On the 11^th and 13^th of June, I had the world cup race in Segovia-Spain. This is the first time that the UCI organizes a worldcup race for handcycle.

I landed Wednesday the 9^th in Madrid and waited almost 2 hours but unfortunately, my bike was no where to be seen.

I left Madrid on a 100km journey to Segovia – feeling sad and so worried about the bike.

On Thursday 10^th, I was informed that my bike was lost! Then I received the news that the races weren’t going to be on Friday and Sunday but Saturday and Sunday.

That was fine by me as I was having hopes my bike might be found in time. I was so sad all day as I didn’t get the chance to visit the track…
However, luckily I received a call from KLM on Friday to confirm that they found the bike and I’d have it delivered in the afternoon.

To top it off, the bike arrived and… voilà: the back wheel, the cables and the chain ring were totally damaged – I spent the rest of the day repairing it!

My race was scheduled for Saturday at 16:30. I arrived to the track and it was pouring down heavily. Hence, I did not manage to warm up as I was alone without any trainer or assistant.

I planned to take off slowly so I warm up as I go along ;however, the race started at a very high speed for the first 20km where the average hit the 40km/hr – not to mention the rain and poor visibility as well as the hills we had to go through.

Straight after the first round of 22Km, I suddenly had the “HAMMER” and broke down for few seconds, with no energy, unable to push anymore… As soon as I brightened up, the first group was about 500m ahead of me. I didn’t give up but kept pushing at full power until I caught up with the guys 15km down the track.

The group was getting smaller as the speed went very high. The Canadian, Rico Morneau dropped off on the last 1Km and I kept pushing forward until I eventually ranked in the 4^th place.

I was really disappointed – not because I wasn’t able to win - as i was well prepared not physically but logistically for the race and it did not happen.

I returned to my hotel and waited for my bike but again the organisation delivered it to the wrong hotel, 800m down the road. I didn’t manage to get to bed till midnight on that day as I had to pick the bike and clean it and get it ready for the following day.

On Sunday, although I wasn’t feeling so good, I got a good warming up in a nice dry weather and went to the start. I had no energy but I was convincing myself that I should persevere and give it my best. The result was that I sadly finished in the 9^th place.

PS: THANKS to the family Attieh who helped me big time when i was in Spain.