World Cup victory in Australia

Winning the first round of the 2016 World Cup in Cairns

Hello Dear Readers, thanks for dropping by.

I’m finally starting to see straight again after moving my post-race corpus + luggage from one side of the Globe to the other. But the super draining travel was well worth the World Cup win, that I carried with me home. In fact, I wouldn’t mind travelling three times around the Globe in exchange for the experience of winning a World Cup.

To take the win in Cairns and with that also my second World Cup victory was absolutely amazing. Actually, I felt really awful all week and never expected a race like the one I delivered. The contrast between how I felt all week and how I felt on race day is probably one of the biggest contrasts I’ve ever experienced. Or at least that my (admittedly) short term memory lets me remember. I didn’t feel well the week in Cairns. The jetlag and the humid heat drained me a lot and left me with only little energy to tackle my own pressure of wanting to perform. I struggled to relax, since my mind was constantly dealing with the upcoming race and at times I was doubting how on earth I would even get through the race. In fact, I was wearing myself up from those thoughts.

There was a few sections on the race course, where I didn’t feel comfortable and I spend a lot of energy on worrying about those spots. I managed to crash on some rocks in training, mostly because the nerves made my body all stiff and I would go way too hard on the brakes. Not the ideal way to ride. Despite that, I found a way to get around on the course. The conflict within me would be, that I had an idea about how people expected me to ride to course and if I didn’t ride the course in exactly that way, I would be nothing but a failure. I didn’t believe, that what I already possessed was good enough. I would focus too much on my weaknesses and not give my strengths any credit. As the perfectionist, that I am, I would always seek to improve in all areas.

After a conversation with my boyfriend the day before the race, it got very clear to me, that I was worrying way too much about what I thought other people thought about me. After a week of being drained by that, I saw no other way than to tell myself, that I once and for all needed to get out of that mindset. I’m still surprised about how efficient I managed to swap to another mindset and instead saying; “now I ride this course my way and I don’t give a f*** about what people say”. I guess, it was just very liberating to get rid of the mental burden. In the training the day before the race, I could finally ride free and found a great feeling on the course. I finally gained some self confidence and the rush from that I took with me all the way to sunday’s race. The devastating nerves turned into pure excitement.

The rest is history.

I played my cards well, big time. I rode feeling calm, free, focused and strong. Exactly what you need to take a World Cup victory. I am super motivated to take that feeling with me to the upcoming races. I am aware that it’s not always an easy task, but the greater the challenge the bigger the reward.