I arrived in Spain on the 22nd of February, and everything was normal. I was settling into my new team. Antiga Casa Bellsola & had a few races lined up to get the ball rolling. COVID-19 was not on everyone’s minds, as it had only just reached the Italian shores.
I am based in the small town of Banyoles, less than 30km north of Girona and Barcelona. All the shops were open, and people were going about their daily routines. I would go riding outside every day and began familiarizing myself with the Spanish roads I had ridden a little before. On the 9th of March, I was looking forward to the race we had scheduled in France for the weekend. However, this never quite eventuated and was the first sign I had things were about to change.
As the week progressed, the daily number of cases for the COVID-19 was on the rise. New information was being released every day, with the number of confirmed cases growing at an alarming rate. At first,everyone was focused on the scale of the outbreak in Italy, but in the end, Spain was only a week behind.It wasn’t long until everything that was happening in Italy was happening here in Spain. I hadn’t yet comprehended what was to come.
COVID-19 was confirmed a global pandemic on the 11th of March, and on the 13th, everything became a reality. On our weekly Friday trip to the supermarket, there was a clear state of panic. We walked into the supermarket, and I was shocked to see the state of the shelves. I had never seen supermarket aisles so empty. It was high and dry; people were scrambling for whatever food there was left. I had walked to the supermarket with my Danish teammate, and by the time we had returned to our team house, he had a flight booked back to Denmark for the very next day. All within 60 minutes, things had rapidly changed.
COVID-19 was confirmed a global pandemic on the 11th of March, and on the 13th, everything became a reality. On our weekly Friday trip to the supermarket, there was a clear state of panic. We walked into the supermarket, and I was shocked to see the state of the shelves. I had never seen supermarket aisles so empty. It was high and dry; people were scrambling for whatever food there was left. I had walked to the supermarket with my Danish teammate, and by the time we had returned to our team house, he had a flight booked back to Denmark for the very next day. All within 60 minutes, things had rapidly changed.
By the 16th of March, there was just one Irish teammate left in the house and me. All racing was off, and we were no longer allowed to train outside.
Banyoles had become a complete ghost town. No longer were there children playing out in our local square; there was hardly a car out on the roads and an eerie silence throughout the entire day. We were only allowed out for essential trips to the supermarket or to pharmacies; trips that had to be cherished to get a breath of fresh air and increase the daily step count. It was all very surreal.
Nonetheless, going into lockdown was the best thing we could do; it was obviously going to happen and follow suit with many other countries around the world. However, it has been challenging to comprehend the impact this virus is really having on the world. Stuck inside all day, the only way I could keep up with the spread was by looking at the daily statistics and reading news articles. It is upsetting looking at the number of infections increasing every day by 5,000 to 10,000 people and not being able to see the changes around you. So many families would have been affected by the loss of loved ones; I can only imagine the impact this virus is having on their lives.
For the life of an aspiring cyclist, things have not been entirely different. You have your daily tasks that need to be done; training, eating and sleeping the three most important, only now all done within the confinement of our team house. After a few days of getting my head around our new situation, I was in to it. Zwift was the new norm, and double sessions were added to the schedule for the weeks to come.Double sessions may not sound great, but it did provide an excellent structure for my days; one session inthe morning and one in the afternoon. This made sure I didn’t just lie in bed all day. Nonetheless, I quickly become sick of showering twice a day that I made it my goal to have showers as short as possible.
Lucky for me, I have also had university studies to keep me busy during the lockdown. That has filled the rest of the hours not spent riding on the erg. I am studying two papers through Massey University. They have a great distance learning program that provides all of my course information online. I have used this method for my studies for the last 3 years, and it has worked really well! When it comes to exam time, I am provided with a list of the different cities in Europe I can sit my exams. Previously, I have sat them at theNew Zealand Embassy in Brussels, and because of that location, I won’t forget them. However, all of my exams for this semester have been shifted to online assessments because of COVID-19. No way of getting out of them!
A question you may be thinking; why did I stay in Europe? Why did I not come home? For me, I never really felt that I wanted to go back home. There are times you miss being away from home; your family and your friends and the life back in New Zealand, but this was a different scenario. Having just set foot into Europe for the season ahead, I didn’t want to be forced to return home. I came to Europe to train, race my bike and work on becoming a better cyclist, and I can’t do that back in NZ. Moreover, the lengthy travel faced travelling all the way back home to NZ didn’t seem reasonable. If I left, I would be wanting to return at apoint later in the season. So I decided to stay In Spain. My parents were happily supportive of my decision.They didn’t pressure me into a choice, and they were happy for me to remain in Spain.
I’m also lucky to have the support of my team who allowed me to stay and have been supporting me during these unknown times. By the end of my very first day in Spain, I was all set up and ready to go. I had my new Trek bike, my sleek new team kit, an enormous load of fresh bread from Antiga Casa Bellsola, fruit and vegetables from Fruites Lara, and just on cue, some warmer weather!
The team at CYCO were great at getting me ready before leaving NZ. Logan and his bike fitting prowess were able to allocate me the right stem length and work out how my saddle height would change for my new bike.
It all worked out perfectly that I am riding a Trek SL6 Emonda Pro Disc! I can always count on Cyco, helping make sure my bikes are continuously running flawlessly, no matter what side of the world I am on!
Over the past few weeks, the lockdown has become more tolerable! Over 50 days have passed of zwifting,studying, sleeping, etc., all going quicker than I thought it might. Young children are now allowed out to play, and small businesses have reopened. Since the 4th of May, we have been allowed to exercise outside but under certain restrictions. For professionals, covering the World tour to continental teams, they can now train outside at any time of the day, for as long as they wish. However, for me, I can ride outside from6-10am, and 8-11pm, and I must stay within the city limits of Banyoles. This has provided me with some freedom, but I am not entirely free yet. I am still counting down until we too can roam free again on the roads, but patience is a virtue; we must knock this virus down the first time, so we don’t have to deal with a second wave of infections.
Nonetheless, it has been great to breathe in the fresh air, climb some non-virtual hills and not be stuck looking at the same computer screen showcasing the scenery of Watopia. My cycling tan lines may have disappeared, but they have now started their return!
