CECILIE UTTRUP LUDWIG
Off-season here I come! It’s time to catch up with everybody and spend time with my family and friends - something I’ve been looking very much forward to. It’s time to dress up and go out on the town, have some drinks and hit the dance floor. Time to eat what, when and how much I like. I definitely have a sweet tooth, so in the first part of the off-season I live by the good “old” proverb: “Skinny people are easier to kidnap. Stay safe, eat cake”!
Lately I’ve been reflecting on the last races of the 2018 season: the world championships, Giro dell’Emilia, Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli and Chrono des Nations. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in all of these races. There are a lot of things to correct and things I can improve. But I believe that it’s not necessarily bad to make mistakes. In fact, that’s when I learn the most. And these errors will act as fuel to the burning desire to come back stronger and better for next year.
A subject that has been a hot topic in the media and the peloton is the new initiative from the UCI in regards to women’s cycling. For instance, there is going to be a two-tier system for the women’s teams that in some ways resembles the system the men have. But the most debated issue is the one concerning a minimum salary. It is without a doubt a very good thing that the female professional cyclists actually get paid a salary that they can live off. That is going to be a giant leap forward for some riders. But it seems to me that we have a problem for the time being: how are the teams going to find the additional amount of money? It’s a question I don’t have the answer to. But there is no doubt that we need increased media exposure in women’s cycling if the sponsors are to increase their contributions. We’ll all keep working towards this.
By the time you are reading this I will be on the beautiful island of Crete with my best friend and team-mate Marie Schousboe Vilmann, enjoying some well-deserved winter sunshine. Here I’ll slowly be kickstarting winter training with long base mile rides, fun hiking adventures and getting into all the local food. I’m sure we will have a blast!