UCI World Cup, Dalby

When British Cycling first e-mailed the Buick family account with news of the chance to ride in the World Cup, there was excited speculation as to which one of us the invitation was for! I rather dreaded it being me to start with, but with just a week to go before the entry closed I decided it was too much of an experience to turn down.
Indeed, being called to the grid (though I was almost last!) and being enthusiastically introduced to the crowd as "rider number 111, from Great Britain..Anna Buick!" was pretty awesome. The start was absolutely manic - as soon as '30 seconds to the start' was announced everyone started creeping forward, crossing wheels and pedals; the crash was inevitable.
I think I was the second or third to last rider back into the arena after the start loop and that is the way it stayed for much of the first lap. I have not been well of late and thus not been training so my race fitness was pretty non-existant. I managed to stay with a couple of British elite riders though and was happy to bury myself until the leaders lapped me. Unfortunatley, having avoided the crash at the start, things all got a bit squirrely at the infamous Madusa's Drop and I hit the deck hard! The crowd there were very sweet and supportive but it did little to restore my pride - I'd riden it perfectly in practice and was very frustrated to have hurt myself. Not only did I have a dead leg and very sore hip and elbow, my gears were not changing and I had to run up the steep climb that followed. By this point I had lost a lot of time and was in a lot of pain! I finished my first lap and, after some encouragement from Team Manager Paul, I determined not to pull out and just make it round another lap where the leaders overtook me and I was pulled out at the end of the lap. Those women are phenomenal athletes - though I must add that I rode Worry Gill whilst second placed Willow Koerber chose the 'chicken route'. Having said that however, I think I'd take her strength over my guts!!
I was frustrated not to have been able to give it a better shot but, on the whole, I really enjoyed the experience and the weekend as a whole. (Managing to acquire Julien Absalon's bottle certainly helped!)

Off to the Dr.'s tomorrow to see if I can get to the bottom of this illness, then off to Catton Park for Enduro 6. Fingers crossed I'll be back on form soon and that I'll get another opportunity to race the best riders in the world in the coming years.

Anna :)