Tour Series Diary: Adela Carter (Hope Factory Racing)

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Always a joy to meet is Adela Carter of Hope Factory Racing who with a smile has been racing the Women’s Tour Series. This is her take on the Women’s series …

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She writes … I love the Tour Series. I love the music, the atmosphere, the crowds, the caffeine. “You may as well go to a nightclub then” says Penny. “Sad as it may sound, this IS my nightclub. It keeps me awake – for hours. I’m shattered. I’m buzzing. I’m playing over and over the ‘what ifs’, ‘if onlys’.

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I’m planning the next outing still groggy from the last. Maybe it’s because this is still so new – I’m onto crit number 9 – I’m not yet jaded by the endless driving, the same roller routine, the same warm up tunes.

I love the crowd. They want entertainment. I want to entertain them. Too many times I’ve been too far away from the front of the race, but I turn myself inside out. I’m proud. If people are going to watch us, I want them to see me try. I want them to know that trying and not winning is still the right thing to do. You get a burning, bittersweet satisfaction in knowing you tried.

The Tour Series makes me angry, frustrated and disappointed with myself. I look at the time gaps I’ve closed. The monster chase alone in a downpour in Alysham – 15 minutes to get back to the bunch. The places I made up in the final sprint up the hill in Redditch – last to 4th. Fourth. It’s a hateful position. The number of groups I caught and passed in Colchester to sprint for 11th. Not even top ten.

They’re some of my stories. Take that ITV4. They weren’t for you. Those screaming legs were for me, and everyone who turned up to watch. They were for the young girls who came up to us in Colchester all shy and excited and desperate to say well done.

They were for the two young kids in Redditch who wanted a photo with someone “really fast” – they were going home to ride their bikes. They were for all the families, the enthusiasts, the other riders, the teams and the organisers who work to make this happen: who put women’s sport in the middle of city centers, the bottom of people’s gardens and into the limelight for almost an hour. Thank you. You don’t get that in a nightclub.

 

 

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