One day one photo - 21

Tuesday 30th September

This is the view that I am treated to now when I go to my Tuesday Wattbike sessions at the Manchester Velodrome. This hallowed establishment, the City of Manchester Stadium (aka the Etihad) along with the velodrome both sit within a part of Manchester known as Sportcity. As well as these being homes for cycling and for football (a view that won't be shared by United fans) this area also hosts various other sports such as a national squash centre and the regional centre for tennis and gymnastics.


This area was borne out of the constructions for the 2002 Commonwealth Games that were held in Manchester - a fine example of a sporting legacy. It's great to come here, but I got caught out when trying to get to my turbo session. In Manchester town centre instead of taking the 231 to Droylesden, I had to take the Etihad Stadium bus. The passengers were all males of a certain age, (Don't Man City have any younger fans?), and annoyingly for me the service only went as far as the football stadium, so I had to walk an extra 10 minutes to reach the Velodrome, making me even later for my session. Needless to say the traffic through Manchester was chaotic, the bus was packed, and once I got off the bus I had to run the gauntlet of a mixture of pie/hot-dog sellers and mounted police.

I'm sure there were others like me who wanted to get to their own respective training sessions at Sportcity, but a football match had to take precendent over everything and we had to endure all that is imposed on us by "the beautiful game". I believe Manchester City were playing against Roma as part of the Champions League. I've no idea who won, and since all I was thinking of was giving those Wattbike pedals a blast, I didn't care!

One day one photo - 2

Thursday 11th September

Some of you may recognise this as the Wattbike zone at the Manchester Velodrome. You are absolutely right! This is one of my regular hangouts when it comes to cycle training. Funnily enough I have yet to actually ride on the hallowed boards below - that should happen in the not distant future though. But for now this is where I will go weekly as it becomes a bit cold and dark to ride on the roads, and it's a little bit boring to do turbo training on your own at home. I was at the session on Tuesday with my club, Manchester Wheelers. It was quite fun, having a coach doling out the intervals we had to do, all to the sound of kitsch 80s music. Unfortunately, I didn't get the full benefit of the experience as I had caught a later train from Macclesfield, so got there a bit late. I then had to leave early to get back to Manchester Piccadilly to get my train home again. Still, 40 minutes was as much as I could cope with for my first outing since March. Hopefully these sessions will improve my fitness, especially for the new cyclocross season - and the music will be a bit more trendy!

 

 


 





 
 
 

Interviewing a few good women

Things have been a little different in the last few months so I have not been able to write my blog as usual....

I am slowly getting back into a "normal" cycle but it isn't always easy. I am not sure if I can smile quite as brightly as I used to, or if humour is felt as deeply as before, knowing that someone who was such a bedrock in my life is no longer here.

Thankfully, I have had good support around me, and I have done a few things that have provided moments of pleasantness and positivity.

Among these moments have been the times when I interviewed some of the best female cycle racers in the world.

Photo by Andy Jones (Cycling Weekly)

Last weekend, I spoke to a few heavyweights of women's cycle racing for Cycling Weekly magazine - Britain's Olympic Silver Medallist, Lizzie Armitstead, Current World Road Race Champion, Marianne Vos, whose list of palmares extends as long as your arm, and Giorgia Bronzini, two-time World Road Race Champion.

They were both in London to compete in the Prudential RideLondon women's criterium race on The Mall. Laura Trott was the defending champion of this race, but the tactic was for her and the rest of Wiggle Honda to work for Giorgia Bronzini to get the win. The plan certainly worked, as the feisty Italian spectacularly got past the mighty Vos in the dash for the finish line.

 I think this race was a great advert for women's cycle racing because it was an active race with an exciting finish, all in an iconic location. I hope we can have more such races, and also longer races in Britain (to add to the Women's Tour).

Photo by Andy Jones (Cycling Weekly)

And I must say, both Vos and Bronzini were very amenable, nice girls to talk to. It was a real pleasure to meet them.

On the same weekend I was very pleased to interview Laura Trott - Olympic and Commonwealth champion - for Sportsister magazine. She was down in London for the RideLondon events in her role as Prudential ambassador.

Photo from Prudential RideLondon

I remember Laura Trott racing in a couple of London Women's Cycle Racing league events a few years ago, representing Welwyn Cycling Club. So it was quite surreal seeing her photo splashed on the front of the national papers after clinching gold in the Commonwealth Games.

Also in March, I interviewed another "local" for Sportsister magazine - Olympic, World and Commonwealth track pursuit champion, Joanna Rowsell. (This took place shortly before I was told my mum had fallen seriously ill.)
Joanna was at the Manchester Bike and Tri show fresh from gaining her World Championship title, and was promoting the benefits of training on a Wattbike. It was great to interview someone I had seen as a schoolgirl racing in the same local races as me. Of course, she was always way up at the front where I was at the other end of proceedings!

Photo by Aodan Higgins

That aside, I am very happy to have had the opportunity to interview a few of the most respected women in sport, and look forward to meeting others in future.