By Emma Johansson
Finally I can say that I have a feeling of a normal daily life at my home here in Belgium. These first months of the season I have used some extra time to find race rhythm and to settle in. It has been some new bits and pieces as I’m new in the team, but it has helped a lot the way the Wiggle-High5 family has welcomed me and I’m looking forward to a great season with my new team!
As usual in my cycling life, it has been a lot of travels as the whole world is my office. My team and the rest of the peloton is filled with different nationalities and we are as a travelling circus, all in the same boat where the sport bring us together.
After what happened in Brussels last Tuesday, cycling does not seem that important and it gives me a perspective on the meaningful things in life.
However, for me as a professional cyclist, cycling will still be important and affect me. To have “good legs”, “the right feeling” and get the results I have been working for influences how I feel.
So when I seek for my “good legs” it is nice to have people and friends around me to put things in a different point of view. This is what Belgium is for me, my home away from home. Friends, who take me to Gent for a day, talk over a coffee or to just spend a afternoon on their couch instead of mine so that I can put cycling aside. The same friends making cycling first priority when they are cheering me on at races, discussing tactics and measuring my condition through their well-trained personal cycling eyes.
Yesterday I recorded a TV interview for Swedish television. It was for a very popular children sport series that have been on since I was a kid. Two Swedish kids came here to Belgium to do a interview and a bike challenge with me. The recording got delayed one day as they had problems with their flights coming in to Belgium…but they arrived safe and it was a fun and nice day.
Dwars Door Vlaanderen went on, even though terror threats were high. In that way we didn’t let the terrorist win. Wiggle-High5 won the race, the first win of the season for the team in Europe.
Leaning back thinking of these past days, with a coffee in my hand and the terror threats so close, makes me believe that cycling and what I do can be important. To see two young kids jumping up and down from happiness after a terrifying trip to Belgium just to cycle with me gives me hope and motivation. Security I find together with my family and friends on and off the bike, together we create meaningful time together at my home away from home.
Emma
