After the Spanish Championship, my feelings were improving, perhaps as a result of the stimulus of the champion title, and I made a decision that I had planned for a long time. A change of coach. After 3 years working together, I noticed that there were important aspects missing to be covered in my preparation and I made this important decision in the middle of the season. It is a difficult step to take, I hope it is for improvement. So I will face the final stretch of the year being my own coach.
I wasn’t sure whether to go to Holland, so 10 days before the World Cup I decided to do a 20-minute power test, I achieved the second best result of my life. Pushed by the data, I decided to go on the trip although that previous effort could take its toll on me.
Accompanied by my good friend Chema Del Valle, master of table tennis, we started with the motorhome at the end of June ready to cross half of Europe. A trip that we did in two days. Upon arrival, we met a group of ping pong players who invited us to their facilities. What a good time we had.
The Emmen World Cup had the largest participation of athletes, in my category more than 40 handbikers competed, the best in the world. The time trial was held on June 30, on a flat route, for power athletes, without dangerous curves and acceptable in its length. Two laps of an 8.6 km circuit for a total of 17.2 km.
I was focused on doing well, excited to be in the top 10 again, but my feelings were not good at any time during the time trial. Achieve 21st place out of 42 participants. I wasn’t able to keep the watts up 10 days ago, in fact I reduced them quite a bit. When I got home, I found the explanation: I went to Holland with a urinary infection, something quite common in spinal cord injury. I certainly believe that when you are in shape and make a great effort, your defenses are reduced and we are more exposed to any infection. The test, 10 days before the race, took its toll on me. I will learn from what happened.
The road test was on Saturday, July 1, 9 laps of a 7.1 km route to complete a total of 63.9 km. I tried to get to the start early but I was among the last of the peloton. I always arrive about 20 minutes early but on this occasion they were not enough, some had been waiting for more than 50 minutes. I don’t understand why an order of calls is not made based on the previous day’s results, but things are what they are.
I came out strong and overtook rivals until I reached a group where I was comfortable. There was a lot of collaboration in the relays and we achieved high average speeds. I felt good, I was enjoying myself, something I haven’t experienced in a long time in a road test. In the sprint, I finished second in my group and repeated the time trial position, 21st this time among 44 athletes. The evaluation was positive, I must continue polishing errors from the beginning, after such a long trip, I can’t get so close to the exit.
