On July 24, 25 and 26, an adapted Cycling World Cup event was held in the German town of Elzach. I went with the utmost expectation, with a lot of nerves, I understood that part of my future as a handbiker depended on the result achieved there.
Typically, many athletes qualify for the Olympic Games the year before. They go with their teams to the World Championship and if they have a good result (1st, 2nd or 3rd) they know that they will go to the Olympics. I am very far from all this, firstly because I am not in the Spanish National Team group and secondly because I am far from the best in the world, but I had the hope of playing a great role in the World Cup and starting my dream.
My dream, “the milkmaid’s story”: if I do well, I hoped to be called up by the National Team, have the opportunity to participate in the World Championship (a week later in Nottwil, Switzerland), make a splash there and see The possibility of attending the 2016 Paralympic Games is close. Dreaming is free, and I don’t lack imagination, but when you train and strive to improve, having a defined objective is vital to progress. Reality put me in my place.
I went to Elzach after intense preparation at 2000 meters of altitude in Valdelinares (Teruel), 15 days of series, a lot of accumulated unevenness, all planned to do a good individual time trial, a time trial, short but ideal for my qualities.
But my feelings in the warm-up and the previous days had not been good, I was not able to reach the watt thresholds in the short series. Without a doubt I was tired, the Bira and the 36 hours of travel had taken their toll on me. I tried not to think, I knew that the stress of the test would give me an advantage, and I was also going to give it my all.
After a strong start to launch the handbike, I tried to maintain a high watt rate but I was not able to achieve it and after the first kilometer, I had to lower the intensity, 15% less than I had planned.
It was difficult for me to raise my pulse. I regulated the entire test and maintained a constant pace, in the last km I wanted to give it my all but I was out of energy. I ended up exhausted.
I was not happy at all with my performance. I had performed at 93% of my capacity and hoped to have reached 105%. I experienced enormous disappointment. I could have done much better. However, he finished in 10th place overall, 2:47 minutes behind the winner, the Swiss, Henz Frei, one of the best handbikers in the world. It was my best result in the World Cup, I achieved UCI points and I was ahead of athletes who always beat me before. I was the second Spaniard by 5 seconds and “the story of the milkmaid” was over since on a very ratty route with no unevenness, my chances of getting a good result were lower.
I always say, “you learn more from defeats than from victories”, without a doubt, both my coach and I have learned to know each other better and draw conclusions that will be vital for 2016.
The night of the road test, I rested much better than the day before, the nerves of the time trial didn’t let me sleep. I felt much better and in the warm-up with the Bkool, I was comfortably achieving watt rates in the short series. I could do it well.
I was perfectly positioned at the starting line, with the best in the world.
The start was impressive and he lost his wheels in the first meters. There was a lot of aggression, friction in the curves, crashes in the fenders, shouting, so I looked for a comfortable place to pace myself and get wheels.
I was riding with two handbikers behind me, I saw a large group of 4 handbikers and I gave everything to reach their height. The group was powerful and we absorbed runners until we formed a group of 7 athletes. I placed myself in last place, the pace did not slow down and the first laps were agony. He took risks in the corners, entered hard to come out strong and followed the group when it stretched. The urban layout was winding, with many sharp curves that made it dangerous. They had to complete 10 laps of a 4.7 km route.
After doing 5 laps, the pace did not drop in intensity. I had to take risks in the curves and in one of these, I touched the left rear wheel on a small curb, the tubular burst and I had to abandon the test. It’s racing stuff, it’s very pushed to the limit and I miscalculated the distances. With no possibility of changing it, I could only withdraw.
The evaluation is positive, I rested better and performed better. I once again draw conclusions that teach me for future appointments. My thoughts are already on the next season. I will continue working and training so that the improvement does not stop. WANTING IS POWER.
I thank Héctor from GREEN for his help and collaboration in this international test. Winter will be hard to get the best of me. Thank you and until next time, which will be in Jerez, on September 5, 2015. Have a great summer!
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.