Moonlit Afterglow

Our race was on the Sunday, the same day as the men's race, but our route was 60km shorter, and we started two hours after the men, at 2pm.

Preparations for the race felt strange, because almost everything was taken care of by the team. I didn't even need to pack a kit, as that would be provided. So, it was just a matter of throwing some clothes in a small case and heading for the airport.

I arrived in Bilbao, and went looking for the team bus, which wasn't difficult because there were a dozen of them all parked in a row. The door of our bus was open, so I climbed the steps, bracing myself for a whirl of first meetings. There were a handful of girls already on board, and I put on my brightest smile and said a breezy 'Hi everyone, I'm Maddy.'

They greeted me warmly, with hugs and cheek kisses; Francine -- very petite, with a big smile and a sunburnt nose, Sian -- A stereotypical Irish redhead, and Mischa, surprisingly tall and well-built. Jo-Jo was also on the bus, and she greeted me in a cool and business-like way. As I would come to realise, she doesn't let her libidinous private life intrude into her professional life at all. There are no blurred edges with her.

Libby was next to arrive and, although she's Australian, she greeted me like a true Swiss, with three cheek kisses. I soon found out the reason for that. She was virtually an adopted Swiss, having been in this team (and having lived in Switzerland) since she turned pro, 8 years before.

She was quite short and sturdy. A bit like a slightly smaller version of Licia, apart from her light-coloured hair and blue eyes. She was a climber/puncheur, but also had a decent time-trialling pace, and she was to be our team leader.

Last rider to arrive on the bus was Runa Bakkerland, who was the "veteran" of our team, at 39. I'd been told she was very strong, very experienced, and a master tactician. A great asset to the team, according to Jo-Jo.

I have to say, there was little to suggest she was nearly 40, apart from subtle crow's feet at the corners of her eyes. She was tall and slender, and had straight, brown hair with a hint of gold in it, worn in a ponytail, and strikingly light brown, almost amber, eyes.

As befits a cool Scandinavian, there were no cheek kisses from her, but she did greet me with a hug, and there was a genuine warmth in her smile. From that very first contact, I decided I liked her. We were soon to become firm friends.

The bus bore us off to our team hotel, which was out on the eastern end of town, close to the race start and finish, and we went straight into dinner, or rather, a pre-dinner bonding and introductions session.

I wasn't the only "new girl," there was also a new soigneur called Onna, who looked young enough to still be at school, but who was apparently 21 and a fully qualified IMAS masseuse.

Onna and I were introduced and warmly welcomed, and glasses were even raised 'To our new team members," which was a nice and unexpected touch. I felt sure I was going to like being in this team.

Shelly had said the team was "full of them" (lesbians) but I had no idea which of these girls were gay, and I wasn't sure it was something I could ask Jo-Jo about. During dinner, I was observing the others around the table, but my gaydar must not be very good, because I didn't reach any conclusions.

For instance, if I hadn't already known, I would never have guessed that Jo-Jo was gay. In fact, in that contract interview, If someone had asked me to guess which one was a lesbian between Steffi or Jo-Jo, I would definitely have said Steffi. Which shows how useless my gaydar really is.

None of the girls seemed at all butch or boyish, but as I know only too well, there are plenty of femme lesbians, and they are very hard to spot. I found it an amazingly tantalising question.

I was down to room-share with Runa and, after dinner, we dragged our bags upstairs to room 23, which was small, with two narrow single beds. It did have a tiny en-suite though.

'Hm, not so bad,' said Runa, 'I've stayed in plenty worse than this. Have you any preference for which bed you take?'

'No, this one is fine,' I said, pointing to the one I happened to be standing nearest to.

Runa smiled and sat on the other one, which was further away from the en-suite, but she didn't seem to mind.

We both lay back and started looking at our phones, catching up with messages etc, but I thought I should make conversation, so I said 'How long have you been on the team, Runa?'

'This is my second year. I was with Vista Maxx, but they decided to throw me on the scrapheap when I turned 37 and didn't renew my contract.'

'What, just because of your age?!'

'That's what I think. They didn't give me any other reason. Fucking bastards.' As I was to learn, Runa's English was very advanced, including her use of expletives.

'Anyway,' she went on, 'it turned out well. Jo-Jo came looking for me, and signed me on as soon as I made it known I was out of contract, and I haven't looked back since.'

'It seems like a friendly team.' I said.

'Yeah, it's great, this team. I think you'll love it.'

'There's something I think I should tell you, Runa. Just to make sure you're OK with it. I'm gay.' She showed no reaction, so I continued. 'I know some straight women aren't comfortable with physical contact with gay girls, and with all the hugging and so on, or even sharing a room...'

She suddenly smiled broadly. 'There won't be any problem with any of that, she grinned. 'I'm gay too.'

'Really?'

'Yes, really.' She was beaming, and I couldn't help noticing how attractive those laugh-lines were.

'There's no issues with that in the team, anyway, even among the straight girls, so feel free to hug who you want.'

I laughed. 'Phew, that's a relief.'

'Yeah, we're all one big happy family, really.'

'I heard there are a few other gay girls in the team...' I fished, hopefully.

'Yes, there are six of us in total, including you. At this race here there is only you and me, though.' Plus Jo-Jo, of course.

'And we end up sharing a room!'

'Definitely Jo-Jo's doing... She's mischievous like that.'

'Who are the others?'

'There's Maisie and Sabi -- they are a couple -- Anna, and Portia, who's in the development squad. She's coming on nicely... In all sorts of ways.' She smirked, naughtily.

I looked at my watch. 'I have to go and meet my bikes and get a bike fit in a few minutes... I'm glad we had this chat, Runa. I'm looking forward to some good times ahead.'

'Oh you can count on them,' she grinned. 'Great to meet you, Maddy.' We shook hands again, and I headed down to the car park to meet our two mechanics.

The big Trek van (even bigger than DLR's big green one) was parked next to our team bus, and outside were three gleaming Trek Madone SLR bikes, in the new light purple colour scheme for the women's team only.

These were my racing bikes. Bikes I'd never be able to afford to buy myself, but now got to race on the World Tour -- and get paid handsomely for the pleasure! What a mouth-watering prospect.

The mechanics introduced themselves as Frank and Josh. Frank was older, maybe 50-ish, while Josh was younger -- around my age, and they showed me the features of the bikes, including the electronic gear-shifting, the computers etc, and we started to set them up for me. The team had already acertained the correct frame size, so it was just a matter of setting seat and handlebar options.

They had a rigid stand with rollers for that purpose, and I got on each bike in turn and went through the set-up process.

Josh was all smiles, and he fussed around, making what he thought were witty comments as he adjusted everything to my taste. I'd seen this before a number of times; my gaydar might not be very well-honed yet, but I can certainly tell when a guy fancies me.

I humoured him with smiles, but he was wasting his time. He wasn't bad looking, and quite charming actually, and at one time I may have been interested, but those days were gone. I'd discovered something much better and I was never going back.

The bikes felt fab, even just on rollers, and I couldn't wait to get on one and race it through the green hills of northern Spain the next day. Gosh, I was really in the big time! They even had my name and little Scottish flags on the frames.

The guys loaded the bikes and their tools back into the van, we shook hands and I headed back into the hotel.

I was met in the lobby by Onna, who was dwarfed by the huge parcel she was carrying in her arms. She handed it to me saying, 'This is your kit Maddy.'

It was a huge bundle, and it contained skin suits, jerseys and shorts, socks, arm and leg warmers, gloves, glasses etc. I was told my helmets and shoes would be here in the morning.

When Jo-Jo and I had returned to team HQ after lunch on my interview day, I'd undergone a thorough measurement session with the teams clothing supplier, right down to the circumference of my wrists and ankles, so all this kit would be made to measure. I could hardly wait to see it.

I dashed upstairs to the room (as best I could under its weight) and started ripping open the plastic wrapping, then I started laying each item out on my bed; two skinsuits, two jerseys, two pairs of shorts, one purple and one black, white Trek socks, two pairs of my favourite glasses, but in Trek colours, fingerless and full-finger gloves, black arm and leg warmers with subtle Trek logos...