Day 2 - World Para-cycling Championships - Denmark

This was the day that I have been working towards for the last few months.  All the hard training had come down to this day and racing the Time Trial.  A race against the clock and yourself.  No tactics just you alone on the trike or bike.  I was the rabbit about to be chased by the dogs! 

As the first of the Trikes to hit the road all I could think of was going out and racing as hard as I possibly could.  After the first corner there was 4km of straight road but a full on headwind!  My legs felt like they were burning as I made the second turn to a downhill run.  I was able to pick up some good speed down this section but then it comes to an S bend, then uphill to another S bend and more uphill.  I was able to take the corner really well (which is good for me as I am not great on the corners with the trike) but seemed to struggle a bit on the uphill sections.  We then had an undulating area that went really well with a few more corners to the last climb.  At this point you know it is the last climb but it certainly doesn’t make it any easier.  Then the home straight!  I have to admit that I did a lot of talking to myself on the home straight, urging myself to pull up the cadence, looking at the speed and willing it to go higher.  Then the finish line…what a lovely thing to see, because by the time I had reached the line I had nothing more to give…at all!

Getting off the trike wasn’t the most graceful of movements!  With the help of the Cycling Australia staff, I think I must have looked like a beached whale falling off the trike, I got onto a chair, so I knew that there was no more that I could have given

I eventually was able to get on a bike attached to a trainer and have a warm down (once I could get the legs to work!)  Our Australian tent was right beside the Canadian tent and my biggest competitor.  I had seen her before the race and she looked strong.  While I was doing my warm down I saw some officials enter the Canadian tent and then heard the other competitors clapping.  At that point I realized that I probably had not won, but no one had come to tell us the results.  I must say it took quite a while to find out officially what place I had attained and it certainly wasn’t the colour I had wanted.  But I had won the Silver medal!  I will admit that I was really disappointed at the beginning, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that it had just made me hungrier and more determined to do better!

I had to realize that I should be happy with what I had just accomplished, 2^nd in the World!  WOW!  There were no excuses for the 31 seconds she beat me by; I had given it my all.  At first that disappointment made me realize that it was bringing me valuable, meaningful and useful experience.  Then when I realized that I had been successful I began to appreciate that the silver medal will give me the confidence to reach even higher.

The medal ceremony was held and I was happy to lead the 3 medallists on to the stage.  Upon receiving our medals and beautiful flowers we turned to listen to the Canadian national anthem!  One of our riders Jayme mouthed to me from the crowd “don’t sing!”  Good thing she said that because it just seemed natural!  But actually it felt alright, not only did I get to look at my birth country flag and listen to the anthem, but I also got to be proud of my adoptive countries flag flying beside it.  But seriously if my competitor Marie-Eve thinks she is going to have it easy on Sunday…she has another thing coming!  I will be out to give it my all again and no matter which way the race may go, life moves forward.  From each and every experience and outcome, there is something of value to be gained.

Results from the other athletes representing Australia:

Mens Tandem – Phil and Matt – 17^th

Men’s C4 – Ryan – 16^th

Men’s C5 – Michael – Silver (even after having a flat!  Amazing!)

Women’s Tandem – Kerry and Brandie – 16^th

Women’s C1 – Jayme – 1^st (due to few competitors she was not awarded a medal but had an amazing ride beating a couple of the other riders from higher categories)