It was 5 am, I woke up anxious and full of energy. It was the first time I went out for a bike ride with my Cider teammates. I didn't know if my legs were going to resist those 60 kms to go and return from Alto del Vino (a climb near Bogotá leaving from the west). At that time I could not imagine that three months later I would be able to climb the Páramo del Verjón, a mountain that reaches 3,367 meters in altitude with a gradient between 5 and 8%, or that I would then travel 130 km to the Carajillo, near Gachancipá.
At first the mind tricks you, it tells you that you can't take it anymore, but for some reason the body finds a way to continue, not to give up in the face of pain or cold, and the reward of reaching the goal has no comparison. You always want more. You can't wait for the next time to go out again.
Feel the speed of the wind, the sun, the cold, the rain, the mist, the movement, the smell of nature, the pain in the hands, feel the effort in the legs, the rhythm of the heart when pedaling. The possibility of seeing sunrises, mountains, lakes or seeing Bogotá at your feet. All this becomes a feeling of freedom, of disconnection from the urban world and an impulse to discover landscapes that you can not only see, but also feel.
My biggest fears were the cars in the city (on bridges, especially) and of “getting stuck” (using the shoes anchored to the pedals) since I fell several times and it caused me a lot of stress. But that's what cycling is also about, facing your greatest fears and finding a way to overcome them.
Not every day is the same, there are days when you feel great and the body takes you wherever you want without any problem. There are other days where the climbs or bottoms feel very hard or some pain invades you and you barely make it. You also learn to know your teammates when they are at their best or when their body doesn't respond in the same way. Along the way we accompany and motivate each other. Then we can enjoy the magic that a breakfast, eggs, juice and arepa can do.
Thanks to teamwork, I now have more confidence in myself and in what I can achieve on the bike. I have learned tips to improve endurance, strength and breathing. I have improved my performance, I have lowered my times, my lungs and my legs respond much better. I am more aware of my body, my diet and my health. I have learned to maintain the bike and to explore new routes that take us further and further.
This is my experience in CiderEscaladores, the new cycling affinity group of the Interdisciplinary Center for Development Studies (Cider) of the Universidad de los Andes.
It does not matter if your bike is to conquer the mountains, if it is to devour kilometers on paved roads or if it is to have an act of rebellion and move around the city, what essentially marks this community is the love for cranks and amazing landscapes.
In this group you can express doubts, opinions and share any type of content about cycling.
Contact me at my email if you are interested in riding bike with us: r.rosssi@uniandes.edu.co
