HER Commonwealth Games debut may not have gone to plan, but there was still an air of positivity about Emily Bridson in Warwick yesterday afternoon.
Despite suffering a second fall of the week, in the women’s road race, the Team Jersey cyclist was able to reflect favourably on her Birmingham 2022 experience and is taking confidence from her pre-incident performances.
Bridson, whose mountain-bike charge was ended by a heavy crash in Cannock Forest on Wednesday, had her road hopes dashed by a multi-bike pile-up in Warwick.
The 21-year-old had no chance of avoiding a collision ahead of her in the early stages of the 112km race and subsequently fell more than ten minutes behind the leaders. As a result, she was pulled from the event after just three out of seven laps.
‘Getting my chain back on took longer than it should have done,’ Bridson explained. ‘But once you’ve been down on the floor, you’ve got so much adrenaline rushing through you and your hands are shaking.
‘After that, I think I used my energy in the wrong way. I used it to get up and try and catch back on as quickly as I could and, by the time the convoy started coming past me, I was dropping back. If I’d hung back with the Irish girl… she sprinted on the back of the car and went with the convoy. But it’s all experience. I haven’t done a road race of this scale in a few years now and remembering what to do in a convoy is a skill in itself.’
Discussing her efforts before her two falls, a jovial Bridson said: ‘In the mountain bike race I was still in touch, hanging onto the coat tails of the current world champion, and in this race there were world-class riders who compete in UCI 1.1s in the World Cup series and a lot have just come back from the Tour de France Femmes. I was feeling comfortable and this time it wasn’t a problem with skill, it was just pure bad luck.
‘The next one is in four years and I’m only 21. I’ve got time and I’ve just enjoyed the experience of being here. It’s amazing. I’ve never been to an event where so much stuff is provided for you and you’re the priority.’
She added, with a smile: ‘Thankfully I’m fine. I managed to make it look like I’d given myself open-heart surgery on Wednesday and I’ve opened a few old wounds today, but at least it makes me look hardcore.’
