Dame Sarah Storey may not have been able to trouble the leaders at the inaugural Six Day London but the 11-time Paralympic champion insisted she couldn’t have asked for a better way to round off her season.
After a long campaign, Storey dug deep into her energy reserve levels when she headed down to London’s LeeValley VeloPark last week to take part in the women’s omnium.
It was the first time the country had seen Six Day cycling in 35 years while Storey herself was back at the scene of her London 2012 triumph.
And while a summer spent on the road was to catch up on Storey against the track specialists – she eventually finished down in 16th place – the 38-year-old still gave her thumbs up to the event.
“It’s great to be a part of Six Day London, I can’t believe it’s been 35 years since we had the last one,” she said.
“It’s been great fun, loads of fast racing, really hard racing right at the end of my season so it’s nice to end on a fun note.
“It’s the fun element, the reason you ride bikes. People always think that when you are at the top of a sport, you have to be super serious all the time. Of course the racing is serious and hard but you have to enjoy it as well
“I’m not quite as fast as some of the sprinters at the end of the race so I’m always looking to get a move off the front maybe try and take a lap but races aren’t quite long enough for laps in the women’s race.
“But I can tell it’s the end of the season because the wheels keep falling off when I don’t want them too.
“The building of the velodrome has transformed this area and you can see that if this becomes a permanent fixture here it will always draw people in to watch and you can see people’s faces and hear them when you’re trying to attack – even when the music is loud.”
Storey will now take a well-earned rest before turning her attentions towards the countdown to Rio 2016.
And with her Podium Ambition road cycling team turning professional for the start of the Women’s World Tour in 2016, Stored was looking forward to the challenges ahead.
“I came to Six Day London to enjoy the experience and see my legs through to the end of the season, get some attacks off of the front and just continue to enjoy cycling,” she added.
“It’s the end of my season so I’ll have a bit of a break now. And then from December it will be about Rio.
“The road is where all the endurance work is done. Next year our team is going to be a professional team so we are going to have the opportunity to ride in bigger races which is really exciting.”
Six Day London took place at Lee Valley VeloPark – www.sixday.com. Packed crowds came and watched the world’s best track cyclists in action and to be part of an electric party atmosphere at London’s Olympic Velodrome.
