Emma Bentley

AGE 30

LONDON, UK

ROAD RIDER

Enjoys multi-discipline racing, adventure sports and being outdoors.

Crystal Palace Crits, London (45 minutes). A ‘crit’ or criterium, is a circuit race of a specified number of laps which takes place on a closed course.

The great thing about midweek crits is that, if you’re a midweek worker, you don’t get much time to overthink them. People often ride straight from work to the event.

At lunchtime, I’ll make sure I’ve had more than a salad (but usually just a sandwich and a coconut bar) and make sure I’ve had some water. After work, I’ll ride down to Cadence in Crystal Palace for sign-on about an hour before the start. I’ll grab a little espresso from the café as a post-work pick-me-up, drink some more water and have a little Tupperware of veggie pasta. We’ll roll down to the park to watch what’s left of the previous races and get sorted. Ten minutes before the start, I’ll have a gel if I’ve remembered to pack one. Crystal Palace is pretty explosive, which doesn’t come that naturally to me, so I need all the help I can get there!