As a track rider our racing season is over the winter. We are kept busy with the track World Cups, European Championships, Track Nationals etc which is great as it means a lot of indoor riding over the winter months. But once the track World Championships are over this means it is time to get back on the road!

Having spent a winter riding round in circles for 3 and a half minutes or less it is fair to say road racing can come as a bit of a shock to the system. Every rider is different and some make the transition from track to road very easily. Me, however, not so much! I seem to lose that base endurance and strength you need for the road so my first couple of weeks back on the road bike are always very hard work! But with road riding being an important part of our training as we prepare for the Olympics this summer it is very important to put in the hard miles, and I do really enjoy road phases a lot as I get in the swing of it.

After the track World Championships in Melbourne I went straight home to my parent’s house in Surrey. This is a great place for road training with the Olympic road race climb of Box Hill featuring in every training ride in order for me to get home! I love riding down here, these are my favourite roads for training on and it makes the transition to road riding that bit more enjoyable.  Despite popular belief Surrey is actually quite hilly with many steep killer climbs to keep things interesting. There are plenty of lanes and even now I still find new roads (and climbs!) I never knew about!

Next stop for me is a trip to Belgium where I will be doing some road racing for my team Matrix Fitness - Prendas. I love racing in Belgium with closed roads and always a good field of women turning up to race. It is great racing for me and I always get stuck in and really enjoy it. I am sure the first race may be a bit of a shock to the system but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! I am looking forward to it and will make the most of it.

Thanks for reading,
Joanna

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