returning to crit racing with london's hardest circuit | crystal palace crits

Hey gang, welcome back to the videos. We're here in Crystal Palace for mine and Phoebe's first Crystal Palace of the year. It's the second in the series, my first road race in maybe 18 months. Do you know what, I'm excited because my only goal is to finish it and I know that I'm going to do it, so actually I'm already a winner baby. Also, they don't pull you. Oh really? Guaranteed. You've got that one locked in. Do you know what, I'm trying to just expose myself to as many horrible race scenarios as possible so I thought this is a great place to come and do it. Yeah, yeah. Expose what your goal is. I mean, exposure mostly. Exposure therapy. Exposure therapy and also like. Humiliation ritual. Yeah. Teaching myself. Like Theresa May. I mean, I don't want to. Apparently she had like a. Oh yeah, the necklace. The necklace. She always wore a necklace with like a circle on it and that was people who like. Kinky. Have a humiliation fetish. Whoa. It was so close. One more. Ah. You get that on camera? Yeah, a little bit. No, when was the last time you raced? I did 15 minutes of a palace last year and then before that, 2021. I did do the tracker on the weekend though. How was it? Yeah, it was really fun. Yeah, I just had the thing to do anyway. Jacob was 5th year, I was 6th year. That's not bad. Is it a comeback? Over 200k, yeah. Is it a comeback? I actually was stronger and stronger as the race went on. I'm doing the Cat 3 race because I didn't. Try and get it in her vent. Oh my God, what the fuck was that? Oh my, did you just throw it through your mouth? Yeah, it was him. Sorry. Got away with it. Yeah, I'm in the Cat 3 race because I didn't ride a road bike very well when I turned Cat 2. And you've not done much racing. And I've not done much racing but a lot of it is because I wasn't fast enough for the Cat 2 races. Did you do any last year? No, no road racing at all last year. But Grant's here so it's just like the cyclocross season. What, so we're going to fall off a lot? Just like the cyclocross season, we're just going to crash a lot. No, I'm pretty nervous actually but it'll be fun maybe. I'm not here to approve anything, I'm just here to see what it's like, give it a go, we'll see. With that approach, nothing, it can't go badly. Yeah, like rain. No, that's rain. What's the gossip from last week, Neil? I'm just getting prepared. You got any top tips for Theo? Play empty on the air, go way further. Then you think, yeah, be patient with the turn in. Honestly, let the wheel go in front of you, take it way longer and cut back across the openers. Almost certainly, you'll probably go into it four wheels behind the guy in front and you'll come out next to him. It's true, do you remember when I did that practice with Alec for the GCN thing? Yeah. He's got me a pro on that corner. Yeah. I'm sure he's got you a pro on that corner as well. Or is it all you? Did you teach Alec? It's all me. Feeling good? No. Who's going to win other than you? It won't be me. Could be though, right? No, Lucy's here. Is Lucy here? Okay. She's just so fast. Last week she attacked quite early and I was like, I'd rather get round, so I'm not going to do that. I always get a bit nervous if I've had a good week the week before, because then I'm like, oh, everyone's going to think I'm a dick if I can't do it again. And then everyone's like, probably not how anyone thinks. But yeah, we had a really nice little group last week, but I don't know if that'll work again this week. Same riders? Pretty much, yeah. But we broke it on the first lap and then Lucy attacked out of that. And then we worked really well. I just always thought I was going to get dropped. I never actually felt that strong. And then I came second, third, working second in that group and third in the race. I was saying to Phoebe earlier, no one ever feels good on a Tuesday night. I work, I'm so tired, yawning, can't stay awake. And then I'll get here and I still feel wrecked, but I'll try my best. Do you have a caffeine gel? No, I don't have a gel. Because it's hard on the weeknight races, isn't it? Just jelly bases. Yeah, I don't have gels in the week. Like last week, I raced, went home, worked till 11 o'clock, because I was working on a pitch. And I didn't fall asleep until like half 12. It's a good use of that energy, isn't it? I don't know, I'm not sure that the work I produced was that high quality. It's a bit like, you know, like cats. Where did you come from last week? Pitt. And what's your plan for today? Are you going to better that? Yeah. Typically, I found that I can't do any better than second in any discipline. Your goal, it might sound a bit mean, but your goal should be to try and not come last. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Which I think you can absolutely do. I don't know, I don't know, there's people here. There are people here. There are people here that might stop me from doing that. No, but the most important goal, the non-performance goal, you look so good. Yeah, incredible. Have fun. That's a great idea. Just throw the ring on the grass. I got it. I feel like I need a wee, but I don't. I got it on camera! That was a good lunge. Honestly, you need to do that exercise in the gym because if that's... Oh, that's good. That was horrible. Yeah. That was really hard. I didn't think it'd be that hard. Yeah, it was a pretty stacked field. From the first lap, the Cat 3s were catching the elite. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All the hitters are Cat 3 now. We've got juniors that are going to go on and dominate the World Tour. Yeah. It's really upsetting. Yeah. Do you know where you came? I think 11th. Oh, for f*** sake, Theo. I was feeling good at the end, so I could have done a lot better. It was really, really hard. It was really, really hard. Grant was trying to split it, and then at the end, it was the bell lap, and I was like, I'm positioned okay, I'm positioned okay, and then people came around me, and that put me too far back. Everyone kicked up the hill. There was a bit of a gap in front of me, and I just couldn't close it enough. The last lap, I needed to be able to get as far up as I could. I didn't, and I didn't do so well. It was almost fun. Only you saying, and then I rode off dead, man. And then I thought I'd done it the last time, and they were like, bring, and I was like, no. We go again. I managed to hold on to one of your goes. Did you? I went up that hill, and then I was like, oh, okay, and then I dove behind you, and then we got through. Well done, Alice. Hi. How fun is that corner again, especially when you just smash it on your own? You just go so fast and so hard into it, and that one, but that one's fun. You were riding really well. Well done, well done. Do I taste like sweat, don't I? Yum, yum, yum. Not embrocation today. Did you have fun? Yeah. That was so hard. It's hard, isn't it? That was so hard. That hill, I was like, right, rest, rest, rest, and then when you get on the hill, just give it everything. Do you know what? I didn't come last, and that was the only thing I wanted to get out of it, plus finishing, and I didn't give up, and every time I got to the hill, I just carried on pushing, so to be honest, I'm actually pretty pleased with myself. Did you get your head in the bush? I got my head so far in the bush. All right. How was it? How was it? How was it? That is my favorite place to race. Yes. That is amazing. Oh my God. I mean, I love it. Is she going to cry? I know when it's coming now. I'm so used to it. Oh my God. I'm so afraid. That was amazing. Oh my God. I know. I'm sorry. I came out last. No, you didn't. You didn't. No, I didn't. No, I think you beat two people. Oh my God. I lost track of the racing, but- I was just like, right, do what you can, and then on that hill, I was like, if you're not steady with it, you're going to lose time, so I just picked a wattage and made sure I stuck to it from the bottom to the top, and it worked every time. I think I raced that pretty smart. I mean, I raced it so smart, I was like, it's on my own, but I'm so glad I did it. If you're thinking about doing it, just do it, because it actually doesn't matter, and you'll probably have a good time. As soon as you take any expectations or shame or guilt out of it, you just have the best time. Amazing. Oh my God. I loved it. I loved it. It's a good course, isn't it? I felt incredible. I actually loved all the corners as well. You were good. You were good. Yeah, really good. Did you get footage of me in the bush? Yeah, I think so. I tried to get in the bush like this. Oh, on his filming, get in the bush. I still have it. You stay the same, but it was bad lighting. I was. Yeah, you face that way and talk. Doing it for the catwalk girlies, man. Yeah. Get down here. Have a great time. It doesn't matter. It would be nice if it wasn't just the stacked elite field all the time. Do you know what? I just didn't even care. I tried to keep my head up the whole time, and I just didn't really care. I had no idea what was behind me. No, it didn't matter. One positive from it being really messy is you can just race your own race and ride your own ride. I'm proud of you. Are you going to do it again next week? Yeah, do you know what? I think I will. I think I will do it next week. I'm glad I've done it because I've removed the fear. There's a big part of me that thinks that people should stop describing Crystal Palace the way they describe it because it stopped me from racing it because I was terrified, but it doesn't actually matter. Do you know what? It's no harder than anywhere else. It's just the riders that it attracts, and it's got so much history, but it doesn't mean that you can't be a part of that. It's not something that is only exclusive to cat one elite riders. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes you have to be the girl that you want to see someone else do, but no one's doing it. This is what I was saying to Jake, and I was like, I'm going to race it because I didn't have anyone that raced it. When I was like, should I do it, should I not? Everyone was going, I won't, I won't, I won't do this, I won't do that because of this and that and this. So actually be the person you want to see. And I was the person that I wanted to see two, three years ago. Friendliest race, I'm sorry, but I was lining up and race winners and everyone was like, all right, good luck, good luck. You don't get that everywhere because everyone can nod. It's like a pub, but for bikes. With a bit of bike racing. And it was the best thing ever. And look who it is. What an amazing race. I've always wanted to race here. What an amazing race. Like just what an incredible time. You're such an incredible person. Look at you, you're amazing. Don't take drugs, ride bikes. Don't know what, I think it was the jelly baby to the head that like knocked me into some sort of courage. I need my race license back. How was that? We didn't know what happened. It was two laps to go and then as it came around here it was one to go. So everyone was like, people started sprinting and we crossed the line all in confusion. We thought there was another whole lap to go, but there wasn't. Someone like celebrated and Alec was like, oh. There was confusion, yeah. It was really hard. It felt much harder than last week. I'm very tired and I really felt it in every lap. Laura from Spectra would kick it up and I was like, one more time and she's going to have me dead. And I hung on and I hung on and I hung on. And then on the bell lap, the woman in black, Harriet is her name, went so hard up the hill and I hung on and I hung on and I hung on. Go around the corner, E12 all over the road. Men everywhere. Men everywhere, nowhere to go. So there was nowhere for us to launch. It kind of ruined the end of your race, huh? Yeah, I don't know if I could have done it, but it'd be nice to try. And that might be my only chance. It might not be. It won't be your only chance. And you can take so much from having raced so well and you did hang on. I did hang on. My cornering is so bad. No, no, no. I'm getting gapped out of every corner and then I'm having to dig every lap. Like I'm just out of practice. Well done. I think that you can take positive from the fact that you hung on and didn't die. Yeah. Am I supposed to look here or at you? Completely up to you. Okay. It's way more normal to look at you I can't wait to go home and look at my data. Can you look now? It's not going to be very interesting. 37 minutes. Well, I was very slow actually. 30k. Normalized power 244. Intensity factor 1.12. Oh, I need to sort out my power balance. What is it? 47 53. Do you think it was a lot of, um, a lot of corners, left-hand corners. Oh, here we go. You think that's on the left? You press that on the pedal don't you? That's not powering balance. It is if you do it on the down pedal. You do it on the pedal. Let's go around every corner guys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And look how it worked out. Second from bottom. Or third. What was great is you achieved your experience goal today, but you also achieved your performance goal that I set you. I achieved everything that I came here to achieve. Like and subscribe. Love you. Bye. Okay, friend. First time you called me friend all night. Oh my God. You weren't very nice. Why not? Get rid of all the dead weight. No, no, no. You said you were dead. Like dying. And he's like trying to get rid of everyone. I was coming up the hill drilling it. I looked back and I heard you go. I'm coming, Grant. I'm coming. Wait for me. Wait for me. He did. He genuinely said, coming darling. Wait, wait. Don't leave me daddy. This is what happened. I got seventh. It was alright. I rode it well for how I rode it. Yeah. I thought you did good. Yeah. Could have been better. You beat Theo. Stuart thought that the train shop rider that dived on me in the corner was Jacob. So he spent the whole like, whole of the race thinking that Jacob had dived on me. And then I'd go, and we were just having like a proper domestic in the race. I thought it was Jacob at one point as well. And I was like, no, I know I just handed Jacob the other camera. Oh, can you say thank you to Jacob for filming? Thanks Jacob for filming. Please unmute any audio that goes, go on Phoebe. Yeah. Yeah. You can do it. Bring down the music and bring that up. Yeah. That was Crystal Palace Crits for me and Phoebe. First race here for us for the season. Definitely coming back and doing lots more. Sick racing, amazing racing, hard racing, really hard racing, really hard. It was really hard. Are you happy with your performance? Yes, but I should have done better. Yeah. A lot better. And that was positioning wise in the end. But I think for your first crit back in a very long time. Can't be too mad about it. You know, didn't get dropped. Legs were there, worked everything out. Remembered really how important positioning was. Exactly. We learn and we go again next week. So like the video, subscribe to the channel and we'll be back here next week maybe. Yeah. Actually. Do you think you're going to race next week? We'll see. We've got lots of fun things going on on the weekend, so stay tuned for that. A bit more what we're normally up to. So definitely subscribe and look out for that. And then we'll probably come back and do this next week. Bye. See you soon.