Thumbs Down

Well, The world championships in South Africa turned out to be just a short stay! I had a stupid crash (not even on the race course), where I ended up dislocating my right thumb. Yesterday I arrived in Denmark and went straight to the doctor, who could give me the correct diagnose and more important plan of what is possible for me to do in the nearest future

Photo: Michal Cerveny

Never even made it to the start line. Photo: Michal Cerveny

Not that I want to make it a specialty, but I’m slowly turning into quite an expert on late-season-injuries. This time my world don’t fall into pieces. Of course there’s always the tears and the huge disappointment, but this time I’m really motivated on getting the best out of the situation. I won’t be able the ride my mountain bike for a month. The ligament, which is injured, won’t be strong enough to resist the bumps on the track and the forces which holding on to a mountain bike handle bar requires. After 6-8 weeks it will be possible hopefully. What is possible now, is training indoor on the home trainer and riding on the road.

My preparations for the world championships were good. I felt the form rising, which showed at the World Cup in Canada with a top 10 finish. In my training I had focused a lot on steadily improving my endurance as well as getting some air under the wheels.

Photo: Thomas Bonne

Photo: Thomas Bonne

The time trial world championships has long been on my radar, and since I won’t be able to ride the mountain bike, it actually is possible for me to focus on the time trial and maintain my shape in other ways. I talked with the national coach today and we decided to give it a go. The Time Trial will be the 24th of September. I can feel, that having this race in my horizon gives a lot of motivation. So for now, the plan is to give my thumb some rest and let the legs do the work.

Also, what I look forward to is the stage race Cape Pioneer in South Africa at the end of october. I will ride together with the swiss girl Ariane Kleinhans and hopefully we will kick some ass in the female category. I met Ariane this year at the Marathon World Championships. She lives in South Africa with her husband and both of them are marathon specialists on the mountain bike. Hopefully this plan will be the scedule for the rest of the 2013 season. I will let you know as we move ahead 🙂

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