Great to be alive | Cyclingnews

Image 1 of 10

Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå(Image credit: Alexander Farnsworth)

Norway, November 15, 2007

Our exercise has been effective this week, and regarding November as a whole, the training has been varied and good. My bike ride on Friday afternoon lasted for close to two hours and was a true battle, fought against wild winds and stinging hail. After almost five months away from cycling, I won't be complaining at all about the weather this winter! It's just fantastic to feel my body alive again, with boiling adrenaline, muscles pumping, and my cheeks glowing.

After having exercised, when the warm shower is finished and one is sitting in one's easy chair, one continues to enjoy the rush that exercise gives for many hours more. This very enjoyable feeling is important to remember for those of you who find it difficult to get out of that easy chair and get going on physical activity. Now you can join me! I've just started up a training program and it feels like I'm starting right back at square one.

First of all, you need to define a clear goal for yourself. Then it's important to lay solid and detailed plans for how to reach that goal. On top of this, it's necessary to have a strong willpower which wants to accomplish a lot every day. It's certainly no excuse to say that Christmas is coming up, and that it'll be a lot easier to start up exercise after the binge season is over. That's nothing but rubbish!

It's Monday evening here in our little living room at Tjensvoll, outside Stavanger. Several glowing candles provide comfort in this dark winter season. I've had an exercise-free day today, and as luck would have it, the sky was blue - the kind of day that would be fantastic for a mountain hike surrounded by autumn colours as far as the eye can see. My dream never materialized today, but they've promised the same kind of weather tomorrow, so then we'll be going out on our Merida bikes for two hours, which will be lovely.

Our winter training programme and preparations for next season are under way now, so we want to use all our time and energy to focus on that. We know that the building project is in good hands and that the house is guaranteed to be a masterpiece. We won't be moving in before the end of September next year. It'll be a fantastic surprise to come home to a new house after the end of an exciting cycling season.

On Wednesday I'm leaving for Bardufoss in the north of Norway, so I'm really going to get a taste of King Winter there. I'll be visiting the customers at a local Coop Mega food shop, and having a lecture for both young and old about exercise, health and nutrition. That'll be on Thursday afternoon, after which we'll hopefully sell lots of Merida bikes at a Sport 1 shop at the Domus shopping mall in the centre of Bardufoss. It'll doubtlessly be an exciting and challenging day in every way.

Next week we're both going to a Beijing gathering in Oslo to meet all the Norwegian competitors going to the Olympics in Beijing next summer. The programme for those two days will include lots for both body and mind. Next Saturday I'm flying southwards to meet up with Merida dealers in Switzerland. The headquarters are in Lugano, so we'll have two wonderful days in that beautiful city on the border to Italy.

Apart from that, we're looking forward to some relaxed days at home, exercising and taking good care of each other. We'll probably have a couple of trips to the cinema, and a dinner or two together with family and friends. But our main priority is to rest and then rest some more. I can't exactly rest my body into top shape again, but it's still a very important component in building up my fitness in preparation for next season.

Norwegian cross-country mountain bike racer Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå made an impressive comeback last year after sitting out much of the previous season due to illness. In 2008, she won the Madrid, Spain, round of the UCI World Cup and the UCI Marathon World Championships and finished 12th in the World Cup final standings.

Dahle Flesjå will take on a new challenge in 2009 when she gives birth to her first child, expected in late March. With the support of her husband Kenneth Flesjå and her family, she aims to return to competition within a few months after becoming a mother.

Don't count her out for the late season World Cups and World Championships races. She was World Champion in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006, plus Olympic champion in 2004. In 2003 to 2006, she dominated the sport, winning the World Cup overall.

Follow her exploits in 2009 on Cyclingnews as she takes on a new, joint role as mother and elite racer. Or, for more Gunn-Rita, see her personal website: www.gunnrita.com