Last Wednesday, a small but totally awesome group of Windrushers traveled north of the river to Look Mum No Hands cycle cafe for the London Qualifiers of the Rollapaluza National League.  The event was sponsored by our own sponsor Bon Velo bike shop, so we were keen to show off our snazzy Windrush shirts on the day.

For those of you, like us that evening, who are new to Rollapaluza, the best I can describe it is totally insane!  If you chose spin that night, you really missed out!  You ride on track bikes attached to special rollers against another rider over 500m.  There is a huge dial behind you with arrows and digital timing to show who is winning.  The bike has an easy gearing so its all about leg speed and endurance over the 20-30 seconds it will take you to ride.  The events have a lot of loud music, beer drinking and food eating, screaming and cheering fans and an MC.  And it hurts like HELL!!!

Myself and Lee decided we would give it a go in the qualifying rounds and so got on full of adrenaline and trepidation.  Having never ridden a track bike before, the guy told me just not to stop pedalling or I would fly off....uh oh I thought as he tightened my feet until I lost feeling in my toes!  3...2...1..Go!!  And we were off, and my goodness did it hurt!  When we finished and I looked around, I saw that I had the fastest time of the girls so far by over a second, which was a shock as I never really thought I could move my legs around and around that fast!  Lee and I high fived and with shaky legs went to look at Helen's slightly blurry pics of our efforts!  We were then joined by Ben M and his family and then Katy B and preceded to watch the night's events unfold.  There was one guy who broke the 20 second barrier which was pretty cool.  I turned out to have the second fastest qualifying time so made it though to the knockouts, but unfortunately Lee was pushed off the top 16 for the guys and so became tweetmaster for the evening.

It then dawned on me that I was going to have to race maybe a few times more, and I wondered if my legs might fly off or if I would be able to walk by the end of the night.  Lee and Ben were an AMAZING support crew right next to my bike and Katy and Helen right behind them. I made it though the knockout round with a faster time than qualifiers, and then knew things were going to get pretty tough as the girls were really starting to push down the times.  In the semi final I found an extra gear and really pushed on in the last 10 seconds to knock a second off my time and record the fastest ladies time of the night and the only one sub 25 seconds which was cool.  Mostly that was down to Ben and Lee shouting at me (and I might be a little bit nuts!) and Katy and Helen doing a lot of back slapping (you are both FAB!).  The noise from the crowd was just fantastic and it turns out I beat some keen cycling ladies and Rollapaluza veterans!  Then came the final, and that is when it all went down hill.  I was put on the massive bike and despite pleas that I couldn't really reach the handlebars unless I was almost off the saddle, I was lumped with it and had to try and pedal the best I could.  It wasn't a fair contest and that pissed me off (sorry, I am a little competitive once I get going but I know I could have beaten her if we were on the same bikes!!) but I tried my hardest.  I came a close second in that race and wasn't happy about it (sorry about that guys!).  However, I still won a cool t-shirt and a great BonVelo Voucher and hopefully got the Windrush name out there a bit more. 

I think this means that I will now be invited back to the National Finals which are right at Herne Hill, on Half Moon Lane on Good Friday.  I am praying that they make it a fair competition for the ladies and 2 provide bikes that we can actually ride on.  I really hope there will be a big Windrush crowd down there on the night, and that some of you get to race on a Wildcard.  It was a very cool experience overall and something that everyone should try once.  I really thought I would be crap, and just did a ride with Lee as a laugh, and look what happened! 

OK, now here is a really bad picture of me from under the bike (like they took of everyone that raced!) and here is one of me with my prize