Hello again
For the last time, I have to ride a stage in this race. It’s starting to become a bit boring, because all the stages are the same. Fortunately this last stage will be good, because it’s a time trial, and I love time trials. It’s all about your own strength. You can’t sit and relax in the pack, you have to do everything yourself. That’s why I love time trialling.
Many riders rode before me, which are ok, as I then have a time to beat. So I waited… Cycled a bit around, ate some energy gels. You know, what you usually do when you wait. After that, I started warming up. When I warm up, I like hearing music. It helps me find a rhythm. By the way, it’s always Russian music.
During the warm up, I could feel this was going to be a great day. My legs felt awesome, and I was focused. So was I, when the organizers said my name in the speakers, and it was my time to go.
3, 2, 1 and off… Time to go. The roar of spectators shouting, as I accelerated to get my bike going, helped me accelerate even faster. All the way through the city, I could hear them shout. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t riding fast enough as I could almost see the spectators. That wasn’t a good sign. Somehow my legs didn’t feel very good anymore. It was proved when I hit the first time check.
Wow, 40 seconds slower than the best time! Far not good enough! I turned down the volume in my radio because Dmitriy in the car yelled in the microphone, and urged me to go faster. Well, thanks Dmitriy, I had absolutely no idea I didn’t ride fast enough. I tried to remember what I did when I was younger and I was riding time trials. Look inside myself and focus on some classic music. It has to be classic music! Find the important tone in it, and repeat it inside my head. In the year 2013 it was still working! Thank God for that.
When I reached the goal I didn’t know the time because my radio was turned down. I crossed the line and heard the speaker say something like, Tres bién. As mentioned some days ago, that means well done. I looked up and realised I had just set the new best time! I was surely surprised!
There’s only one bad thing about winning time trials. You have to sit and wait in a small room, and cannot leave. Then interviewers arrive and interview you in every language. In this case, French, Italian, German, Danish and English. Fortunately I didn’t have to sit there all the time, and unfortunately it was because 4 riders beat me in the end. Peter Velits – Omega Pharma – Quickstep Cycling Team ended up with the best time.
Eto bylo davno…
I mean literally, a long time. Last time I spoke to you it was the 3rd of February. Today is the 25th of March. Wow… time flies by fast…
So why haven’t I been speaking to you? Well… the only cycling I’ve been doing has been training camps; I haven’t been to a single race. After a lot of training camps, you become quite tired of them. Even though the other riders are really cool guys, I’ve missed the people around me. The few days I’ve not been cycling, I’ve doing things with my family and my girlfriend ЮлиаJulia. Thinking about it now… I really love those people. I wish you could meet them. Now, what else can I tell you about?
Viacheslav Ekimov and I have had two personal meetings since Étoile de Bessèges. He was very impressed with me, and right now, he was almost considering me as a first team member. He keeps calling me the Datskiy DinamoDanish Dynamo. All I could do there was smiling happily and thank him a lot. Also he doesn’t recommend going to night parties. “They’ll ruin your cycling diet,” he says.
It’s not like I’m the guy who goes to a party every night and doesn’t care about an education. I’m fully focused about getting one. You mustn’t forget that; if I don’t turn professional and I don’t have an education, I’m in bad trouble. Therefore I want to finish my education, just like many others.
Maybe Viacheslav doesn’t know it, but I know that Katusha will give two riders a professional contract in August. This is black market news, so don’t tell anybody! Especially not the management board. They’ll get pissed!
Hopefully after these training camps, I’ve turned into a better cyclist. The next goal in the season for me is the Royal Smilde Olympia Tour, which is not ridden in Norway. Yes, I got that one wrong at the first place. Now I know it’s ridden in Netherlands. I really hope the sea levels won’t increase when I’m there. I’m sure I’ll get to participate in a race or two before the Olympia Tour. My shape isn’t very good at the moment.
– Omega Pharma – Quickstep Cycling Team ended up with the best time.
