SARAH B - ultimate women's cycling fan girl!

A blog about what I have been up to recently, ie. Obsessing about how COOL WOMEN'S CYCLING IS!

So it’s nearly time to start racing, which brings with it a whole array of emotions, from excitement to terror. In the meantime I have been feeding/appeasing my nerves by immersing myself in all things women's racing, and I have discovered a very important thing:

Women's cycling is SO MUCH BETTER than mens.

And so I have become a right little saddo women's-pro-cycling-fan-girl. I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some stuff I think is really cool and inspiring!

1) http://prowomenscycling.com/

This is a super cool blog and podcast written/recorded by a super cool duo Sarah and Dan. It has race reports of every big womens race, and transfer news, stories, great ideas for fans to support the racing, UCI bashing and more. I have nearly stopped commuting to work by bike entirely in order to sit on the bus and listen to their podcast instead! They were the masterminds of the ‘social media jersey’ initiative last year to reward women racers who did great blogs and twitter stuff, and they are just ace and friendly and funny and brilliant and so excited and passionate about racing. You can follow them on twitter as @_pidgeons_

2) http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails2011.asp?id=OTA2NQ&MenuId=MTYzMDQ&LangId=1&BackLink=%2FTemplates%2FUCI%2FUCI8%2Flayout.asp%3FMenuID%3DMTYzMDQ%26LangId%3D1

The UCI stakeholder survey is now open, if you are a cyclist, commuter, work in cycling or race or ride any kind of bike or even if you aren’t involved in cycling in any way at all, you are entitled to take this survey! These people are meant to represent us; they are our union supposedly. If you think they could/should be doing more for women, you can tell them! It’s a bit long and mainly about doping but there are sections for your comments and a whole page about womens cycling. If you agree with Chloe Hosking’s views on Pat Mcquaid, you can tell him here!

3) http://glittergravel.com/how-to-get-more-women-into-cycling/

This great article about how to get women cycling from somebody talking sense at last, This sentence sealed it for me ‘Basically, all these points boil down to treat women like normal people instead of marginalizing them, and be welcoming and inviting. I do not claim to know everything. I am a woman, but I am very different from other women, so not everything written below will apply to all women. These suggestions are, however, based on my real world experiences, and are just a few ideas I’ve thought of that can maybe jump start some ideas of your own.’

It’s a lovely article and full of good tips and ideas for how everyone can support womens cycling in a small way, and encourage women into the sport, and what a great attitude and refreshing to read something from someone acknowledging at last that we aren’t all the same! She also mentions this article which I also think is really great and funny http://takingthelane.com/2012/09/17/is-this-thing-sexist-introducing-the-bike-test/ about bike and cycling related adverts and sexism.

4) http://velociosports.com/team/ The Specialized Lululemon team website, because its so lovely and smiley and great. There’s tons of videos to watch and photos and it’s entertaining and awesome and I could waste a lot of time there!

5) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRpuzakd57M&feature=player_embedded This video of the Ronde van Drenthe, in particular from about 8.55 onwards, just watch Vos climbing like she really means it, makes my legs hurt watching but so coool!

6) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-moQ-GxWBlY&feature=player_embedded and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHx73wrBY1c&feature=player_embedded Stages 3 and 4 of last years Giro Donne. I really enjoy watching Emma Pooley attack, and Vos chase and descend, brilliant, exciting races to watch.

7) http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/537383/emma-pooley-calls-for-women-s-tour-de-france.html Yeah I’d totally watch that!!

Well that’s probably enough to keep anyone occupied until we start racing, but by no means an exhaustive list of the stuff that’s cool. I hope it makes someone else as happy as it made me. I take no credit at all for making or even finding anything on this list, there’s tons of great womens cycling fans out there compiling brilliant video lists and blogs and I can’t wait to find them all! Now I’m going to go and watch one of the Giro stages in full on the rollers and dream of sunshine and Italian mountains J

Sarah xx

Cross Over

Out riding with Di - snow on the hills

This is my cross season round up. It was a bit of a bittersweet season with a couple of high moments and plenty of lows, but that is bike racing . I did not start my cross season on quite the right pedal stroke.... cue loads of excuses as to why I didn't become national champion. I don't want to write one of those blogs that details every little reason why I didnt win a race but at the same time a big part of my season is trying to balance work and cycling (so that's probably what it will sound like). The gist of it is I'm not very good and I need to do more training. During the first half of the cross season I was working in A&E. Most you will who know me (or follow my rants on twitter) will know that this wasn't an overly pleasant time. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the fast pace and a challenging medical shizzle, the hours where absolutely crippling. 70hours a week, night shifts, 4 full proper weekends off in 4 months - not ideal for trying to turn yourself into a decent cx racer. However I did try and that's what counts. There were times I was shattered; my feet hurt and my back ached but my trusty friend Di would drag me out on that cx bike and beast me round the park. I would get in from a friday night at work at 5am sleep a few hours and then try to race. All of this has hightlighted to me the importance of rest and having a proper sleep pattern to get the best out of yourself on the bike. It soon became apparent that rest days are not 12hours in the emergency department refereeing jeremy kyle style disagreements.

racing at thornbridge

in my previous cross season I was able race myself fit because we have a good selection of local races every weekend. With these shifts I was missing most of those and then I would put a great deal of presure on myself to perform on my one weekend off - needless to say it occasionally ended in tears. It was at these points I felt like just giving up, why bother with the training when I couldn't even race well. Why not just collapse on the sofa when I got home rather than on the turbo? Thankfully chris and Di kept being really patient and encougraging and things improved.

my trusty running companion

Once I changed jobs and started in the GP surgery things turned a bit of a corner. I was no longer noctural, I could sit down most of the day and most importantly I could have my weekends back. It amazing what a change 7 or 8 hours sleep a night is compared to 5, I felt superb. It was all abit too little too late but it did allow me a small glimmer of hope. I had a great race at thornbridge in our local league in really deep mud and tricky conditions and this form carried me through to the national trophy at derby. Things didn't go quite so well for me at the national champs, i think nerves got to me a bit. The course was brutal and you needed to have a really strong mindset to suceed there, I think a few of my insecurities crept in and I really struggled with the cold. However I did really enjoy seeing everyone else riding so well, especially seeing the look on Pete Harris's face when his daughter Nikki became national champ.

carb loading on pancake day

So I still maybe down in the ranks of rubbish wannabe bike racer but I have learnt a great deal from this cross season. I know I need to dedicate time to working on skills as well as strength and fitness. I need a good nights sleep. I know you can be mentally and physically exhausted and I know now when to recognise exhaustion - end of 7 night shifts in a row usually resulting in strange halluncinations involing medical equipment - rather than just feeling like I can't really be arsed. I also know now that not giving up was worth it because although it hasnt been the best winter of training I'm stronger this year than I was last year and I can't ask for much more than that. I have had a bit of a break after the season finished and I did manage to let off some steam and drown my sorrows with jaeger. 

end of season ski/jaeger tasting trip

PS I also learned a great deal about the power of social media! I realised that constantly seeing people tweeting about how much training they had done and how strong they were was really demoralising. On the flip side as we neared the end of the season and riders started tweeting about how tired they felt and I was starting to feel fresh this gave me a boost. Those of us who are avid tweeters/facebookers could take a few mins to reflect on the effect other peoples updates have on you and how not to let that disadvantage you.

PPS the mule bar girls tricked me, I thought my cross season was over but Ive some how been entered for the Morvelo City Cross. Hopefully see you there.

Elite Women's Nocturne- London Bike Show

So I was meant to write a blog at New Year about the team, which I did, but I was too embarrassed to post it as it’s full of MBG cheesiness and how awesome I think all my teamies past and present are. So instead I’m gonna write one about my second race of 2013, the IG Markets London Nocturne at the Bike Show.

Despite it being super early in the season I think it’s fair to say that I was really looking forward to racing this event. With my love of criteriums and it being the world’s first ever fully indoor crit it was sure to be an awesome event. Plus I knew we’d end up in the pub having a good old catch up and a few too many drinks in true MBG style!

So the day before the race when a worrying email was sent round with peoples concerns about getting there with our bikes, due to the forecast snow, I got worried…I wanted to race! I decided I needed a plan; if worse came to worse and I’d ride there on my cross bike (with cross tyres) with a change of road tyres for the race. But surely there wouldn’t be that much snow?..

I woke on Friday and there was snow, lots of it, I live on a hill and looking up and down my road there was no way I was getting down it on a road bike. Worse case had arisen and I was going on my cross bike! I’d arranged ride to Sarah’s and we’d ride over together from there as she’s better at getting to places. As I headed into more central London there was barley any snow on the roads, maybe I’d been a wrong and should’ve just gone on  my road bike, oh well! After a quick cuppa at Sarah’s we set off to the ExCel, getting a bit lost we ended having to nip across some snowy pavements and bike paths, maybe I had needed the cross bike. Either way both Sarah and I made it to ExCel with a bike to race on each…Two down, three to go!

Anna was already there with her Ananichoola stand so she and both bikes she needed for her two races there safe and sound. However we had a text from V, her shed had frozen shut so she had no race bike so was riding her training bike over and would be racing on that, mudguards and all! Nat then turned up. However she’d been unable to get her bike there so after a kind offer from Hope rider and team friend, Rachael, she had a bike to race on and some shoes to borrow. Sorted, just about, it was time to race! 

As I said before I was excited for this race and when I get excited about races I want to do well, so I was rather nervous. I was even more nervous as it’s so early in the season it’s hard to judge where you’re fitness is at, would I have enough speed to race as hard as I usually like to? 

The whistle went and we were off, Clem from High Wycome went off like a bullet and opened up a gap. After just a few lap I was already struggling, my lungs and legs were burning, I was cornering so badly that at one point I managed to shoulder barge the barriers! I remember looking at the clock and seeing only three minutes of our 25 minute race had elapsed and didn’t think I was going to last. 

I managed to cling onto the chasing group of four riders and we had Clem pegged for a while, but with everyone was struggling Clem extended her lead. With the lap board popping up and signalling five to go it was obvious we weren’t going to be able catch her and thoughts turned to the sprint for second place. 


I tried to take on the sprint on with a lap to go, but my legs weren’t having any of it and Alice Barnes went flying past me in the back straight. I managed to hold on to third place and get myself onto the podium, so was pleased with my performance and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come this season!
All our team did great considering the circumstances and all the pre-race bike palava and problems we had. Surprisingly though V’s decided she may prefer racing on her training bike so if you spot a bike with mudguards at the tour series it’s probably hers haha! 

Thanks to the IG London Nocturne for putting on another great event to let us showcase Womens cycling, see you at Smithfield!

Review of 2012 - Natalie

I’m afraid my review of 2012 has come a little late.  I will spare you the excuses but they revolve around breaking my toe and my bike and my car breaking down.  This was particularly interesting as on the morning of my first race for MuleBar Girl earlier this year, the very same car threatened to scupper my plans by stubbornly refusing to start.  Thankfully on this occasion and following a dubious drive back from Germany with a rapidly ailing car (an earlier model to this I might add), I’d bitten the bullet and paid for motor recovery.  Unfortunately that didn’t help me with writing the blog but it did give me something to preamble about and got me back on four wheels faster than I got back on two wheels or two feet.

Copyright Juan Trujillo

2012 has been a fantastic year with the MuleBar Girls.  At the end of the 2011 season I wasn’t even sure if I’d be racing again after a back injury kept me off the bike for a number of months.  However, the girls obviously saw a little glimmer of hope and I’m so glad that I took up their offer of joining such a great team even when I didn’t know if I could race or not.

Copyright Juan Trujillo

My review of the year revolves around smiles and laughter both on and off the bike, racing and training, coffee, cake and embrocation oil with a smattering of tears, pain, frustration and gritted determination.  I’ve made some amazing friends in the MuleBar Girls and we’ve won some races in the process.  I’ve seen my team mates on the podium and we’ve fought through tough times together.  I’ve experienced the inspiration of the Olympic games on my doorstep and I’ve ground out some evil turbos while the rain lashes down outside.  I’ve eaten bread and butter pudding for breakfast and I’ve been on TV. There’ve been times when I felt like there was two of me riding my bike and I know what it is like to really truly want something.  Then there are the times when my legs felt like lead or when I tried so hard and for so long to get away that they just could not push any longer do what I may, even though moments afterwards it felt like I simply capitulated.  I’ve warmed up on the rollers with the same song on repeat losing myself in the words and the beat and I’ve gone missing time and again in the moment of racing.  I’ve chased wheels uphill and down and been bashed about by the unrelenting Dutch wind.  I’ve climbed mountains in the sunshine and felt the energising heat of the sun’s rays penetrate my limbs as I rest in the square.

Copyright Huw Williams

My love affair with my bike has certainly been rekindled in 2012 and I have 5 very special people to thank for that – my team mates.  It is not an overstatement to say that they are a team of hugely fun loving and determined girls who really care about women’s cycling and who have a passion for getting more women out there on bikes.

Happy New Year to you all and see you out on the roads soon!

Natalie xx

My Season

This winter has been the first time I’ve been anywhere near fit enough to go training with the girls having been out of action for quite a while with some set backs of which I won’t bore you with the long backstory.

What’s happened since I’ve been away from racing is that the women’s scene has developed almost beyond recognition. I’ve had a shock to the system trying to turn up and race having had some much time apart from my racing legs, and unlike in the past it’s not so easy to dip in and out without full dedication. I think this is a really good thing for the top end of the sport and I hope to see more numbers and more separately categorised races to feed all levels for 2013. The amount of female talent in this country is so exciting and as we go into the new year I have confidence that voices are gradually starting to be heard and the sport will continue to move forward.

All the girls have been amazing in encouragement coming back from injury but I have to personally mention team-mate Louise Mahe who has dragged me out of the front door on the days I wanted to sell my bike, feeling I’d gone so far backwards it was hopeless. She has been there the whole way this year and seen me start putting some focus back into riding again, giving me so much motivation, even though she must have been back-pedalling throughout most of it!

Being so far behind where I need to race in the current and progressive competitive climate I’ve taken on a bit of a natural role in background team management. It’s given me a chance to go along to races with the girls allowing me to really appreciate the diversity within MBG. From hill climbs, road, cyclo-cross and BMX to keeping an eye on the jaeger bomb count on a night out I’ve really enjoyed being part of the team and seeing it continue to grow, along with its initiatives such as VeloJam.

I look forward to next season and continuing our work in making sure the voices of women’s cycling are heard, 

Happy New Year!

Rebecca xxx

2012 round up!

well it has been quite a year!

2012 started with me lining up for the cyclocross national champs. My first big race in Mule Bar kit and my first big race at that level full stop. I absolutely loved it, it was the fastest I have ever ridden my cx bike and I was thankful not to be lapped by helen wyman. I entered to have a go and to survive and I didn't embarrass myself to badly. Anna was in the pits as was her mum, Lou was out on the course, it was a great feeling to be part of the team. The mule bar girls have been fantastic at supporting me and developing my riding.

My cx season finished and the road season started. I was pretty clueless about road racing so the girls decided a good way for me to find my feet was with a 4 day stage race in Malta! talk about in at the deep end. I took my hugely talented friend Di along hoping that she could perform where I could not. Di did not disappoint she cracked out a stage win on the second stage and did well overall. As did my team mate Sarah meaning we had two MBG up near the top on GC. I cant say I played much of a part in getting them there but I did try to provide plenty of morale and medical advice when required. (much more my area of expertise). It was a fantastic trip and it firmly cemented in my mind how much I enjoy being a MBG. The girls were not only great on the road but they were hugely supportive at easing my nerves and never let me feel useless or slow.

Work has been mental this year. I am a junior doctor and I have moved up a grade. My first job as an FY2 doctor was in A&E, this has required long hours and working pretty much every week. Racking up 70hours a week in the emergency department all on my feet and usually at night left little time for training and racing. Despite this I have worked hard to increase my power and strength on the bike all be it lacking rather a lot of base miles. The MBG have been a great distraction from the stresses of work. I took a weekend off to help out at Velojam their hugely successful women's track racing event. It was lovely to see all their hard work at the weekly track coaching pay off. One of the reasons I was so keen to join the team was because of how much they give back to the sport. I am already looking forward to the next event. I also joined the girls to watch the women's olympic road race.

Over the winter I have tried to fit in some cross races, usually after working all night in A&E. I have raced having been awake for approx 30 hours straight (I was a bit wobbly and crashed a fair bit). I love cross and I hope next season I will be working less hours I can put more time and effort into it.



Looking forward to 2013 I have various things planned. In august I will finish my formal rotations as a doctor and I will be working when it suits me. I am taking august off and plan to head out to Morzine for some mountain biking.

Although I have had no dazzling results this year I have had a great time riding my bike and thankfully that is what the mule bar girls value.

Looking Back on 2012 - MBG V

2012 has been a year of sport – especially cycling – and I feel satisfied that we have played our part in inspiring ladies to jump on a bike and give cycling a go.

Soppy as it is, I am proud of what we have done as a team. The success of our weekly track sessions is testament to the effort we put into pushing the women's side of the sport forward, and it is thanks to our girls (as well as Tony and Joseph) – who have selflessly given up many their Sunday's – that we have been able to run these sessions no matter how many girls turn up.

At the start of the year I was told, 'what's the point in putting a women's only track event on, as there are not enough girls to race.' How wrong that person! Velo Jam inspired another wave of track riders to dip their feet in the water and give racing a go. At the last track session, one of the girls said that racing in Velo Jam was one of the best days of her life. What more inspiration do you need!

Velo Jam 2012 - GoRace Girls photo credit: AE Photos

Velo Jam 2012 - A Cats photo credit: AE Photos

Velo Jam - B Cats - photo credit: AE Photos

I find the women's race scene can at times be an arrogant place. If you don't have the legs to keep up with the 1st/2nd cats it can feel like you are being looked down on. This attitude frustrates me as I feel you should be able to enjoy sport at a competitive level whatever your ability. Hopefully through our track sessions and events, we are changing things.

Racing wise I have sucked this year, with plenty of weddings to go to, a new Olympic gold medallist in our family and plenty of other work and personal engagements that I had to attend, I just didn't have the time to put the hours in on the bike. I took to commuting in the big gear to work and spin classes – lots and lots of spin classes. I could say that I will put a big winters training in and be back stronger and fitter next year, but we are already nearly at the end of December and I have been hitting the party seen hard over the festive season – for networking purposes obviously! 

I have come to accept that I can only dedicate a certain amount of time in my life for training. I need a healthy balance between training, socialising and working to be happy. If I cut out the socialising and train like a madman for three weeks, I tend to spend the following three weeks partying even harder. I think the enthusiasm for partying always seems to win.  Maybe this is because I feel I have been there and done it. From the age of 5 through to 17/18 I trained, trained and trained some more. My sport was gymnastics and we used to train 18 hrs per week and this would be upped to 6 hrs per day in the summer holidays. Even when I wasn't at gym, I would manage to squeeze in swim squad or hockey training. I guess I feel I have done my training and cycling is a lifestyle not just a sport.

For 2013 I plan to train smarter, as I am a competitive bugger so even though I dont like training, I also dont like being useless on a bike. I  plan to allocate a certain amount of time to training that is realistic and plan what races I do around my fitness. I am lucky enough to be heading home to Ireland for Xmas with my bike, so will be able to get at least a weeks worth of riding on nice quiet country roads to kick start the endurance side of things.

Other than that I am really excited to work with the other girls to continue to grow the team, we are lucky enough to be working with some amazing sponsors such as Oakley, Wildoo, Batiste, I love Girl Riders, MuleBar, AnaNichoola, knog and Hope who all help us in our quest to keep pushing women's cycling in the right direction.

I had to check out by Facebook to work out what on earth I had done this year, and the following images made me smile.

Anna G and myself on our way up Mount Teide, Tenerife

Rebecca and myself networking

Thank you to everyone who has made 2012 such a cool year and bring on 2013!

Merry Xmas

xxx