Emma updates us on her recent trip to Luchon...
Long
hours at work, racing, sorting houses out all result in various levels of
stress. A few weeks prior to the National Champs I’d been under intense
pressure resulting in an abysmal Margam performance. However, the work stress
was dropping off, I’d been to Glasgow, raced and felt much better, but most
excitingly it was ‘proper’ holiday time. Where better to go than AQR Holiday and Coaching HQ, Bagneres-de-Luchon
in the French Pyrenees.
I
should have been travelling with AQR team mate Katie Collins, but due to her
still recovering from her shoulder injury sustained at Margam, I was going
solo. After a long drive I arrived in Luchon on the Friday to try and give myself
a day to recover and relax before the proper guiding started. Saturday morning
I opted for a quick spin up the Col D’Peyresourde, on the MTB of course. I
decided to head up early and was very glad as whilst descending I noted that
the temperature had increased significantly. That was also to be the theme for
the rest of the week; blue sky, sunshine and very hot! I have to say, some of
the French roadies where really jovial which made a change. Saturday also saw
the arrival of the remainder of the guests for the week. First up were Sarah
and Alan who had already spent almost a month riding in various places,
including checking out Vallnord in Andorra before the MTB World Cup rolled into
town. Finally Jane, Bruce and their kids rocked up and I was shocked to be
recognised thanks to a Bristol Bikefest podium; Jane and Bruce would be tag
teaming for the week with one on kids duty whilst the other rode. AQR’s Ian
Potter popped round for dinner as well as a welcome chat and to talk through
how everything would work and what to expect for the week.
First
off-road day on the bike out in Luchon is always a bit of a shock. It may only
be ~635m altitude to start with but you can still feel it when climbing. I was
feeling quite perky though and really enjoying pacing the longer climbs. I’d
also forgotten exactly how steep it is out there, which come the end of day one
was to be my downfall. It seems my hands have gotten quite weak and so with the
extended time on the brakes during the descents my hands were getting super
tired. At the bottom of the final descent of the day I grabbed a little too
much front brake to bring the bike to a halt and catapulted myself over the
bars! Fortunately, I only winded myself mildly and took a very small hit to my
hip. The big saviour however was the armour I was wearing as I’d gone along the
ground on my forearms; it would have been two very badly damaged forearms had I
not been wearing it. I am glad to say that that was one of only two crashes all
week thankfully, with the second being on the penultimate day and a very slow,
softer landing version followed by fits of giggles.
Most
of the week comprised of XC riding and various sinuous slithers of Pyrenean
singletrack along with some stonking climbs to boot. Luchon is also well
supplied with switchbacks and boy did we ride a lot of those. We did a day’s
uplift where full face helmets and armour where order of the day and I got my
first ride on a very special Cotic Rocket; I was also very
lucky to ride it for the rest of the week following a bit of a brake
catastrophe on my Soul.
Come
the end of the week I was really sad to have to pack up and drive home as I
felt I was only just getting into the swing of things. Even though this was a
holiday, I was also still in training and I had the Potters assessing me at
various times (including those early morning dog walks/runs...not generally
found on a ‘normal’ AQR holiday). I was very pleased to hear that I was looking
stronger in terms of stability on the bike; since it’s a constant adaptation
for me I can’t really ‘see’ these things. But to have people who haven’t seen
me for ~6 months say that I take as a real positive and something to build
upon. On the flip side the holiday also identified my hand weakness so I can
now do something to address this. Having been out in the mountains though I
know I now need to be riding steeper, more technical terrain too to push me more
as well. This trip was fantastic, and also it means now that my AQR Coaches Kate and Ian Potter can prioritise my
training for this winter to address the weak points as well as build on my
developing strengths.
As
a final reminder of the good times had by all, Alan and Sarah made a short video of the holiday. If I’m riding as
well as them when I retire I’ll be an extremely happy lady!
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