Sunday 9 December 2007

IN MEMORY OF BIG SEXY!

It wasn’t my most successful camp ever, in fact I didn’t even make it up the hills I used to ride at 17 years old, so to finish the week with a bit of a snuffle made some sense. I fear that I am getting sick! The week consisted of long kilometres, plentiful DVD’s and the daily brew stop. In variation to previous camps we had weigh in prior to and post each training session, urine testing every morning and calculated skinfolds. As you can imagine, this wasn’t good for the head, so as I’m climbing Tawonga saying to myself ‘You’re overweight and dehydrated’ there was no wonder I was getting dropped! Then when my skinfolds were measured at 68.9 there were comments like ‘Don’t crack the concrete’ and ‘Why are you eating? You have enough stores for 3 days!’... all in good fun of course! As the Anchorman quotes and pointless conversations drew to a close, so did the camp.

24 hours later... I was in Shepparton. I was never really sure how today would unfold for me. Whether I would have good legs after a week away on a VIS training camp, or whether my emotions would get the best of me and I would fail miserably in the race. Neither occurred while on my bike today, I was simply grateful to be a part of an event celebrating the memory of Scotty People’s, or as he referred to himself ‘Big Sexy.’ How the race unfolded is of no real concern to me, but from a mass start of 200 people, I made it safely to the finish as first women. Although not the World Championships or a prestigious tour in Europe, today meant a lot more to me than any other race I will ever be a part of, it was significant because it was a day for Scotty, and so for Scotty I rode.

I was a little teary I‘ll admit... when I woke up, on the start line, during the race, throughout speeches and there was the time I left a large wet patch on Shane People’s (pictured above) shoulder! It wasn’t because I miss him, as I miss him everyday, in fact photos of him are plastered on my bedroom wall in memory. It was more in realisation of the effect he had on his family, home town and the WHOLE of the cycling community! It was nice to see some winners donate their cheques to a significant Scott Peoples Foundation and to see Tim Decker (Scotty’s sponsor) tear up on the podium. On the other hand, to the disgust of other women in the bunch, some weren't very delighted at seeing a few men lighten their load early in the race! Something a mass start has now introduced me to =P. David Pell (pictured top) went home with the Men’s division and Jamie Crass the juniors. Thanks goes to Mal Sawford for looking after me during the race and best wishes to me on recovering from this sickness I can feel coming on!

Results: Scott Peoples Memorial Race, Shepparton, 120 kms
Full Results: Scott Peoples Memorial Race Shepparton, 120kms