Gabby Day setting her sights on the British National Championships. Photo courtesy of Gayle Howells.
Racer Gabby Day (The Chainstay – RENNER) returns to CXM with her report on her Christmas racing as she gears up for the British National Championships.
by Gabby Day
Two top-tens in two days!
I have just completed a busy Christmas racing period and I am now in the build up to the British National Championships in Derby. Racing has been going well just recently and I am now feeling like I should be in races, which is a good feeling. I’m over the worst of my cold so things are looking up, which is perfect timing for the coming races.
The Christmas period was made extra great by having my boyfriend Rick over and also having the luxury of using our camper van…very pro!
After Loenhout, I was feeling confident about the next two UCI races before nationals.
The first of the double weekend was the Petange GP in Luxembourg – a three hour drive from Oudenaarde. This was the first time I had raced at this event but I was aware beforehand that it was held on a very tough course, so I knew this would be a good workout for Nationals. The course was super tough, a really long uphill road start that went on forever, followed by a set of steps up to a muddy climb. I started well and pitted every lap, keeping Greg and Rick very busy in the pits. The clean bike every lap helped me hold my position all race in a tussle with Amy Dombroski for 7th and 8th and I managed to get to the finish 7th, which was pleasing as I didn’t slow on the last lap like at Loenhout so I knew my cold was pretty much gone. World Champion Marianne Vos won the race from German Champion Hanka Kupfernagel.
My next race was the GVA race at Tervuren, which was also a new venue for me to race at. It was much colder there than at Oudenaarde and there was still snow on the ground and plenty of ice-cold puddles that soon turned to ice-cold mud…lovely! The course at Tervuren is very tough and there was also a higher quality field than the day before, but I didn’t let that bother me and just got on with the job of making it a good hard workout in preparation for Nationals next week. I had a great race and another battle with Amy Dombroski going again for 7th and 8th positions with Amy just getting the better of me this time. Hanka Kupfernagel won the race ahead of Belgian Champion Sanne Cant, with Marianne Vos 3rd. My next race is the National Championships so hopefully my form will continue to improve.
