Monday, February 09, 2009
Feb 2009
How time flies……
So…. Where do I start?
.
It was very busy for me over the Christmas period and even now after being a month into the year all things are still a bit crazy with racing and I have 3 weeks of racing left now before the end of the cross season which finishes in Oostmalle on the 22nd February.
I will start with what happened after I last wrote on here. So I went home for Christmas and came back Christmas day afternoon, after opening all of my presents and sitting down for Christmas dinner my focus turned to the world cup at Zolder the following day.
Zolder 26/12/08
Luckily my dad was able to come back with me for one of the biggest cross races of the year, Zolder world cup on Boxing Day. We caught the train from Folkestone and headed back to Belgium to get here around 9pm. The next day we had an early start travelling only 40 minutes down the road to Zolder. I had a few laps of the circuit which was one of my favourite so far J very fast and quite technical. The crowds were great and it was probably the biggest race I had been too since the start of the season, also it was the best field of riders I had ridden in. I was yet again gridded at the back due to my lack of uci points. I had a rubbish start but worked my way through the other girls to finish in 16th. I was happy and looked forward to my next few races.
Video from YouTube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAMdGSjOkRQ
Report- http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross/2008/dec08/worldcup7_08
Loenhout uci race 30/12/08
It was the day of my 22nd Birthday; I had woken to a room full of balloons and cards with a fantastic chocolate cake made by matt (However I did wait until after I had raced to eat the cake). We didn’t have to leave to early as again the race was only about 30 minutes from me. The weather had turned very cold this week and the ground was very hard. I arrived at the race to watch the end of the junior boys race which looked more like a criterium, with the front group being about 20 strong!. I again liked the course, there were some long fast straights with corners coming back on yourself. There were a lot of women today, 60 lined up. I got a great start and found myself in the front group on the likes of Hanka kupfernagel and Katie Compton’s wheels. Unfortunately I made the mistake of being last wheel and got stuck behind Mirjam Melchers who wasn’t so good on the technical pieces which slowed me down and I ended up loosing the wheel, I was left hanging about 8 seconds off the front group for the last three laps and I finished with a 7th place, my legs felt great and my confidence was improving.
Video from YouTube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjHIXGpq1ks
Report - http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2008/dec08/GVAlazencrossloenhout08/GVAlazencrossloenhout083
Teuveren-4/01/09
Another good day out for me here. I loved the circuit again; it was a hard course with a little drag after the start finish area as well as some tricky little pieces in the woods to contend with. I had a good battle with Helen Wyman and Pavla Havlikova , we were fighting it out for 3rd place. We all came in to the last corner and Helen was just in front, I ended up focusing too much on the third place when I should of thought about getting forth and Pavla came round me in the finish so my position was 5th.
By this point everything was going well toward the National Championships this is when 2 days after this race I came down with a chest infection, I went to the docs and was put on a 7 day course of antibiotics, I travelled home as planned on the Wednesday as I hoped I would be feeling well enough to race by Sunday but It wasn’t to be and ended i up spending the whole time I was home in bed. I was very disappointed, I really wanted that jersey but it looked like I would just have to wait till next year for that.
My next plan was to get recovered and well enough to be able to compete in Roubaix world cup which was the following weekend. During this week I was told I would be going to the world championships due to my results over Christmas which I was made up with, it was 3 weeks away which just about gave me enough time to get my racing legs back.
Report - http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2009/jan09/tervuren09
Roubaix World cup 18/01/09
After 5 days back on the bike, I was on the start line in Roubaix. I didn’t feel sick at all now, but was still coughing quite a bit of rubbish up from the infection. This circuit was completely different to the ones I had last done over Christmas. The weather had gone much milder and it was pouring buckets of rain. The course was very muddy and I knew it was going to be a tough day; however it was a fantastic course with the start and finish being on the famous Roubaix track. My start was great, but then I just lost some time toward the end with having lost some of my top end from the time I had off. I finished 20th position today, which doesn’t sound so good but from the way I had felt that time the week before I was satisfied with the race and looked forward to getting back with some hard training for the world championships.
Video YouTube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MvsF7futYQ
Report - http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross/2009/jan09/worldcup8_09/?id=results/worldcup8_093
Zonnebeke & Wilrijk 24/25th January
I skipped going to Milan world cup this weekend, I thought it was a lot of travel for one week before the world championships and also I couldn’t really justify going as the amount of uci points wouldn’t really change my positioning for the start grid at the worlds.
I had two solid days racing with the junior boys, both very hard going courses with a lot of running, the weather was wet and I came away happy to have the races in my legs and now feeling like me on the bike again ready for the following weekend.
World Championships Hoogerheide Holland 1/2/09
I travelled to Bosschendhoff on the Thursday before the championships which is where the team hotel was, around 20 minutes from Hoogerhiede, I was very happy because since the previous weekends racing, the weather had turned much colder and the ground was now frozen, so instead of me thinking the race was going to be a mud fest with a lot of running, now it was going to be very fast. Which I think was great for me going back to how I was going in the fast races after Christmas.
I had a few good days on the course training before Sunday’s race and I loved the circuit, it was great for a championships. I wasn’t so nervous before the start to be honest, I just tried to treat it as another race, although when I seen the amount of people as I stood on the start line I realised this wasn’t just another race it was the world championships!
I was gridded at the back on the left. As I stood waiting for the traffic lights above to turn green I focused on the race ahead. I got a good start……until the first corner ,by this point I had passed a lot of girls on the right and coming in the first corner I was around the top 10, then some girls came down and I was right behind them I had no where to go but on the floor. I didn’t panic and I quickly got back up, got my bike out of the tangle and carried on, by this point nearly everyone had came passed me and now it was a case of chasing hard and passing as many girls as I could. By the end of the 2nd lap I was in 12th position and I could see the main group of 11 in front of me only 100m or so. I was trying so hard to get up to the group but on my own with a headwind it was very hard. I gave it everything in the race and the atmosphere and amount of people that were cheering me on was crazy. I came away with a 14th place in my first world cross championships which I was very happy with, but also came away with thinking what if…. If I hadn’t of crashed in the first corner, I think maybe I could have been with the group just in front.
I stayed to watch the men’s race afterwards and it was brilliant there were literally thousands of people watching. I had a great weekend.
Thank you for everyone who was supporting me J.
Video youtube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaiG1VXLw2k
Report- http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross/2009/jan09/CXworlds09/?id=results/CXworlds093
I now have three big cross races left in Lille, Heerlen and Oostmalle, and also I’m planning on doing het volk on the road before a good rest.
Here are some interviews and reports with me from the world championships
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/cyx/News2009/20090204_nikki_harris_interview.asp
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/gbr/EventReports2009/20090201_cyclo_cross_worlds_day2.asp
pics on www.nikkiharris.co.uk
So…. Where do I start?
.
It was very busy for me over the Christmas period and even now after being a month into the year all things are still a bit crazy with racing and I have 3 weeks of racing left now before the end of the cross season which finishes in Oostmalle on the 22nd February.
I will start with what happened after I last wrote on here. So I went home for Christmas and came back Christmas day afternoon, after opening all of my presents and sitting down for Christmas dinner my focus turned to the world cup at Zolder the following day.
Zolder 26/12/08
Luckily my dad was able to come back with me for one of the biggest cross races of the year, Zolder world cup on Boxing Day. We caught the train from Folkestone and headed back to Belgium to get here around 9pm. The next day we had an early start travelling only 40 minutes down the road to Zolder. I had a few laps of the circuit which was one of my favourite so far J very fast and quite technical. The crowds were great and it was probably the biggest race I had been too since the start of the season, also it was the best field of riders I had ridden in. I was yet again gridded at the back due to my lack of uci points. I had a rubbish start but worked my way through the other girls to finish in 16th. I was happy and looked forward to my next few races.
Video from YouTube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAMdGSjOkRQ
Report- http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross/2008/dec08/worldcup7_08
Loenhout uci race 30/12/08
It was the day of my 22nd Birthday; I had woken to a room full of balloons and cards with a fantastic chocolate cake made by matt (However I did wait until after I had raced to eat the cake). We didn’t have to leave to early as again the race was only about 30 minutes from me. The weather had turned very cold this week and the ground was very hard. I arrived at the race to watch the end of the junior boys race which looked more like a criterium, with the front group being about 20 strong!. I again liked the course, there were some long fast straights with corners coming back on yourself. There were a lot of women today, 60 lined up. I got a great start and found myself in the front group on the likes of Hanka kupfernagel and Katie Compton’s wheels. Unfortunately I made the mistake of being last wheel and got stuck behind Mirjam Melchers who wasn’t so good on the technical pieces which slowed me down and I ended up loosing the wheel, I was left hanging about 8 seconds off the front group for the last three laps and I finished with a 7th place, my legs felt great and my confidence was improving.
Video from YouTube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjHIXGpq1ks
Report - http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2008/dec08/GVAlazencrossloenhout08/GVAlazencrossloenhout083
Teuveren-4/01/09
Another good day out for me here. I loved the circuit again; it was a hard course with a little drag after the start finish area as well as some tricky little pieces in the woods to contend with. I had a good battle with Helen Wyman and Pavla Havlikova , we were fighting it out for 3rd place. We all came in to the last corner and Helen was just in front, I ended up focusing too much on the third place when I should of thought about getting forth and Pavla came round me in the finish so my position was 5th.
By this point everything was going well toward the National Championships this is when 2 days after this race I came down with a chest infection, I went to the docs and was put on a 7 day course of antibiotics, I travelled home as planned on the Wednesday as I hoped I would be feeling well enough to race by Sunday but It wasn’t to be and ended i up spending the whole time I was home in bed. I was very disappointed, I really wanted that jersey but it looked like I would just have to wait till next year for that.
My next plan was to get recovered and well enough to be able to compete in Roubaix world cup which was the following weekend. During this week I was told I would be going to the world championships due to my results over Christmas which I was made up with, it was 3 weeks away which just about gave me enough time to get my racing legs back.
Report - http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2009/jan09/tervuren09
Roubaix World cup 18/01/09
After 5 days back on the bike, I was on the start line in Roubaix. I didn’t feel sick at all now, but was still coughing quite a bit of rubbish up from the infection. This circuit was completely different to the ones I had last done over Christmas. The weather had gone much milder and it was pouring buckets of rain. The course was very muddy and I knew it was going to be a tough day; however it was a fantastic course with the start and finish being on the famous Roubaix track. My start was great, but then I just lost some time toward the end with having lost some of my top end from the time I had off. I finished 20th position today, which doesn’t sound so good but from the way I had felt that time the week before I was satisfied with the race and looked forward to getting back with some hard training for the world championships.
Video YouTube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MvsF7futYQ
Report - http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross/2009/jan09/worldcup8_09/?id=results/worldcup8_093
Zonnebeke & Wilrijk 24/25th January
I skipped going to Milan world cup this weekend, I thought it was a lot of travel for one week before the world championships and also I couldn’t really justify going as the amount of uci points wouldn’t really change my positioning for the start grid at the worlds.
I had two solid days racing with the junior boys, both very hard going courses with a lot of running, the weather was wet and I came away happy to have the races in my legs and now feeling like me on the bike again ready for the following weekend.
World Championships Hoogerheide Holland 1/2/09
I travelled to Bosschendhoff on the Thursday before the championships which is where the team hotel was, around 20 minutes from Hoogerhiede, I was very happy because since the previous weekends racing, the weather had turned much colder and the ground was now frozen, so instead of me thinking the race was going to be a mud fest with a lot of running, now it was going to be very fast. Which I think was great for me going back to how I was going in the fast races after Christmas.
I had a few good days on the course training before Sunday’s race and I loved the circuit, it was great for a championships. I wasn’t so nervous before the start to be honest, I just tried to treat it as another race, although when I seen the amount of people as I stood on the start line I realised this wasn’t just another race it was the world championships!
I was gridded at the back on the left. As I stood waiting for the traffic lights above to turn green I focused on the race ahead. I got a good start……until the first corner ,by this point I had passed a lot of girls on the right and coming in the first corner I was around the top 10, then some girls came down and I was right behind them I had no where to go but on the floor. I didn’t panic and I quickly got back up, got my bike out of the tangle and carried on, by this point nearly everyone had came passed me and now it was a case of chasing hard and passing as many girls as I could. By the end of the 2nd lap I was in 12th position and I could see the main group of 11 in front of me only 100m or so. I was trying so hard to get up to the group but on my own with a headwind it was very hard. I gave it everything in the race and the atmosphere and amount of people that were cheering me on was crazy. I came away with a 14th place in my first world cross championships which I was very happy with, but also came away with thinking what if…. If I hadn’t of crashed in the first corner, I think maybe I could have been with the group just in front.
I stayed to watch the men’s race afterwards and it was brilliant there were literally thousands of people watching. I had a great weekend.
Thank you for everyone who was supporting me J.
Video youtube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaiG1VXLw2k
Report- http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross/2009/jan09/CXworlds09/?id=results/CXworlds093
I now have three big cross races left in Lille, Heerlen and Oostmalle, and also I’m planning on doing het volk on the road before a good rest.
Here are some interviews and reports with me from the world championships
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/cyx/News2009/20090204_nikki_harris_interview.asp
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/gbr/EventReports2009/20090201_cyclo_cross_worlds_day2.asp
pics on www.nikkiharris.co.uk
# posted by Nikki @ Monday, February 09, 2009 
