Race report - like a Tetris game

Going into this season's first race-weekend with a good winter of training behind me, felt good and I was so excited to finally kick off the 2017 season. I have spent a month at home trying to do great training hours and catch up on some missed school. I like being at home and use some time with family and friends, so it suited me really well to have a long time (4 weeks) in the same bed, before a long season. 
My mum drove me to the airport Friday night (we woke up 4.45 am, so it was pretty early..), and from there I flew to Munich where the team mechanic Uwe picked me up. From Munich to Nalles we had a 4-hour drive. Unfortunately, we had delays so we arrived just before a dinner, with our sponsor Kiku (an apple brand from the area), so no time for an easy spin. But oh well it was rest-day anyway, so no big problem :) And then I saw my boyfriend for the first time in 7 weeks, so the day was not that bad.. at all! 
Saturday’s plan was a couple of laps on the course and then rest rest rest. The team had split up, so we were only 3 riders here in Nalles, Lisi, Alex and I. We went on the course together with Loic (my boyfriend), to check out some of the technical parts. The track was super dry and dusty. Coming from the danish dirt it felt so different. In one of the first corners my entrance speed was to high and in no time I was sliding away on the ground. Auch.. We continued down the hill, and I tried to get the feeling back. But I struggled a bit. I tried to take out some of the air pressure so my grip perhaps would get better, did one more lap, it felt better but I didn’t feel 100%. 
After lunch, it was time for a sleep. I was laying there and wondered how tomorrow would be like. I knew I had worked hard to improve my VO2 the last month and my shape was getting better and better, but in today's training, I didn’t feel so comfortable and my leg was hurting. Hm. ZzzZzz

Ego-promotion

​When I woke up Sunday morning the temperature was already high, a hard day out there was about to start. My leg had swollen up on the left side, but I was sure when I first got started it would disappear. And it did, when I started racing and the adrenaline pumped around, I didn’t think about it. It was 5 times up the long climb, and 5 times down the hill. 
First time up everything felt just fine and I was in a good position. But when we came to  the downhill I felt like something was wrong. My brakes, mind and riding didn't come together, which freaked me out a bit because I normally always enjoy the technical parts of a track. My race remained a bit like that, I felt good in the uphill and then having struggles going down again. And in a race with so many fast riders, is there no time for mistakes. I crossed the finish line in 11th position. With mixed feelings. Good things - I was able to push hard all 5 times up that long climb + It was 30 degrees but I succeed to not get too hot (which sometimes is a big struggle for me). The things that bothers me is that I know my shape and skills are better than what the outcome of this race looks like. I just didn’t manage to put all the right elements together that day. Like a Tetris game, where you have all the right boxes but you don’t place them right. I felt a bit like that.. If that makes sense haha.

/Malene  

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