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After becoming a dual European
Junior Champion in the team pursuit and points race in 2014
Welsh talent Manon Lloyd was ready for a strong debut in the
senior ranks. A crash and fractured pelvis at the Redditch
round of the Tour Series in May forced Lloyd to take 10 weeks
of the bike and miss the Under 23 European
Championships.
A return to racing at Ride London at the beginning of August
lead Lloyd in to a block of track racing in Great Britain,
Germany and France to secure points for the 2015/16 UCI Track
World Cup season. Lloyd talks the challenge of time
of the bike and dealing with injury and a busy block of racing
heading in to British Track National Championships.
On the 19th of May was the first Tour series in Redditch and I
was really excited to be racing my first crit race of the
year. It was a wet one racing in the rain and I soon found out
it was a slippery one too. As we started the race, I knew I
had to position myself at the front to avoid any crashes, so I
was the first one around the first corner. A few seconds later
I heard a clatter of bikes behind me as the first crash of the
race happened! Good job I was at the front. There was then a
big downhill with a sweeping corner followed by an uphill and
a sharp left; it was at this corner I came a cropper. I went
round the corner way too fast, hit a wet drain cover and wiped
out. I just remember lying on the wet floor thinking "well
that's the race over for me", I totally forgot about being
allowed laps out. I got up put my chain back on and carried
riding and when I got to the pits I then remembered about the
lap out. I stopped and had a few minutes to sort myself out,
at this point I had no idea how seriously I had hurt myself.
As the bunch came past I got back into the race and again
tried to stay at the front but went around the corners a lot
slower haha. After the crash I had a lot of adrenaline, which
helped me to pick up a second place in one of the primes and
also 8th place over all in the race.
After I finished the race it kicked in how sore I was, the
medics came over and cleaned up my cuts. When they were
looking at my cuts I had a nerve spasm in my left arm - from
my elbow to my fingertips I couldn't move anything. I was
worried I had broken it at the time, but the medics assured me
it was fine. It took a few minutes for them to massage my hand
and get the feeling back in it. After I'd got the feeling back
in my arm, we headed back to Wales where I live and train with
my teammates. I was very tired after the race but sleeping
wasn't pleasant, sticking to the sheets all night and not
being able to sleep on the one side wasn't ideal.
The next day we all got up and went out on the bikes as we had
3 hours with hill efforts. As soon as I swung my leg over to
get on my bike I knew something wasn't right, but at the time
I just thought I was sore after the crash, as it's always
worse the day after. As we rode through the town, getting
started at traffic lights was one hell of a mission. It was
very painful to get out the saddle and sprint. As I wasn't
able to do the hill efforts I waited at the bottom of the
hill for my team mates feeling guilty not doing the training,
but I knew at the time I couldn't manage it. The next day I
had booked to see the physio, he gave me a look over and I
just thought I was sore after hitting the floor pretty hard.
He told me to come back to see him in a week if it was still
bad. So the days went on and I carried on training as normal.
As part of Thursday's training I did the men's circuit race at
Castle Combe. I usually get round easily but not today, I had
to pull out because I was getting dropped going out of corners
as I couldn't get out the saddle and sprint. After that I had
a day off to recover.
A week after my crash it was time to head to Motherwell for
the next Tour Series. Surprisingly I got round and got a top
20 in very hard race that saw Katie Archibald nearly lap the
field solo. When I got back to Wales I booked to see the
physio again and when I saw him, he did some tests on me for
anything that could be broken or fractured. I was in quite a
bit of pain when he was doing them! He then suggested that I
get an MRI scan - I did not like the idea of that. I kept
telling him that I hadn't broken or fractured anything because
I had raced and trained on it for a week. He insisted I went
to get the scan so the same day I went with my house and teammate Emily Nelson. I was really nervous about it, so I was
very grateful for the company! I found out that MRI scans
aren't for me; I can't stay still for a minute let alone a
whole hour! It was horrible. The next day I went to the track
for my track session as normal. I had just done an effort
behind the motorbike at over 60km/h when my phone rang. It was
the physio with the results of my scan. In my head I was
pretty positive that the scan would come back fine, but no "Hi
Manon, its bad news - as I thought there's a fracture in your
pelvis" at the time it felt like everything was over. One
minute I was doing 60km/h on my bike then the next I wasn't
allowed anywhere near a bike until I was healed.
After I found out that I had a fractured pelvis, I had a total
of 10 weeks off my bike. It felt like the longest 10 weeks
ever! I was really stupid and kept trying to ride on the
turbo. I just didn't want to accept that I couldn't do
anything while everyone else was out training, getting
stronger and fitter than me. I never knew how hard having an
injury and doing nothing was. The only plus side to my injury
was that I was able to go home and spend time with my family,
who I don't get to see that often. In the back of my mind I
kept thinking that the European Track Championships were
coming up and they were my biggest target for this year, but
my injury came at the wrong time. After many doctor and physio
appointments I was finally allowed to get back on my bike.
My first session back I was allowed to do 30 minutes easy on
the rollers. The next day 1 hour and then the next was 1 hour
30. I was then allowed back on the road, well not exactly on
the road, I did sessions on Maindy outdoor 520m track. When my
coach told me I was doing 2x45 minutes behind the motorbike at
45km/h I thought, "oh that will be pretty comfortable…" it was
anything but, it was a very hard session. After a few of those
sessions I started to get my legs back quickly. I then went
out to Mallorca for a week to train in the sun and get some
good hours in. Within 14 days of being back on the bike I was
doing 5-hour rides. I then started back training in the gym
and getting strong again, it took a few weeks for me to pick
up where I left off in the gym, but it was good once I started
to hit my PB on the leg press again.
My first race back was Ride London, a crit race in the middle
of London which a lot of world class riders took part in. I
had never been so nervous! It was such a hard race, but I
loved every second of the pain of being back racing, I even
got my self in a small break!!! Unfortunately, with one lap to
go there was a big crash that took out pretty much half the
field. I saw the crash happening in front of me and just
missed it! Instead I rode into the barrier, thankfully not
landing on my hip again. Despite the crash, I came out with
many positives from the race and proved to myself that I
wasn't as unfit as I thought I was.
My next event was the first round of the Revolution Series in
Derby. It felt more like a World Cup as it was such a big
event! There was a big emphasis here as it was on the new
velodrome in Derby, with many foreign countries being there to
qualify points for the World Cups. I was racing the scratch
race and the IP on the Friday and then the omnium on the
Saturday and Sunday. It was a long weekends racing. The first
event was the scratch race, it was all going well and with
about 7 laps to go Ciara Horne went for a long one and at the
time I thought it would be a good idea to try and follow her,
but with about 2 laps to go we were caught by the bunch and I
think I rolled in second from last. That race was not good for
moral… the last time I race a scratch I would have easily got
round and got a pretty decent result at the end. Even I
sometimes forget how much time I have had off and expected a
lot more from myself so it really got me down. But onwards and
upwards to the IP. I surprised myself and got a PB, by 2
seconds!! Finally a positive, it made up for a bad result in
the scratch race and I went to bed a happy girl.
Next day and on to the omnium. I didn't have any expectations
in the omnium, but it was upsetting not to go as well as I was
before my crash. There were some positives in the omnium I
managed to do another PB in my IP witch gave me confidence
that I was heading in the right direction.
It was soon time to head back to Wales for another weeks
training and on to another omnium event in Dudenhofen,
Germany. This was a new and exciting experience for me being
on an outdoor velodrome, and having World and Olympic
champions as my teammates (Laura Trott and Katie Archibald).
Racing on Dudenhofen track was a totally new experience for
me, first time racing on an outdoor track. The first race was
a scratch race due to start at 12, but because of the bad
weather the racing didn't start until 3. About 12 laps into
the race the heavens opened, and we were called off the track.
I was gutted as I was just getting into the race. It rained
for an hour and then it look another hour for the track to dry
which was not ideal. After a long time waiting around we
finally got racing again. Pretty happy with my scratch race, I
stuck to my plan and got a decent result.
Manon Lloyd, Katie Archibald & Laura
Trott try to stay warm during rain delay at Dudenhofen
In the timed events I didn't know what to expect but I knew
that I wouldn't be close to my PB. This is because it would be
much slower on an outdoor track with the wind and the concrete
surface. The IP didn't quite go to plan… I went out way too
fast and died at the end. This happens quite a lot with me and
is one thing I really need to work on. The elimination was my
best result in the omnium, which makes a change, as it's
usually my worst race. I was super super nervous before this
race, but had lots of tips and advice from the coach and
Laura. I went into the race and got straight to the front. My
plan was to stay in first and second wheel for most of the
race, which worked well for me. I was happy with my fifth
place finish in such a strong field of riders. After the
elimination, I was selected to be drug tested. The racing
didn't finish until 9:30 and with the drugs test it was a late
night for me. This wasn't ideal as recovery between the races
is very important.
On the second day, the weather took a turn for the better and
the sun was shining. There isn't much to say about the 500m,
flying lap or points race. But I was really happy to pick up
some points in the points race. I gained a lot of valuable
experience from these races and was really looking forward to
my next chance to race.
An omnium in Roubaix was up next. I was in a much better place
going into this competition so felt a lot more confident in my
ability. The racing was really hard with lots of riders from
different nations all working together in the bunch races. I
was really pleased though as I got a new personal best in all
three timed events which shows just how far I've come on since
getting back from my injury. I finished with a top 10 position
in all three of the bunch races as well so it was a very
successful weekend for me!
My next race is the Senior National Track Champs at the end of
September at the velodrome in Manchester. Here I will be
racing in the IP, Points race, Scratch race and 500m TT where
I'm hoping to pick up two new pb's in the timed events, and
some top 10s in the bunch races.
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