Sarah Storey OBE – 12 months since Beijing (sent from Team Hotel at the World Road Championships)

September 10 2009

Cast your mind back 12 months… Can you remember exactly what you were doing on September 8th, 10th and 12th 2008?

It could be tricky trying to remember the specifics, unless, that is, you were marking an anniversary of some kind! For me, remembering what I was doing from 8th to 12th September 2008, will never be hard, as it is the week my life changed and I proved myself as a Paralympic cyclist after so many years as a Paralympic swimmer!
Sitting here twelve months on from that life-changing week, I glow with pride, shiver with goose bumps and look forward to my next race and the opportunity to prove I have improved since the Games in Beijing.

So much has happened since we landed back on home soil after the Games. To start with we were whisked around the country doing events to promote the results of the Games. From The Pride of Britain Awards, to appearing live on This Morning, from the Team Parade through London to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. As a gold medallist from Beijing, I was kept busy for many months.

Honours were also bestowed upon me with an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list and an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the Manchester Metropolitan University that I collected in July.

It didn’t take long for the training and racing to set in again either, in fact I raced during the first week of our return when I won the Women’s Individual Pursuit at the Senior Track Nationals to became the first Paralympian to win an individual able-bodied National title. As we marked the new year of 2009, it was time for the winter training camps to start and as the spring arrived I started racing. In fact I raced every weekend from Easter, right through to the second weekend of July! During this time I won all my local races, bagged 2 silvers and a bronze at the able-bodied Time Trial Championships, for the 10, 25 and 50 miles distances. I added another two World Cup titles for Paracycling track events and I also bagged five National titles at the 30-34 years Masters Track Nationals. I was rested from racing for four weeks before continuing my winning form in August to lead the Women’s National Time Trial series. So looking back it’s easy to see where the year has gone!

During this Beijing anniversary week, I have been finishing off my preparation for the World Road Championships in Italy. In fact as you read this, I will be just hours away from trying to win my first World Championship title in the Road Time Trial, the event in which I won Gold, on Friday 12th September 2008 in Beijing!

The final preparation race for the World Championships was on Sunday 6th September when I competed in the British National Time Trial Championships. It was an able-bodied event, featuring the silver medallist from the event at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Emma Pooley. For me the course was a similar profile to the one I will face here in Italy and perfect timing being just 5 days before the World Championship event.

We raced over 20 miles and the lumpy nature of the course, with poor road surface in places, made for a tough race. As I crossed the line with an average speed of just over 26mph for the entire race, I knew I couldn’t have given any more. I checked my bike computer and it told me I had squeezed out the highest average power for any race all year. The winner was the Olympic medallist, Emma, with two other girls finishing 30 seconds and 1 minute behind her, whilst I was 4th, just 92 seconds behind. I was delighted to hear I’d finished much closer than had been expected and knew I was getting on the plane the following day with good legs.

Unfortunately our arrival in Italy also marked the point when I would have my first crash of the year. Having checked out the racecourse again, I was enjoying a steady ride back to the team hotel. The return journey from the course is mainly downhill and as I was enjoying one particular descent, I ended up going over the handlebars thanks to a man who didn’t look as he stepped into the road less than a few metres in front of me. Despite me hitting the brakes as hard as I could, whilst swerving and shouting at him, he continued to walk forward. Unfortunately there was also a vehicle coming in the opposite direction and I didn’t have much room left in the middle of the road. Just as I thought he might hear me and stop so I could get past, he stepped even further into the middle and we collided, causing me to go over my handlebars whilst trying to dive out of the way of the oncoming traffic! In the split second I had to decide how to land, I went for the sliding option and ended up skinning the inside of my right elbow, my knees and my left hand. I’d landed slightly on the right side of my front and there was a whiplash effect to my right shoulder but I scrambled up quickly and started checking myself for broken bones.

I couldn’t quite believe what had happened and there was the same old reaction from someone who causes a cyclist to crash, “well I didn’t see you”.

Fortunately some of my team mates were also riding back from the course and before too long they had my bike straightened out and me back upright. The worst thing to do at that point is to stop riding as you stiffen up very quickly once the adrenal subsides.

Back at the team hotel, the physio team assessed my shoulder and it seems I’ve just wrenched a couple of ribs where they meet the spinal column. My elbow looks burnt where I surfed down the road on it and my hip is bruised from landing on my side.

“It could have been a lot worse”, and after 24 hours of rest and physio work I was back on the bike and lapping round the race course in slight pain, but as quickly as before.

It’ll be a tough call to emulate Beijing, but I can’t think of a better time than on the anniversary of the big event itself.