The Mule Bar Girls are an exciting new just-for-girls bike racing team. Mid-way through their second season racing together they packed their bags and bikes into a small car and headed around the country following the country’s highest profile women’s bike race series, the Tour Series. Previously the televised race was only held for men, with a trial women’s race in 2010, this year Johnson Fitness went ahead to sponsor 4 rounds in cities throughout England.

Criterium racing is often considered the most exciting form of bike racing, it is short, explosive with high top speeds and tight corners. Combine this with being squeezed into a bunch of 40 riders, whilst working on team tactics, it truly is only for the adrenoline lovers out there. It is raced on road bikes with gears and drop handle bars.

So, with the little Golf piled high 3 racers and the team manager drove from South London to Peterborough, the city of the first race. The town centre was blocked off to traffic, and the streets were lined with spectators banging the advertising boards. It was quite overwhelming for the little team. Many of the girls competing were Olympians, World Champions and National Champions. Although the MuleBar Girl’s have had a few titles between them, it’s not been for a few years now, and this level of “crit” racing was to be a bit of a baptism of fire. During the race briefing the commissaires asked the girls to race hard for the cameras and prove that their race had every bit as much right to be celebrated as the men’s. This request was taken to heart, with the top girls attacking hard into the first, sharp right hander. Swinging out wide, and cutting hard into the apex the girls battled shoulder to shoulder to keep their protected position in the main bunch. In no time at all the race split apart, with small groups forming to work together against the lone riders. Two of the MuleBar Girls, visible by their white, pink, blue and gold skinsuits, found a group together and pushed hard to the end, finishing mid-field.

The adventure had only just begun.  A few days later, they were off again, this time to Stoke-on-Trent. They set off the evening before to break the journey up and sleep in Oxford, but nothing ever goes to plan. There were two punctured car tyres and no break down cover. By one in the morning it became apparent that no-one was willing to spend out on the emergency call-out fees, but there was no room to sleep in the car. Luckily for the charming girls, there was nothing to stress about as they were offered a place to crash with some equally charming men! The good samaritains cooked a lovely carb-filled dinner, and got out the shisha. Smoked-torn lungs and bed at 3am is not the best preparation for a professional race, but it made for a happy ending to a bad situation. With the tyres fixed in the morning it was touch and go if they’d make it to the race in time, but thankfully the roads were clear and the mixed-CD was playing at top volume, so here they were at race number two.

It was an interesting race, with Dani King from Horizon Fitness taking a solo lead early on, and with the help and tactics of her teammates behind her, kept the lead to take an awesome victory. The lesser mortals battled together for positions, with the first MuleBar Girl getting 20th place and the first points for the team! With sore legs and hungry bellies the girls drove to their “eco-pod,” their accomodation for two days, only a stones throw away from the next stage in Oldham. The weather in-between was miserable, and did not encourage a recovery ride, and after their experiences so far, a rest-day was decided upon. The one disruption to the day was an evening visit from some other girls on the circuit in a rival team, Inverse Fitness.

Rivalry in women’s cycling tends to be kept to the whistle on the start line, up until the chequered flag to mark the finish, it is healthy, but not unfriendly. So we opened a sneaky bottle of champagne, enough for one glass each, to toast the races gone and best of luck for the 2 still to come.

A long lie-in, still not feel quite recovered from all the riding and adventures, plus packing the car, meant that the girls arrived with a couple of hours to go before their race. Time to change into their skinsuits, pin their numbers to their backs, rub warm-up oil into their legs and get on the rollers. The intention is to start a Criterium with your heart already pounding and your legs feeling speed. There is no time to find your pace, nor settle in, you need to be ready to explode the moment you are told to go. The girls who do best are simply the ones who can explode and hold onto it for 40 minutes. It is also the ones that can carry speed into and accelerate hard out of corners. The MuleBar Girls are good at this, so despite not having the fitness of the Olympians, they can compete harder than they could on say, a dead straight course.

After Olham they had a day at home, before turning up at a non-Tour Series race, but nonetheless, another very important UK Criterium. One of the first of it’s calibre to hold an elite women’s race three years ago. Not wanting to miss out, and loving performing for the cameras (it was another televised race) the girls squeezed in the Smithfield Nocturne, and their experience started to pay-off with Louise taking 17th place. The Nocturne is known as one of the biggest party nights on the road-racing calendar, leading to the girls stumbling in at around 6am Sunday morning.

“It is hard to have the will-power to walk away from the parties, you may be tired and know you are racing again soon but the vibe, excitement and adrenoline post-race really puts you in an all or nothing kind of mood” says Wiesia Kuczaj of the MuleBar Girls.