Where does one begin after some of the best weeks of your life? Maybe at the very beginning; a very good place to start. When you read you being with ABC, when you cycle you begin with pedal, pedal, breathe*.. . And that is what you focus on during a time trial – controlling your breath, cadence, power, head down, finding a rhythm if you can. The time trial (TT) for the Para Cycling World Cup was held about 60km away from Segovia in a little town called Cantimpalos. I was off at 3:34pm after my Aussie teammates Alex and Sue. Given the time, the sun was at its peak and a β€˜balmy’ 35 degrees. The course was technical within the town, but was otherwise very straight forward being Β β€˜a straight out and back’ route. Each lap was 11km; the C4 women had two laps. The instruction from Coach Steggles was to build the race. Only just managed it; my second lap was 1 second faster than the first. My HR has never been so high during a TT. I crossed the line, stopped pedaling, rolled down the hill and came to a stop. Couldn’t get off the bike, was a bit of a DID (damsel in distress), and was thankfully rescued by our team manager Tom who came and helped me unclip, took my bike, while I shakily sculled a bottle of water. Intense stuff. Was very happy with power PB (at altitude too!) and coming in 4th.

Web pic TT

After a recovery day, we then had the Road Race (RR) in a town about 25km from Segovia called Cellular. The RR for the Women C4 was eight laps around an 8km course. The course was very technical in the town and included a cobbled section. Definitely going home and working on my cornering skills plus watching a bit of Paris Roubaix I believe. The girls in the group had no fear! Admittedly, this may not have helped as one competitor had a back wheel slip out on the cobbled corner and went straight into the metal barriers during the sprint finish. We found out afterwards she was okay; sending lots of speedy recovery vibes though. Cycling is definitely a bit more dangerous than swimming…

RR Segovia

Similar to the TT, the RR was held in the late afternoon. We started just after 4pm. After one lap, I thought I was going to pop from the heat and the high pace the C5 girls were setting (the C4 women went off with the C5 women – the class above us). However, I can be rather stubborn sometimes and wasn’t going to let them get away without a solid fight. So for the next 7 laps I kept focusing on the wheel in front, attempted to keep my mind away from the black carbon leg that was nearing 50 degrees inside, and took the race moment by moment. Stubborness and persistence paid off, I was still there like glue on the last lap. Managed to channel my inner Sagan and placed third in the C4 women sprint finish. Very, very awesome. Not only getting to stand on the podium with my teammate Sue Powell, who claimed top honours for Australia, but getting to wear the green and gold and seeing that Aussie flag. A bit special!

Podim

Very happy with my first trip away with the Aussie cycling team, and looking forward to more trips in the future. Definitely lots of fuel for the motivation fire, especially heading back to Melbourne winter. Yikes. Naturally extremely grateful to the many, many people who have supported me and believed in me during this crazy transition to cycling. It hasn’t been a walk in the park and I am sure there will be more round-a-bouts to go around/bunny hop over. Bring it!

 

Until next time,

Ride with a smile, ride with a purpose, ride in the moment,

Han

*alternative version courtesy of Ben – β€œwhen you ride you begin by falling off and scrapping your knee”