The first race is always a shock to the system, however crashing out heavily 2km in was definitely not the shock I was hoping for! Unfortunately, this crash at Le Samyn left me swollen, bruised and lacking in confidence which lead to a few months of finding my feet in the peloton again. I came back to the UK and took part in some Tour Series events with my team, DROPS, where we had a lot of success and won the series overall. This boosted my confidence and with my new found speed in my legs after a few weeks of fast crit racing round the UK I was ready to take on Europe again. More bad luck followed with a crash the day before my flight to the Basque Country leaving me in hospital, rather than the airport. Another setback but it left me even more raring to get going again.
A few weeks on the turbo and training out on the amazing roads here in Girona, I had my fitness back and flew to the IOM for the national Road Race Championships. Being a sprinter, the course did not typically suit me, but I gave it my best shot and made it into the early break, only to be caught on the infamous Snaefell Mountain. Shortly after this I was selected to ride for Great Britain at the UCI 2.1 BeNe Ladies Tour in Belgium. I felt like I was riding really well here and played a strong team role. Whilst an untimely puncture meant personally I was lower down on GC than I would have hoped for, as a team we came away with 2 team wins and 3rd on GC after a super team effort!
After a rocky start to the season I am relieved to have finally found my legs and looking forward to the remainder of the season which will take me to Denmark, Norway, Belgium, France and Spain!