Karen Darke | Athlete | Speaker | Author

Been on the road for the last 3 weeks, racing in Italy, Switzerland and another World Cup event in Spain, with the British Paracycling Team (see here). The lowlight of the trip was being on the wrong road - accidentally cycling onto a Swiss motorway. I lost the bike path whilst out on a training ride near Zurich, and somehow landed myself on the slip road of a motorway. Now the turning circle on a handbike is biiiggg, so it was impossible to turn round. Wondering what to do, I spied that the next exit was only a few hundred metres away, and decided to risk a blast along the wide hard shoulder. The plan was scuppered by a bridge and short tunnel just before the exit, where the hard shoulder disappeared; I ended up cowering against the crash barrier like a scared rabbit whilst the jugonauts roared by. ‘What to do? ‘ I wondered, quivering with fear. There were blood, sweat and tears but luckily the police showed up; they helped me bum-shuffle under the crash barrier whilst they lifted my bike over the top (I tore a chunk out of my foot in the process), opened a magical iron gate onto a quiet side road, and escorted me back to the safety of a bike path, with a kind but suitable ticking off. Cycling home, all I could think was ‘I was that numpty on a bike, on a motorway, but at least I’m alive…’

The highlight of the trip? Winning a large sausage, wine and two golds in Italy (my first ever), and silvers in all the other races. Results currently put me third in the World in my class, but the true test will be the World Champs in Denmark, early September. I have to make the podium (top 3) there to be selected for London 2012.

So, here’s to more hard training, and in search of a new set of go-faster wheels (apparently they’ll make me 5% faster…here’s hoping).
Meanwhile, as Andy’s dad said, “Good to hear you’re living the dream, but I know it doesn’t come without sacrifices”. He couldn’t have hit it more on the head. Missing Scotland, home, family, friends, kayaking - not necessarily in that order.