The Golden Wheel

Wagga Wagga CC Golden Wheel Track Carnival
7th & 8th November
Hot Hot Hot

About this time last year I told you about the Wagga Golden Wheel Carnival. It is one of my favourite track races. It is a well organised carnival, it is a great atmosphere, usually the entries are good and there is always a whole lot of prizemoney (always a bonus!). This year was almost true to form, although numbers were down a bit which was disappointing. But, it was still a whole lot of fun nonetheless!

Early in the week it was touch and go whether I was going to be right to race, having had a throat infection, which the doctor later told me was viral tracheitis (just a fancy word for throat infection). Nothing to be done but rest :( After spending several days off the bike (and off work) I was feeling 100% come Friday. Then Saturday morning I woke up covered in a rash- including my eyelids- and itching like you wouldn't believe! Unsure what this was, it was off the Dr again to make sure it a)wasn't contagious and b)wasn't serious. All clear for both of those, it was just hives! Having never had hives before I have no idea what caused them, so if you have any idea, I would love to know (it was not my shampoo, glass of wine or washing powder!).

So, dramas out of the way it was off to Wagga.
Turned out I ended up with a big program with a total of 12 races across the two half days!
And I am pleased to say there were podiums all round!
This was my most successful trip to the Golden Wheel ever!
Whilst I wasn't even close to the podium for the blue ribband event,
I did make the final and put up a fight before
Paul Fellows got to me and got to the line first!

Women's wheelrace podium:
myself, Rebecca Dunn & Emily Williams

Other notable results from the weekend were 2nd in the Women's Wheelrace (Saturday), 1st scratch race (Saturday), 2nd scratch race (Sunday- I was well marked by then!!) and 5th in the Rules Club Wheelrace (Sunday). It was one of those rare occasions as a bike rider that I actually won enough to cover the cost of entry, accommodation and travel!

Rules Club Wheelrace Podium (5th)

Thanks to my mum and Matt's parents for coming to watch, it is always nice to have personal spectators!

Thanks to Wagga CC for an awesome event- see you again next year!

Well done to all the ladies who participated in the Tour de Femme, I was pleased to hear it was crash free! Congrats to Kirsty Broun, Jessie Maclean and Chloe Hosking on being on top of the podium!

You can see more photos from Wagga here