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Up and coming British sprint
talent Sophie Capewell has ridden the Revolution Series Future
Stars competition for the last three seasons but has stepped
up to the elite racing this year. Allowing her to race against
some of the worlds best while still a junior.
2015 has been a successful year for Capewell as she stepped up
from the youth category to under 19. After finishing top five
in the sprint, keirin, team sprint and 500m time trial at the
Junior European Championships and take three U19 titles at the
British National Championships.
After racing at the Glasgow Revolution at the end of November,
where she won the longest lap and finished fourth in the
sprint Capewell blogs about the racing and dealing with
illness.
This is my fourth year riding the Revolution Series. I have
had some great experiences, narrowly missing out on winning
the Future Stars series in the past couple of years. The
exposure that you can get from these events is great and the
standard of racing is always high. That is why I was so
excited to be able to return and ride with senior riders in
the sprint this year! What an amazing opportunity.
The first revolution that I took part in this year was round
two in Manchester. It was my first experience racing against
the senior ranks in an international competition. Despite
having only just got back on the bike that week, after my end
of season break, I was quite pleased with my qualification
time of 11.7secs. From there I managed to get into the final
against Nicky Degrendele, who is a Junior World Championship
silver medallist. I unfortunately lost 2-0, however the
experience was invaluable and I learnt a lot. The keirin
didn't go as well as I had hoped, I was lacking speed
endurance and length and didn't ride them very well, but I am
still learning.
I enjoyed the revolution so much that I was very excited for
the next one, which for me, was last weekend in Glasgow.
The run into this Revolution was very different. I had been
working hard in a big strength block and we were building up
to this event as a practice run to see how we could run into
bigger events. The week before I started to feel unwell and in
the week running up to Glasgow I hardly did anything on the
bike. Because I am a part of the British Cycling Junior
Academy sprint program we had a camp from the Thursday.
I was feeling optimistic as I felt okay on the first day where
we did a bit of gym. However, I started to get a sore throat
by the end of the night and my coach and I made the decision
to miss a bit of training the next day in the hope that I
would keep my head above water and feel a bit better. I felt
well enough to do the track session that afternoon. During the
session, however, I had numerous people tell me I looked
awful. That was hard, knowing how much I love to ride and
race. I didn't want to do badly in the racing and show myself
up; it probably also doesn't help that I am a huge
perfectionist so its hard when things don't work out
perfectly. In the end I was pulled off the session.
I had to think that this was only to make sure that I would be
better the next day. It was now up in the air to whether I
would ride at all, and I REALLY wanted to. I wasn't going to
lie about how I was feeling but I was going to do my best to
will myself better.
Truthfully, I did feel better the next morning but my coach
made the decision that we would make a call at 10:30 whether I
would ride depending on how I was feeling. I felt like I was
well enough and so I was allowed to ride, but on the condition
that I would keep communicating to my coach on how I was
feeling and that we could call it a day at any time.
Qualification was ok, 11.7 was all right, my coach said he
would have been happy if I did a 12.0 considering how I was
feeling. I managed to win my first round against the Dutch
girl, Kyra Lamberink, who qualified in 11.5, in what I believe
to be one of the best races I have ridden, so I was very happy
with that. In the semi finals I was up against Melissandre
Pain and this was always going to be a challenge as she
qualified in 11.2. I lost 2-0 but they were good races and as
well as enjoying them, I felt as though I really learnt a lot.
Next up was the longest lap. I was really looking forward to
this event! I ended up being first up onto the barrier. We
rolled away and I was determined to get prime position - on
the finish line at the top. It is quite hard to do this in
Glasgow as the transitions are really steep and the finish
line is really far down the finishing straight but I managed
to get into the position and get comfortable. Then it was a
matter of waiting. I watched as people rolled over the line
and fell off.
Then the gun went and I just had to commit 100%. Knowing the
other riders, I knew it was important to get a good start and
I ended up being first away. I dropped straight to the bottom
of the track forcing the others to have to come around me. As
we came into the finishing straight I knew that they where
coming, but I managed to hold off the competition all the way
to the line and take the win! It was an amazing feeling to win
in front of that size of crowd.
During the break I started to feel pretty rough and even tried
to go to sleep. I had the bronze ride off and keirin to come
and I really wanted to prove myself and do well. However, as I
got on the bike to warm up, and begin my preparation, I didn't
feel quite right and when I spoke to my coach he called it. I
was disappointed but I need to know when to stop and when to
look after myself too. This is a huge learning curve as if I
want to progress as a rider I need to know my limit and know
when to stop. I don't think that I shouldn't have ridden that
morning but I think that I stopped at the right time.
The information and experiences I have taken from these events
has been invaluable. I am really looking forward to what this
year may bring, but now it is time to get better and recover.
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