All pieces came together and now I have a setup for my cycling experiences, which gives me the base I need. So far, so good, and now I’ve started looking forward and feel the joy of great expectations of what to come.
This season my main focus will be the World Cup Races and the International Championships. Also – since I several times had the chance of going to the WorldChampionships on the road (mainly TimeTrial) but never made it because of lastminute obstacles (injuries), I this year will include this as one of my goals as well. Specialized will provide me with the best possible equipment, and I’m really excited to ride their bikes on the road as well.
Right now I spend time training in Denmark. I think my preparations are going well. A few days ago, I did a physical test in the laboratory at Team Danmark (our Olympic Organisations) to get some numbers on my current performance. The number were pretty much where we should expect them to be right now. For those of you dying to know: My anaerobic threshold is 277 Watt, my performance on a 5 minute maximal test is 5,5Watt/kg and my maximal oxygen uptake is 67,5ml/min/kg. Those tests are damn tough. You really need to be mentally ready to resist pain. My only favorite part of this is at the point, where the testcrew start counting the minutes or seconds down and you know, that pain will come to an end pretty soon, while you work so hard, that you kind of go beyond the conscious perception of pain.
Numbers are one thing, however most important is how you manage in translating it all into riding your bike most efficiently out there on the trails and roads. Well, that will be exciting!..
Since my winterpreparations don’t include a lot of travelling for trainingcamps right now, I enjoy some time here in Denmark. This also means, that I have more time for bike related activities, that in a tight summer midseason on full run would be diffucult to scedule in. Last saturday I went riding with a group of business people from Post Danmark (the main sponsor of the Danish National Team). It was quite fun, especially to get a glimse of how people enjoy mountainbiking as an activity and not as an elite racing sport.
As you see, it’s pretty cold here. I look forward to the end of February, where Thomas and I will be hitting the trails in the South of Spain doing the Andalucia Bike Race. Till then Amigos..