Two nail breaking punctures, first race of 2012 and LOVING THE NEW KIT!

I started out on a sunny Saturday ride with local riders, working hard and doing reasonably well, until my bike started to feel a bit like a bouncy castle! Turned out to be a slow puncture. Fantastic, my nails had been freshly painted the night before all nice and pink. After fixing the puncture (with nails now black and chipped) I got back on with no further issues. The following day I went out again although this time it was raining/sleeting. Half an hour in and ANOTHER puncture! Just my luck... I'd already given up with the not so pink nails, but with all the rain I also looked like a drowned rat! After training hard around Shropshire up long climbs, Hope Valley, Marshbrook and Church Stretton... feeling very tired and cold after four hours. Food and sleep was needed!!

On the bright side, I had my first race of 2012 the following week - very exciting stuff. Jazzing up the race bike with glossy Fizik bar tape and all the little last touches, like a big kid in a sweet shop!

When race day finally arrived, meeting all my team mates was very exciting and they were all lovely! It was great to be part of the team, they made me feel very welcome! Racing in my new kit was really exciting, I absolutely love it and my Mum commented that she 'wouldn't miss me in races this year!!'. In the race, I managed to stay up from out of trouble, working hard on the front and sitting in to recover. Unfortunately two riders managed to get away, I did think to bridge the gap and had a couple of digs off the front, but couldn’t go on my own. However I was pleased with my performance for my first race of the season finishing 10th, surprised myself! A big well done to my team mates too, particularly Mel who won the bunch kick for third place! Hopefully Nicola's crank won't fall off next time!

Looking forward to next weekend racing Salt Ayre and spending the weekend with the girls in the Lakes for our first proper training ride of the year :)

Hayley x