Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven’t written for so long, its been such a whirlwind getting ready for the start of the season. After recovering from my shoulder surgery, I was training really hard with the knowledge of what it feels like to win spurring me on. I had a lot of fun these last few months, riding with my friends, at the trails (dirt jumps) in the sun, racing endures on my ttr 125, and then we were at the first race all of a sudden. The first 3 races went really well for me, I won the first race of the season in Portugal which had a lot of the girls who race and win the world cups there, so that filled me with confidence. After that I headed to California, to race in the sea otter classic, I won the downhill there, against the current world champion, and then flew home to race the first of the british nationals where I took the win too. So I was feeling pretty nervous and excited as we headed out to the first round of the uci world cup in Vigo, Spain.

The track was really good fun and I was racing 4x too so I was really enjoying myself. Then on one of my runs on the downhill I crashed, it was a pretty awkward crash and I ended up snapping the radius and ulna, or a broken wrist.

I was absolutely devastated, I couldn’t keep the tears back and as I sat there, covered in dirt, bleeding from the gravel rash on my side, holding my burning wrist I was all but sick with disappointment. I couldn’t believe that after all the physio from my shoulder, all the training, I’d gone and ruined my chances for the world cup and national series.

At the hospital in Spain, they put wires in to hold it in place, then I flew home, had the wires out and now I’m waiting for surgery to plate and screw it all back together. It’s not the worst of injuries, but it’ll put me out for a good few months.

Now I felt pretty sorry for myself but I realised that if I was going to get through this with any chance of coming back at the end of the season for the world champs, I had to do something positive.

I’m lucky to be blessed with a great family who support me so much, it’s at times like this you realise how lucky you are. It’s given me chance to reflect on things, on the good things in my life other than riding, as usually that’s all I can think about. I realise how important are the friends you sometimes leave behind, how lucky we are to have such a great country and nhs service! I can see how beautiful England is at this time of year, how lush and green the country is. How nice the rain smells.

Most of all I realise that everyone has bad points in life, it’s how you deal with them that defines how strong you are. Now I feel grateful that it’s my left arm, as I’m right handed! I think how hungry I’ll be to win the world championships after months of not racing. So I’m going to use this time wisely, train really hard and come back stronger and faster than ever before. So whatever it is that’s been thrown in front of you, you know you’ve got the strength to beat it. Dig deep girl!

Rach x