Last year, I concluded my season with a successful Junior World Championships with four top ten finishes in South Korea. As a first year junior, I had some great results and was excited to return in 2015. Adam Duvendeck started coaching me and added elements to my training program that I’d never done before. For the first time, I started doing weights in the gym and focusing on sprint training. I saw massive gains - I was deadlifting more than double the amount of weight I started at and was going very fast! In January, I raced the Milton Challenge in Canada - a C1 UCI race. I did a 12.1 flying 200 and was the best-performing US elite athlete in the sprint and keirin. I won the 5-8th place final for the sprints, was 4th in the keirin final, and was 3rd in the scratch race in fields full of elite women from many different countries. I felt great and had high hopes for the rest of the season.
I went back to college and in February, I started racing the collegiate road season. Being on scholarship at Furman University, I had agreed to race the collegiate season from Feb-Apr and do team rides. I soon learned to suffer in the mountains - we would do 60+ mile races, often climbing over 6000 feet. Starting in late January time, I started feeling very tired all of the time. I was drinking as many as 15 cups of black coffee a day - I had never drank coffee before and didn’t think this was an abnormal amount I was consuming. I accredited my tiredness to school and how hard I was training, and thought that I was feeling sick a lot just because I have allergies. However, in late March, I was diagnosed with mono. I was forced to take time off the bike and went backwards in my training. I was not able to lift as much in the gym and was not sprinting anywhere near as fast as before.
I was invited by USA Cycling to the elite national sprint camp in April, where I was given the opportunity to train with the best sprinters in the nation. I came home from college in May and focused several weeks on speed work before attending the ICQ (international qualifier). I did a 12.6 in my flying 200 but qualified for level two funding for junior worlds. The cost of the trip was significant and for the first time in my cycling career, my family asked for support from the wider cycling community.
Later in the summer, Coach Andy Sparks allowed me to train and race in Colorado Springs. This gave me some incredible race experience and allowed me to train with the very best sprinters and under the guidance of great coaches. After this, I trained through junior and elite nationals. I was getting faster but was nowhere near as fast as I needed to be.
After a whole year of looking forward to junior worlds, I left mid-August to the beautiful city of Astana, Kazakhstan. I was going to race the sprint, keirin, and scratch race. I got there almost a week before I started racing. The track felt fast and I was running fast times in training - just two days before race day, I did two consecutive 5.5 second flying 100s. I was aiming for an 11.3 flying 200m and felt confident about racing.
I went to bed early the night before I raced, but woke up with a very sharp abdominal pain at 4 a.m. I couldn’t sleep and woke up feeling sick. I went to breakfast and forced myself to eat something. I definitely wasn’t feeling myself, but needed to focus on getting ready for my flying 200m. Unfortunately I didn’t even get the warm up I wanted to, as I couldn’t venture far from the bathroom. I also felt like I was going to throw up again and the sharp pain in my abdomen kept returning. Coach Daggs and the UCI doctor gave me some medication to try to settle my stomach, but it didn’t work. I felt very dehydrated and thirsty, but also felt bloated and sick to my stomach when I drank any water. I went up for my flying 200m and did a 11.9. I have never felt as horrible as I did after that effort. I was getting lightheaded, felt sick to my stomach, and my abdomen was hurting. I got off my bike and sat down. I qualified 16th and would race the 6th fastest girl who did just three tenths faster than my time. The UCI doctor came over, took one look at me, and told me that I couldn’t race. After crying and discussing with Coach Abers and the UCI doctor, I agreed to pull out of the sprints, rest up, and focus on doing well tomorrow. I was diagnosed with food poisoning - around 50 people from our hotel also got sick. Some completely pulled out of racing, but most people were able to get over the illness in a matter of a few hours/ a day.
I went to the hotel and had some bread for lunch. I slept for a couple hours but woke up in pain. I was lying on the floor of the bathroom, curled up in a ball, unable to move anywhere. I realized that I needed medical attention. My dad took me to the track and the UCI doctor told me I needed to go to the hospital. We waited thirty long minutes for an ambulance, then went to a hospital on the other side of town - this took another very long thirty minutes. I was getting worse and have never been in so much pain before. When we finally got to the hospital, I was told that the new hospital was closed today, so we had to visit the one across town. The hospital consisted of two rooms. I was taken to one room where I was put on a narrow bench about 1-2 feet away from other sick patients. The UCI sent an amazing teenage translator with me - Sayana - who translated what the doctor told me. My intestines and stomach were spasming. They gave me a shot that would help my body relax. I was turned on my side and passed out when they gave me the shot. I fell off the 3ft high bench, straight onto my head. I was then slapped on the face by the doctors until I woke up. Also, my earrings were removed and the doctors pulled hard on my ears to bring me back to consciousness. The shot didn’t do anything. In fact, I was getting worse by the minute. I couldn’t walk and was wheel-chaired to the ultrasound room. The good news is that the doctors didn’t find anything else wrong with me. This hospital didn't have any IVs so I was transported to another hospital via taxi.
In the taxi, I threw up about five times which made me feel quite a lot better. The hospital I was transported to was a hospital for disease control - basically a quarantine for very sick people. I was greeted by the race director (the man who was in charge of running Junior Worlds this year). He was very kind and did everything he possibly could for me over the next 48 hours. At the hospital, the doctors wouldn’t give me an IV unless I agreed to stay overnight. There was no one who spoke English, no visitors were allowed, I was surrounded by very sick people, and my Dad had no clue where we were to pick me up the next afternoon. It didn’t feel like the right choice to stay, so I told my Dad I wanted to go back to the hotel. I threw up again several times in the car on the way back. By this time it was 1 a.m. I was told to try and eat some dinner, but could only stomach one bite of bread and a few sips of water.
I was told by all doctors that I should not even think about cycling. My Dad was told not to mention racing and I was told “stay in bed for the next two or three days and get yourself well enough to travel home.”
I woke up the next morning feeling quite a lot better. The pain in my abdomen was still there - it kept getting very painful for a few seconds but would then be tolerable again. I had a piece of bread for breakfast, but couldn’t eat any more than that. The scratch race started at 4 p.m. Although I spent most of the morning in the bathroom and was still in pain, I was determined to compete. If it were any other race, I would’ve pulled out. However, this was junior worlds and I have worked way too hard to just go back to bed. With the help of Viggo, Coach Daggs, Coach Abers, and Brendan Murphy, I made it to the start line. They were all very supportive during the entire trip and were always willing to help me.
In the scratch race, I mentally didn’t feel very alert/ on top of my game. With two laps to go, a move went over the top of me and I stood up to sprint. That day, my legs didn’t go anywhere. I finished eighth. I did my best in the circumstances and I don’t regret how I raced. I tried my very hardest but didn’t have my usual legs. It was very frustrating to me that I know I could’ve done better if I wasn’t sick, but I needed to move on and focus on the keirin.
In the keirin, I got the same results. I didn’t move past the first round and was eliminated in reps. I would stand up to sprint but felt as though I was pedaling backwards. This is junior worlds - the toughest race for a junior to do and my performance wasn’t good enough to get me through to the semi-final.
I must admit that part of me is still heart-broken. I didn’t go to Junior Worlds to lose. I went to worlds with some very high hopes and expectations. I wanted more than anything to cross the finish line first in the scratch race and keirin. I wanted more than anything to get to the final in the sprints. I wanted more than anything to ride a personal best in the 200m - something I know I was capable of. Instead, I ended up very sick in the hospital. Instead, I ended up riding a worse 200m time than last year.
I have had a lot of setbacks this year, both things described above among others. However, I know that real champions are made when they fail. I am planning on spending some time recovering and then training harder than I ever have before. I am going to get stronger and faster for when I will step into the elite ranks in a few months time.
I cannot thank everyone enough for all the support in getting me to junior worlds - I still can’t believe how generous everyone has been! I am sorry that I didn’t deliver the results I know I am capable of. I am very appreciative of the opportunities I have been given. I couldn’t have gotten there without the help of so many people and I will never forget how kind you have been to me.
