CECILIE UTTRUP LUDWIG
After some holiday with my family at Lago di Garda, in Italy, I went on to have a training block as preparation for the upcoming races. You wouldn’t believe it, but during the training camp another of my wisdom teeth started acting up and my cheek started to swell.
I went to a dentist who disinfected it for me. That definitely helped at first, but then the tooth started causing trouble a little later on. Meanwhile, it was time to rock and roll on Scandinavian roads... well, at least in Sweden and Norway at the Crescent Vårgårda and Tour of Norway. They’re WorldTour events that I always look forward to. They are very well organised with a lot of local commitment. We even had live TV coverage, which we in the women’s peloton don’t take for granted.
I sincerely hope that my home country Denmark will follow suit one day and put on a UCI race for women. How great would it be to race on home soil? If it was around the same time as the races in Sweden and Norway, it would be as if the teams did a Tour of Scandinavia. It might make it easier logistics-wise, too. Maybe it could even some day evolve into a grand tour of Scandinavia. That would be awesome! Well, I might be getting ahead of myself... Enough with the daydreaming ;-)
It became a successful week for us in Sweden and Norway, with three podiums for the team in three days. Afterwards, I went back to Denmark - home sweet home! It was great to be back after six weeks living out of my suitcase. And the first thing I did when I got back? Visit my dentist. We decided to pull the troublemaker tooth out to make sure it wouldn’t affect my performance for the rest of the season.
This period is also a very interesting time of the year. Teams are announcing their roster for next year and I’m extremely excited to say that I have extended my contract with Cervélo-Bigla. I believe that this team will be the right place for me to slowly but steadily develop my skills as a bike rider, and as a leader. For sure
I will make a lot of (new) mistakes, but I believe mistakes are stepping stones to success.