, you may ask, have I put myself through the pain of climbing those challenging hills of Dartmoor four years on the trot.
The first year I entered the Piccalo, the 35 mile shorter route of the DC. At the time of entering I had spent a year recovering from a head injury I had incurred from a surfing accident which left my left side affected with nerve damage and severe pins and needles.
I started cycling to help me with leg strength, balance and coordination. 35 miles seemed like a huge challenge to me but I was determined to train as best I could. I was rewarded for all the hard work with a gold medal. Not bad, I thought, for my first sportive. I had now been bitten by the bug and was then determined to enter the Medio the following year. I gained a bronze medal the second year and a silver medal in 2016.
After entering for this years event, I was determined that I would give it my best shot and go for a gold medal. EEK! I knew it would be hard and I would have to address my training regime to become more structured by concentrating on strength training, and specific bike training sessions.
After talking to Matt Luxton, we decided on semi private training sessions. I attended one strength training session, to compliment the blast group session with mike, and two or three home based turbo sessions which I could easily fit around home life. I did this all winter, and as the weather got better, one or more of the turbo sessions were replaced by a hill session, or a sprint session out on the bike.
I thoroughly enjoyed the semi private strength sessions, which pushed me and challenged me. DC day had arrived and although I was nervous of achieving the goal I had set myself, I felt strong and the fittest I had ever been. Whatever the outcome I knew I had done my best. We had a great day and the weather was perfect. I felt a lot stronger on the hills and overtook a fair few people. I have also gained a lot more confidence on maintaining downhill speed and my speed on the flat has also improved. This is undoubtedly attributed to all the strength and conditioning, not only for leg strength but also core strength which has improved my bike handling skills and stability immensely.
I was dreading Holne Hill, because I was knocked off last year and had to walk up three quarters of the hill. Unfortunately there seemed to be a lot more traffic this year, something we hadn’t encountered before. The sunshine brings out Sunday drivers, and in this case, we had a learner driver trying, in vain to drive up Holne hill! She stalled the car, overwhelmed by all the cyclists, causing the guy in front of me to go into the back of her car, which then had a knock on effect causing several of us to swerve and come off. I walked until I could get back on the bike and just thought, I had nothing to lose now so I just went for it after Princetown, to claw back some lost time. After doccome it’s all down hill and flat for the last ten miles. I felt stronger this year and still had power in my legs to sprint to the finish without really struggling.
Relieved to have finished, I collected my medal to find that I had got a silver medal. My only disappointment was that I was 27 seconds off getting the gold! Gutted, YES, but putting everything into context, I knew if I hadn’t come off on Holne, I would have got the gold medal well within the time limit. But there are always positives in every thing. I had managed to shave off nearly 30 minutes from last years time. That is an achievement in itself; and one to be very proud of.
At my age, 54, I didn’t expect to still keep improving or keep up with women 20 yrs or more younger than myself. I came 6th out of 85 women in my age group.
So again I feel very proud and thankful to Matt for believing in me. Age is no real barrier. Never give up and never stop believing in yourself.
There’s always next year!
