BRODIE CHAPMAN
FDJ NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE
It’s 2:11am in Girona, Spain, and my boyfriend Dan and I are awake, tired eyes fixed on the glow of a laptop propped up by pillows on the foot of the bed. It’s 10 hours later in Australia, and BikeExchange’s Sarah Roy is about to ride herself into the green and gold Australian national champions’ jersey.
I am switching my attention between the race and sending messages to Amanda Spratt, the 2020 champ, (and Roy’s team-mate), who is watching from Switzerland. My heart is flying wall to wall between pangs of envy that I am not also racing and waves of joy for such a deserving winner.
The Aussie Nationals are usually in January, when most of our northern hemisphere peers are only just wrapping up the base kilometres and dipping toes into the first intervals of the year. Down Under, we are usually having an internal dialogue along the lines of, ‘It’s only January, no pressure, the ‘real’ races are later in the spring,’ and the other, often louder, voice is screaming ‘YOU MUST WIN THE GREEN AND GOLD!’
There is something about this race that makes it a bucket-list win for Australians. For professionals returning home from Europe, it is a matter of crafting a programme where you can indulge in rare time with your family and friends, and release a hiss of air from your pressure cooker of a career, while still showing some discipline in order to participate, better yet, perform beyond expectation. It’s a balancing act. Many brush off the importance of this race in public, to save face. However, with the joy that comes with your closest supporters being able to belt your name from the sidelines, there’s also a lurking pressure among the earnest encouragement. You try your best to quell this with gratitude for having a band of believers in the first place.
The mental fortitude displayed by Sarah in the 2021 edition is inspiring. It reminds me of why I love bike racing. I am often more uplifted by the success of friends and teammates than cycling superstars who I can’t quite yet imagine myself in the shoes of. With riders I know on a more personal level, I can empathise; the injuries and doubts, and peaks and troughs of form. To see Roy take this title is something no one can take away and gives me a fresh boost of confidence that perhaps I too, one day, can ride myself into the coveted jersey.
This year the riders on the podium could be described as ‘classics riders’. The weather was unseasonably cold and wet, perhaps this played into their strengths? The tired, common vernacular of ‘getting lean for nationals’ in my opinion, is dead. I say, it’s get strong, hard and feisty instead. I am excited for 2022 race already.