Bronze medal at the European Championships – good as gold

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May 29, 2008

The battle for the medals was very tough at the European Championships in St. Wendel, Germany, last weekend. I lost the sprint for the silver medal, but the bronze medal was just as wonderful as a gold medal for Kenneth and me, considering our goals before the race, which were to feel on top of things and get in some extremely good race-training.

It's one and a half years ago since I won a medal in a championship and it certainly is a wonderful experience. The bronze medal fitted nicely into our collection of 19 championship medals, since we were missing a bronze.

We've enjoyed a relaxing weekend here in our apartment in Lautern – Heubach after the European Championship experience last Sunday, and my body has really been in need of extra rest after the tough race. The track at St. Wendel was very different from the World Cup track in Madrid: very different use of muscles and longer climbs, more technical sections and long flat stretches demanding heavier gears.

Four weeks left 'til World Championships

The two coming weekends will be free of races, and we'll use them for lots of correct training and recovery where we're staying in Germany. It's been a demanding start to the season for me since I missed out on so many races last summer, but we're on the right track. Next Monday we're flying to Edinburgh and Fort William. We'll be taking part in a new World Cup race in Scotland, and we want to be well prepared for it so we get to run our top gears and have a good stint of exercise.

It's exactly four weeks until the World Championships today. On June 22 we're taking part in the World Championships XC (Olympic Cross Country distance) in Val de Sole, in the town of Commezzadura in the north of Italy. I'm looking very much forward to the race, but we're still taking the days as they come and are just happy to have me back on the bike and fit enough to race again. We're surprizingly well under way, but there's still a long way to go before we're up at the level we want to be.

Next week we're planning on some extra hours of training, completing a good exercise race against each other this weekend, and then hopefully be fit for fight again in Fort William. You'll probably hear from us again after our exercise round on the track at Fort William in the middle of next week. The weekend of the race in Fort William is bound to be spectacular since there'll be Norwegian supporters along the tracks, and, as we know, they always have a lot of fun.

I wish you all active days of exercise and wonderful trips out into the woods and nature on your bikes.

Cyclist's greetings from Gunn-Rita + Kenneth
Multivan Merida Biking Team

[Translation: Crispen T.P. de Lange]