Late translation.

Athletes life?

Ahoy everybody, been a long time, but hey, I've got plenty to tell now. This period has included a bit of this and that, mostly this. Some racing, training, work for a week. How damn interesting, ain't it?

Well if we begin from the time before the Nats. My tapering plan was on the way perfectly. I had the legs and the feeling, some stomach issues evert now and then, but nothing serious. Everything was going like planned, but there is always the big but. Those stomach problems hit me big time and my kilo went badly. Silver was a disappoinment, and neither was the trip to hospital very nice.

After a short night sleep I crawled back to the track for sprint qualification. I won it, and should have got easier opponent for the first round. But no, once again. Strongest team in Finland, played strong tactics and I got the last year Nats champ for the first round. One bad match and two good ones, booyaa – I'm in semis. Although I was in semis, I had no power or energy left to compete fully. I just rode my matches hoping for miracles. There was no miracles for me and I finished fourth. Next day we had one more race for that weekend. We finished respectively fourth in team pursuit with sprinter team.

Next weekend there was team sprint and Keirin in program. We got a bronze again with a solid and decent performance. In Keirin I was just sheer shit. My tactical faults added to little struggling with my form caused bad results. Nothing to tell to kids in future. Next week still something to do: qualification race for U23 Europeans. That was a classy ride considering all the previous rides and problems. Near the required times was good enough and I'll represent Finland in St Petersburg come September.

Next week I ended up working for Finnish Cyling Union's junior camp. I enjoyed my time there and tanned my skin a bit, (without results, too bad). Juniors were amazing and ate ice cream on my pocket money. Thanks for that!