World Championship recap!
Well, it was both a successful trip and a less than successful trip to Ronse, Belgium. Most importantly, I achieved my goal of getting a medal at the 2025 world championships. I was thinking I would get that medal in the time trial but ended up getting second in the road race. I took 6th in the time trial placing behind competitors I beat by over 5 minutes just 4 months ago at the World Cup event. In all honesty, I did not feel well physically going into the world championships. I took a fall the night before I left in my shower and had to maneuver myself out of the shower, through the house, and to the living room wheee I was able to get back into my wheelchair. I just felt awkward and had chills on the way to Belgium, even up until Friday midday before the road race.
The time trial was Thursday and even though I felt decent I knew something was off. I was only able to average zone 3 for the entire time trial. My power was missing. I was a bit embarrassed by this performance with USA cycling at the event cheering us on. I ended up getting three good nights of sleep before the road race despite having chills and that awkward feeling before Saturday morning. But, when Saturday morning came I felt great and I knew it was going to be a good day!That Saturday morning I woke up at 5:00 a.m., got dressed, and went down to the restaurant to get some food. There was no food available except a few salad items and some berries. It was still too early for breakfast. The chef scrambled me up a couple eggs and I had some jam and butter on some of the most delicious, probably the most delicious, bread I’ve ever had my life. I topped that off with an Americano.
When I started the warm up I knew my power was back. When I was at the start it was even more confirmed my power was back. I flew off the starting line to leave some key competitors behind and limit the field to just three. If there’s only three, and you can stay together or prevent any other riders from coming on, that’s a medal. It was just me and the Italian for the majority of the race. The South African fell off our pace fairly quickly halfway through the first lap. The energy was so high riding the race with the italian. The Italian rarely ever gets beat. He’s won multiple World Championships and is the reigning Olympic champion. We rode together until halfway through the last lap and he started pulling away from me. I think back and what I could have done to stay on his wheel. I allowed a bit too much space between he and I losing the draft he was providing.
Rolling up the last segment of the course across the cobbles and around the tight turns I was filled with so much joy as I knew I did it! What a way to top off a less than stellar week and the most successful season I’ve ever had.It wasn’t just the fall that I think was bothering me. I had to get a new AC unit at my house, the drip system wasn’t working correctly, the radiator needed to be replaced in my car, and my muscles were sore for a couple weeks leading up to the event, among a couple other things. Stuff definitely happens every once in awhile and it’s not always easy to be resilient. Overall though, I’m very grateful.
My second place puts me on the gold level of national team for 2026. I am freaking pumped! Other than what I wrote above I am teaching exercise prescription and assessment right now. I’m enjoying teaching the class so far. We are in week 4. Next week I will teach students how to conduct a graded exercise test in the lab and then we’ll have two lectures on related material. The weather is still very hot here in Phoenix. We’re having a monsoon right now outside as the thunder and lightning is roaring which will probably be followed up with some heavy rains. Until next month, reap the benefits of staying healthy and the laughter that comes with some dad jokes.
