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My season was going well, I was getting fitter and stronger
every race I did. I was going into what would be my fourth
Energiewacht Tour, I've ridden it twice as junior and once in
the elite women, this would be my second for GB. I was going
in to EWT in a much better place this year after a good, hard
winter on the road and the track with the new women's academy
coach Chris Newton. The first stage in the five-day tour was
the TTT, we as GB did really well and finished in the mix of
the UCI teams, so we were all very pleased with eighth place.
But on the third stage about 20km into the race everyone in
the peloton slammed the brakes, as everyone was trying not to
crash bouncing off shoulders and handlebars poking into bums,
I hit the floor pretty hard. I didn't slide or get any road
rash I just hit the floor. I knew there was something wrong as
soon as I tried to get up I physically couldn't lift my self
up. I sat on the floor for a few minutes trying to get my self
together.
The team car pulled up along with the race doctor, by the time
I finally got up the peloton had gone, the mechanic got me
back on my bike and gave me a big push, and that push on my
lower back really hurt. I was determined to get back in the
race. Everyone tells you not to panic in these situations but
that's all you can do, "but what if the race is over and I
can't get back in the peloton." It took me a while, just
hovering between the race official car and the back of the
peloton, but I got back in the end. As soon as I got back in
the bunch I had time to get myself together and check myself, this is when I realised I was in a lot of pain. Luckily
for me it was one of the easier stages, flat and no wind, but
it was the longest stage, 130km.
So this meant it still had to get through 110km of racing. I
was riding round trying not to think about the pain I was in,
the only thing that got me through that stage was the fact
that I had Nutella bites and a few Haribos in my back pocket.
I wasn't having the best of days so my teammate Emily Nelson
came over to see how I was, we rode next to each other eating
Haribos. She was enjoying them so much she didn't notice there
was a crash and rode straight it to it haha. (Don't worry she
was fine!) I dragged my bum to the finish in some pain.
I decided to carry on racing and figured I was just sore
because of how hard I hit the floor. The next day was a double
day; a short 75km stage and a short ITT. In the road race I
was getting dropped in places that I knew I shouldn't normally
be getting dropped. The TT went the same I was a lot lower
down than I should have been, I was disappointed but happy
there was only one more stage to go. The last day was on a
small German island, I knew before even starting that it was
going to be a bad day. I was still in pain but still wanted to
do well and get round the race. Again I was getting dropped in
places that I shouldn't have been getting dropped at, I was
pushing myself to the limit and still getting dropped, my
poor body couldn't handle it.
Thumbs up ahead of Energiewacht Tour
I couldn't wait to get back to the UK and see the doctor so he
could fix me. The next morning I got an appointment with the
British Cycling doctor and he sent me for a scan. I spent the
rest of that morning getting physio treatment done on my lower
back where it was sore from the crash. I was lucky enough to
get the scan done the next morning. The following morning I
got my results, but before I went to get the results I was
packing my bags again planning to go on a training camp in
Valencia. I walked into the doctors room and when the physio
saw me he said, "Manon you are one tough cookie!" He went on
to explain it wasn't good news and that I had fractured the
left side of my sacrum. I had to ask the doctor three or four
time what I had actually done. I was in utter disbelief. I was
told I needed three weeks off the bike completely then another
MRI scan to see how things are healing.
For a cyclist that trains every day sometimes twice a day,
three weeks is a long time off. He went on to say that I could
still do long walks and some swimming but not using my lower
half too much. My initial thought was that at least it's
something to try and keep a bit of fitness. I was told to go
back to my family and friends back in Wales and not stress
about missing so much training, it would have been my worst
nightmare staying in Manchester watching all my teammates go
out training every day when I would be sitting there
hopelessly.
Firstly I headed over to North Wales for a few days with my
boyfriend Ryan Mullen who had just come back from racing Paris Roubaix
and had a few days off. So it was nice to do normal people
stuff with him for a change as we don't get much time off the
bikes at the same time. I then headed back down to West Wales
to my family. I tried my best to keep positive about the
situation and thought this would be a good time to try and
loose some weight because I didn't need to fuel my body for
any training. Before my cycling days I used to swim, so I went
to my old swimming coach Alex Dallimore and asked him for a
swimming session that I could follow. I always find having
some structure to your training always helps.
To my surprise the three weeks went by pretty quickly and it
was then time for my second scan. I was feeling positive that
the scan was going to go well; I went walking and swimming
every other day to try and keep myself fit. I was soon back in
the MRI machine getting my scan then getting my results. Soon
after, the doctor rang me up with the results, he started off
asking how I was, and I went on to say how good I was
feeling. He then said, 'the not so good news is...' Ohhh no
this wasn't the news I wanted. He went on to say how he spoke
to a pelvis specialist about the scan results and that my
sacrum hadn't started to heal and I was going to need another
four weeks off my bike. I think I repeated '4 WEEKS' three times
just to make sure he hadn't got it wrong. That would be a
total of seven weeks. That was way too long in my liking. He
said he wanted to see me in two weeks for another update. It
was a massive shock to hear that I need possibly another four
weeks off after I convinced my self it was going to be good
news.
Out for a run in Mallorca
As I'm on the Olympic Academy program we get to only go home a
few times a year, we had one home break at the start of May so
my family decided to go on holiday. We chose to go to Mallorca
so I could train out there. I know the roads and had many
training camps out there, little did I know that I wouldn't
even be taking my bike out. It was hard for me as everyone in
my family was packing their cycling kit and I was the only
one not. I still had a lovely holiday doing 'normal people stuff'.
One day I walked 16km to Formentor, it was strange walking up
a hill than I'm use to doing savage training camp efforts on!
Half way though the holiday I got a text from the doc saying
he wanted to see me for an update and another scan, this made
my day knowing that I would possibly be back on a bike sooner
than I thought.
Two weeks after my second scan I had another and saw a pelvis
professor, a few days later I got the scan results and after
that I had yet another meeting with the doc and the professor.
This time they gave me good news! The scan had showed that my
sacrum had finally started to heal. After five weeks off the
bike I was allowed back on the bike and straight back on the
road!
Manon Lloyd all smiles hoping for
good news after another scan
It feels so good to be back on the bike. I may not be doing
the big hours or intensity that I'm used to but it's a lot
more than I've done in the last five weeks and I'm so
motivated and very excited for more. I have a lot of work to
do to prepare for my upcoming goals. I feel ready to give it
my all!
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