Finally after the whirlwind of the last few weeks, I can sit down with nothing chasing me and write this piece. I am still not sure what this will become, a letter to my sponsors or a blog, but the one way to find out is to sit and write and see where the next few hours will take me. I can hardly recognized my life from the last few weeks, and if it wasn’t for the photos, videos, items sitting on a shelf on my wall, and a few new items in my cupboard I might just think I imagined it all (because I have been imagining that I would experience these things since I was a child). I actually am unsure of where to start! I suppose I should start where the story of this year began and that was 13 months ago – Last August.
Standing on the World Champs stage receiving a silver medal in my home country in front of five people who had been instrumental in my cycling journey was a moment in time which I will always remember. Coming home I took a month or so off training and tried to unsuccessfully get rid of my back pain that had been plaguing me since early
August. Fast forward a few months and I was in Oudsthoorn for SA Champs. Because of my ongoing back pain that was restricting me in my daily tasks and training I wasn’t in top shape for the Champs but if I wanted any chance of wearing the South African colours I had to race! Quite soon March/April was upon us and I once again was privileged to see my name in the SA team announcement! The only questions that remained was without Cycling SA sponsoring us as athletes, would I be able to raise the amount needed for Anet and I to travel to Europe as there were no longer any international races being hosted in SA? The second question would I be able to keep cycling or would the doctor recommend that I stop cycling? I could only see the doctor in May so during those uncertain months I continued to train in a limited capacity and we continued to raise funds for a European trip. I really didn’t want to stop cycling yet as I was still enjoying it and wanted to travel but as far as funding was concerned, in my mind, if the worst came to pass and I couldn’t go, I could just return the funds that had come in.
May arrived and sadly I had to sit out of the first World Cup because my back hadn’t been sorted out and I didn’t have enough funds yet. But May also brought some good news. Although the medical profession couldn’t do much about my back pain , because it was a result of my disability, except give me anti-inflammatories and pain killers, I did get the all clear to continue cycling and competing!! Just one question remained in my mind, could I get fit enough in two months to face the world and still hold my head up high after competing against the best in the world? May became June and with it came another disappointment. I really wanted to go to the World Cup in the Netherlands so that I could get some vital racing experience before World Champs in Italy. But due to the expense of doing two competitions and staying in Europe for a month between the World Cup and World Champs I once again withdrew my name from the team for the World Cup and just focused on Champs.
It is often very difficult for me to keep all the balls in the air as I am not a full time
athlete, but also run a non-profit company, and live alone with a disability where daily tasks sap not only my time but also my energy. Add to that the fact that I have no coach so I must do my own training planning, no manager so all my fundraising, marketing and trip planning meant that June and July felt like a blur of training, getting visas, booking accommodation, applying for more funding, ordering kit and so much more while still trying to work! There was the additional stress that this wasn’t only my first cycling trip overseas, but that as a result of the lack of funding for SA Para cycling the four riders who were going ( apart from the friend or family member who would accompany us) were going without any help! We were going to a World Championships, the highest level of our sport, without any assistance. No coach, no mechanic, and no team manager!! Later we heard that one of the other cyclist’s helper would act as our manager but his first priority would be his rider and not the team.
The week before we left Anet arrived from Namibia and came to stay at my house so that in the evenings after work we could get things ready for the trip. I had planned to take the last week off work to rest and prepare but as life would have it I only finished work on the Thursday and I had to jump straight into the packing.
Okay, so this has turned not only into a blog, but a series of blogs. I have already started the next one. Stay tuned!!
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