Latest / Zone2Speak Podcast / From Brazil to Virtual Victory: Gabriela Guerra's E-Cycling Journey
Transcript
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- 3:19All right. In this inspiring episode of Zone to Speak, I sit down with the incredible Gabriela Guerra,
- 3:28Brazilian endurance athlete, coach, and 2024 UCI Esports Vice World Champion.
- 3:35From her roots in Brazil to standing on the virtual podium at the eSports World
- 3:41Championships, Gabriela has made a powerful mark in both online racing and at
- 3:47the broader endurance world.
- 3:49She's not only a fierce competitor, but also a dedicated mentor and a passionate
- 3:54voice for representation in the sport.
- 3:57We dive into her journey from discovering cycling to becoming one of the top
- 4:01athletes in the eCycling scene. what it takes to perform at the highest level,
- 4:07and how she leads and inspires others in their own athletic paths.
- 4:12Whether you are deep into Zwift, chasing big goals, or just need a boost of
- 4:17motivation, Gabriela's story will light that spark.
- 4:20Gabriela, welcome to Zone to Speak.
- 4:23Thank you very much. So you're originally from Brazil, but you live in the U.S.
- 4:28What brought you there? I have been married to a U.S. citizen since two years, about for two years.
- 4:35We met online on Zwift, and at that time I was in Germany. Yeah.
- 4:40And then we got married and I moved here. Wow, how cool.
- 4:45So eSports changed your life in many facets.
- 4:49In many ways. That's it, yeah.
- 4:52Wow. And how did your cycling journey begin? Well, from some point in my life,
- 4:57I was living between Germany and Brazil.
- 5:00So one year here, one year there, I was trying to build a honey business with
- 5:04Brazilian native honey and export it to Europe. So the entrance point was going to be Germany.
- 5:10And we tried doing a pilot project and do some export. So I was always back and forth.
- 5:16But I started mountain biking in Brazil in around 2019, I believe.
- 5:22Mainly because I had many, many injuries in my life due to other sports.
- 5:26I come from skateboarding and other more radical sports.
- 5:32And I got injured so many times that at some point my joints were not playing
- 5:37the game anymore. So I had to change sports. I tried to just stay fit just because I love moving.
- 5:43I love just also doing endurance sports a lot.
- 5:47So I tried running and was actually really good at it and loved it.
- 5:51But on the joints, it was just a little too much.
- 5:54So I decided, why not just buy a bike and get around with the bike?
- 5:59So that's how I started. I just went to a bike shop in Brazil.
- 6:02And then they recommended me a mountain bike because that's what they use around
- 6:07in my home city, in Curitiba.
- 6:09Many people like to ride off-roads.
- 6:13It's more fun and more safe in that environment. And so I kind of got into it
- 6:18because the bike shop really took me in and took me out to rides and got me
- 6:23started. And I didn't have any idea.
- 6:25So I kind of started from zero from there.
- 6:28Yeah, mountain bike is really big in Brazil. And I love when bike shops really
- 6:32take their customers in and teach them the ropes, not just try to sell a bike
- 6:37and make a profit. So that's really good to hear.
- 6:40And how interesting about the honey business. Are you doing that at all?
- 6:44I know we're talking about cycling, but I'm always fascinated because I love honey.
- 6:48Well, I really wanted to, you know, make the honey special for athletes.
- 6:55I tested it a bunch with my friends in Brazil and I tested a bunch of myself,
- 7:00like how this honey goes with performance and with endurance.
- 7:04And it actually showed really, really cool results, especially because Brazil
- 7:09has really specialty types that are really healthy for the body.
- 7:14So I was really hoping that I could, you know, unite those two passions that I have.
- 7:19I ended up, when I got married and moved to the U.S., I had to take it a little
- 7:25slower with the whole thing.
- 7:26And then I decided to just put it on a sleep, maybe forever, I don't know.
- 7:33Came with a little hurt because I invested really a lot in this,
- 7:37but part of my family also still has a passion for it and would like to,
- 7:42at some point, maybe start again.
- 7:45Yeah, I hope you have the opportunity to pick this up because.
- 7:49I mean, obviously, I'm a honey lover, but there are a lot of research coming
- 7:54out now that Eva talks about, you know, honey for energy, but also it really
- 7:59improves your recovery.
- 8:01So don't give up on this. I think it's a space that we should be watching,
- 8:06and I hope you bring this up. Yes, definitely.
- 8:08And just as maybe interesting information, for many people, they don't know
- 8:13there's different types of bees.
- 8:16Not just a regular bee that we know that stings and that produce the most honey that we know of.
- 8:22But Brazil also has native bees.
- 8:24Other countries also have native bees. But Brazil has more than 400 different
- 8:29species of native bees that produce honey.
- 8:33Wow. But most of the bees are very, very small and produce really small amounts.
- 8:38And most of those bees are also stingless, so they don't sting.
- 8:43They bite or they can't really defend themselves. So we found one specific bee.
- 8:49It's called Jatai, or the scientific name is Tetragonis kangustula.
- 8:55Wow. produces a mouthful yes
- 8:59definitely this bee produces a
- 9:02very specific honey that has incredible healing
- 9:05powers it's been used by native brazilians
- 9:09and been known to really feel the breathing
- 9:12airways bronchitis and and even
- 9:15just a regular cough so we really
- 9:19embraced that type of honey and it was
- 9:22hard to bring it into the market due to its differences in
- 9:25in constitution and in taste so that
- 9:28was a big challenge so maybe reminds
- 9:32me that i had a really bad
- 9:35bike accident in 2020 i think
- 9:38and my face was like so bad and
- 9:42i lived in dubai at the time and this guy
- 9:45at the bike shop Arabic guy told me put honey and
- 9:48I'm like but I was in so much agony that
- 9:51I'm like I'll try anything and I started to put
- 9:54honey and you can see I have no scars it
- 9:58really is a miracle source yeah really high quality honey does have healing
- 10:04properties but the most honey that we know of is that we buy is already mixed
- 10:09with other honey stuff it's not completely pure or light can even influence
- 10:15the effect it has, temperature.
- 10:17So it's a sensitive product if you really want the most healing powers out of it.
- 10:23Yeah, don't buy anything from the grocery store. It's not real honey.
- 10:26But anyways, we should have our own podcast all about the honey. I'm so fascinated by it.
- 10:32But tell me, how did you evolve into elite level competition?
- 10:36And what brought you to esports?
- 10:39All right so when i started mountain mining brazil they also
- 10:42have regional competitions and i started doing them
- 10:45for fun because i'm kind of kind of
- 10:48competitive or like i'm competitive with myself a lot
- 10:51like i want to improve and and so i
- 10:54started competing and i started winning a lot and
- 10:57i started upgrading categories and just winning a lot
- 11:00like everything and i was like okay maybe it's like
- 11:03i don't have competition i don't know but then
- 11:06i started going out on rides with the pro
- 11:09guys and they were like this girl
- 11:12is fast and so I
- 11:14didn't have a power meter or any numbers but like I
- 11:18started hunting KOMs and that was my training and really
- 11:22hard courses in Brazil like just off-road climbs and
- 11:25climbs and climbs that was my thing so well after
- 11:29a while I have to move back to Germany so I
- 11:32thought okay cool Germany might be more like a road bike
- 11:35thing I don't know but there we have
- 11:37long winters in Germany so what do I do then I don't
- 11:40want to bike outside in the winter I tried it before so
- 11:44then I thought okay I want to keep myself fit and I'm gonna try something indoors
- 11:49I want this stationary bike and then I started researching a little bit and
- 11:54found Swift I didn't know what it is I bought like a Schwinn EC8 it's like a
- 12:01spinning bike and you started with that.
- 12:05Yeah it totally overreads even though you calibrate and everything it just overreads
- 12:10but I think it says a lot that you don't need the latest and greatest and the
- 12:14best or the most expensive look at you.
- 12:16Such a strong elite athlete i mean i'm sure now you
- 12:19have the latest and greatest but yes you can start from
- 12:22the bottom but it didn't last very long because
- 12:25it's really like it's unfair like it just gives
- 12:28you like 40 extra watts so you can't do that it can
- 12:31start competing you know so i was just working out and
- 12:34i joined like a huge event that was like
- 12:37a super long course super difficult and i was just hammering i
- 12:40just wanted like a good hard workout just for fun no
- 12:43goals nothing in mind and then this guy called
- 12:46sebastian from germany the team manager
- 12:49of beast mode powered by rose he messaged
- 12:53me afterwards because he was on my ride and he saw my numbers and
- 12:56he said well even if you are on a wacky setup
- 12:59you still have very good numbers and i would like to invite
- 13:03you to our elite team and see like what
- 13:06we can make out of it so he was
- 13:09like okay there's a teammate that lives nearby you
- 13:13in Germany how about you go to her house and
- 13:16do a little test and then we see your numbers and
- 13:19if your numbers are okay then we support you
- 13:22to be in the team and with equipment because I
- 13:25wasn't really like I couldn't really buy much like
- 13:29I was still building my own company that was like yeah
- 13:33we all know that yeah yes
- 13:37I was a part of my family so that I could do it because I.
- 13:40Didn't have income and neither could I spend time
- 13:43in a full-time job you know so I was
- 13:46doing just side gigs here and there just you know but anyways
- 13:50then I went there I went to Pia Kummer's place
- 13:53she's a good friend of mine today still and I did
- 13:56the little test and the numbers showed to be pretty good
- 13:59so that's how I started they started supporting me I
- 14:02started racing with them in the elite level at that time
- 14:05there was still no prize money on the
- 14:08line for elite events the sport is very very new
- 14:11what that yeah what how that goes but then
- 14:14that's how i met my husband we started dating and
- 14:17soon enough we got married we met
- 14:21in the u.s we met in germany we met in
- 14:23brazil like all the environment we went through it all
- 14:26and then he proposed and we got married and
- 14:29i moved to to the u.s and then
- 14:32i kept i kept racing and i kept doing the the
- 14:35esports thing because where we live here in the u.s we
- 14:38also have long winters and it's pretty cold and
- 14:41my husband does this also for a living he's
- 14:44not a racer but he is a commentator and a manager
- 14:47in that community and he has so much experience with all that and plus on top
- 14:52of it he is a coach he's a one of he was one of the top elite pro mountain bikers
- 14:59of the nation in usa oh he has more than 20 years of experience so like it was
- 15:05a perfect match without like forever.
- 15:08It just matches. Yeah. Seems like a match made, I was going to say match made in Zwift.
- 15:16Yeah. Not in heaven. They even have a little story there they posted for Valentine's
- 15:20Day or for their 10th anniversary. They posted a little video of us telling
- 15:24our story and how we met. It's beautiful.
- 15:27What a beautiful story. It's funny.
- 15:30Yeah. Anyways, yeah, I got married into, into, he had with, in his previous
- 15:36marriage, he had five kids.
- 15:38So I turned into a stepmom from one day to another.
- 15:44So that was a big challenge. Yeah.
- 15:47We have two older girls. They are already out of the house and the three boys live with us part time.
- 15:54So that was also very life changing for sure.
- 15:57And the indoor cycling also helped, the virtual cycling, because then when we
- 16:02ride at home, we can be around more.
- 16:04And with the kids, it's just so much. That's true. That's true, that's true.
- 16:09Wow, you were very busy then. I didn't realize you're also a stepmom of,
- 16:14you know, three to five kids, depending on the season.
- 16:20Well, congratulations on all your accomplishments.
- 16:25You know, your path seems to be full of light and you're just progressing to the top.
- 16:32Congratulations on becoming Vice World Champion in eCycling.
- 16:36What did that race mean to you? All right, when it first came out that the World
- 16:41Championship was going to happen,
- 16:44the first couple of years it was on Zwift and I wasn't able to compete yet because
- 16:50there was always something going on.
- 16:51I wasn't, first I wasn't ready or second, I was injured at some point, I think.
- 16:58It just, I didn't get to it. I saw it, but it was like out of reach.
- 17:03And then last year it started, it switched platforms. So it is on the MyWoosh platform.
- 17:10And I was very unfamiliar with that platform. I haven't raced or ridden there much.
- 17:16So when it came out that it was going to be on MyWoosh, I thought,
- 17:20okay, I'm not sure if I want to do it, but I'm going to give it a try.
- 17:24So I'm going to start using the platform.
- 17:26I'm going to qualify myself and just start racing the Sunday race club that they have every Sunday.
- 17:33And just get into it a little bit. But I wasn't like super like determined. Oh, this is it.
- 17:39And because up until then, I was just using indoors or the virtual platforms
- 17:45for really hard training and for really hard racing.
- 17:48But I didn't like, I didn't have much more ambitions with that really.
- 17:52Because my husband saw my talent, but he wanted me to put it on the outdoor world.
- 17:57So I raced a whole season here in the US with mountain biking.
- 18:01And I got state champion on the
- 18:04mountain bike and then the other year the following
- 18:07year so last year I started on the road bike and
- 18:11needed to upgrade first but I got champion in we have a series called Tour of
- 18:16America's Dairyland and I was category two at that that year still so I won
- 18:21that was 11 days of racing and road really was also a fun experience and then
- 18:28and then I started going, okay,
- 18:30let's prepare for the winter season and I'm going to be indoors anyway,
- 18:34so why not give it a try? Why not? Yeah.
- 18:37And my UCI license is now as a Brazilian.
- 18:41I was first as a German and then I had to make a decision and I decided to go to represent Brazil.
- 18:47All Brazilians know it's like a hard thing.
- 18:50Yes. Brazil, proud Brazilian. Yeah. So yeah, I qualified through.
- 18:58I forgot the name now. Federation, sorry.
- 19:01They did a great job just, yeah, getting as a qualifying path.
- 19:07And then there was a semifinals that took place at each people's homes,
- 19:12all with verified equipment and the usual verification processes.
- 19:17We always have weigh-ins before the races.
- 19:20And then in the semifinals, I got fifth place. and the same two courses that
- 19:27were used in the semifinals were going to be used for the roads,
- 19:33plastic, and we're going to add another course.
- 19:35So I thought, oh, okay, I didn't do very bad, so let's go.
- 19:41We're flying to Abu Dhabi and, you know, yeah, I think if I go somewhere to race, I go to win.
- 19:48I don't mess around, like, oh, I'm just going to try it then.
- 19:52No, you can tell. We were so driven.
- 19:55Yeah. So, okay. And then they organized it all pretty well.
- 20:01All the athletes flew out and we arrived a couple of days earlier before the
- 20:07race. How many of you, of women, are there racing?
- 20:1120 women and 20 men are qualified from all around the world.
- 20:15I was only Brazilian. There were a couple of Germans.
- 20:19Obviously, Jason Osborne, the German champion. But on the women's side,
- 20:22we had also a couple of Germans. Pia was also in there, my friend. Cool.
- 20:27Yeah, so it was really nice to meet her. And we had a couple of days.
- 20:33And when it came to race day, did our usual, we have weigh-ins.
- 20:38The weigh-in was in the morning, which was great. And then we had some time
- 20:41to just fuel and prepare and mentally concentrate.
- 20:45The race was then in the afternoon and evening. Yeah.
- 20:49When we got on stage, there were three different races, very short races.
- 20:55The first race was more like a sprint, fastest through segment type thing.
- 21:00The second race was a points race, just one lap on a circuit that has a big climb.
- 21:05There's points on the bottom, which is really tricky if you have points on the
- 21:10bottom of a climb, and then you have points on the top of a climb,
- 21:13and then you have points on the finish line.
- 21:15And are they eliminating people as you go through these smaller races or no?
- 21:20No, no. We just accumulate many points.
- 21:23Everyone has to raise all three races. And then the third race is a circuit
- 21:26race with one very sharp climb. And there's points on the top of every time we go up that climb.
- 21:32So I'm not a pure sprinter, but I'm not a back sprinter. I've been working a lot on my sprints.
- 21:39I really, like last summer, I almost hit 1,000 watts and 900 watts.
- 21:44What yeah and i used to
- 21:47be i used to not have that at all so we worked really
- 21:50towards my sprint but you know you have to compromise certain
- 21:53areas and find a good a good middle spot
- 21:56if you want to do it all the thing with the platform was
- 21:59that i wasn't really prepared for the fastest through segments i
- 22:03couldn't really practice it and there wasn't a way
- 22:05for me to know so i just reckoned the course a
- 22:08couple times and i didn't really know about the pack
- 22:11dynamics because you can draft people the speeds and
- 22:14how can you get most speed out of it so not
- 22:18having done all of that and prepared enough I
- 22:21really screwed up the first stage it really cost
- 22:24me many many points my sprint
- 22:27power was really good I had a good sprint but
- 22:31I just didn't time it very well so I lost
- 22:34the draft the main draft I didn't get enough speed I was
- 22:37told I have to start sprinting from the middle of the pack
- 22:40but actually you you have to start a little far back
- 22:43and get the speed and carry it on and i
- 22:46didn't do that those are all the tricks that
- 22:49are different from yeah the actual road to
- 22:52e-racing okay yes oh yes yes that's a very very different it's it's just a different
- 22:57discipline we cannot compare outdoor and indoor cycling at all like it's just
- 23:02a different role yeah so anyways when we did that first sprint and my competition
- 23:07my main competition that i knew okay those are the strongest riders I have to watch out for.
- 23:11They got all the points. And I was like, I got like, I don't,
- 23:16I don't even know, like seven points out of 20, you know, and they got 20 points.
- 23:20It's like, okay, I'm already 15 points behind. How am I going to catch up?
- 23:24But I tried sprinting and, well, like I said, the numbers showed my sprint was good.
- 23:31It's just in time. Okay, what can you do? Yeah, just the strategy of the E-race.
- 23:36Yes. But I'm here now. So let's go on the fight mindset and let's go.
- 23:45I didn't do any math in my head.
- 23:48I just thought, I don't care. I'm just going to go all out.
- 23:51I'm just going to give all I have. i don't care about the points i'm just gonna
- 23:55race hard i all i was thinking at that moment was like okay let's fight it's
- 24:01war now now it's war now it's gara so gara mode.
- 24:07Yeah so in the second in the second race i
- 24:10had an amazing performance i grabbed all the points available yay
- 24:13yeah or not on the bottom of the climb i got
- 24:16some points on the bottom of the climb but then you have to
- 24:19climb really hard right away so you can't go all out on
- 24:22the bottom so then i got full points on the top and full
- 24:25points in the finish line and then you have
- 24:28always like 10 minute break in between races so
- 24:31it's you have to recover pretty quick from all out
- 24:34efforts that's rough but it tests you in
- 24:37many ways like and that was like five minute
- 24:40effort eight minute effort one minute effort then
- 24:43for the last race I saw that I
- 24:46like bumped up way up to like I think I was already second place I don't I don't
- 24:54remember what place I was overall and then I saw okay there is hope if I can
- 24:58really get all the points here and on the top of that climb it's going to be tough but I can try.
- 25:05And I can do. So you don't try, you do.
- 25:08So we went for it and it went pretty good. I didn't get full points all the time.
- 25:13But also not only one person got all the points. It was kind of distributed.
- 25:19People took points from other people. So we had three chances to do so.
- 25:24And the fourth time was then the finish line.
- 25:27So we went over that climb three times.
- 25:30And right before the last time, before the finish line,
- 25:33I was two points away from being a
- 25:36world champion so if I would have
- 25:39yeah if I would have won the
- 25:41finish line I would have been world champion and just
- 25:45happened that my competition had that little extra kick at the very end there
- 25:53was nothing I could do about it all I saw was all the media gathering next to
- 25:57me and preparing like okay this might be your next world champion it's just
- 26:01heartbreaking that I really,
- 26:03I just had to burn all the matches to catch up so many points that that little.
- 26:10Kick wasn't there anymore.
- 26:12I mean, I still got second overall also in the race, but it was like just the
- 26:17points difference then didn't make up for it anymore.
- 26:20So it was, yeah, it was a very emotional experience.
- 26:25I was heartbroken, also happy at the same time because the silver medal at the
- 26:29World Championship is really, really amazing result.
- 26:33Yeah. But that being so close, I know it's, yeah.
- 26:37It's, I honor every single athlete that was there. But, uh,
- 26:42I'm also that competitive that if I compare power numbers, I know that I was
- 26:47the strongest rider in the day.
- 26:49I don't know if I can say that without any proud, but it's just reality.
- 26:54There is an analysis made by Zach Neer, and he published it on the Cycling News,
- 26:59and it was just obvious. But that's not all.
- 27:03Power is not everything. Tactics is big, and also knowing the game.
- 27:09In this case, in this cycling discipline, you have
- 27:12to know the game you have to practice that
- 27:15like in other cycling disciplines you have to practice certain
- 27:18things like mountain bike you have to practice the rock gardens the technical
- 27:21stuff so do you have to do that on the virtual world so that's just part of
- 27:26it yeah well congratulations i know it must feel bittersweet because you worked
- 27:35so hard for the first place.
- 27:38And you saw the numbers and you are the strongest.
- 27:42But like I said, if you don't know the game 100%, you might miss a couple of
- 27:46points and that's exactly what you missed, a couple of points short for the first place.
- 27:50But second place, it's not an easy task, not an easy feat.
- 27:57Really, congratulations. I know myself and all Brazilians are so proud.
- 28:01And now that you feel that you know the game better and the tactics better,
- 28:07are you going to continue to push for a 2025 title?
- 28:11Yes, I do want to continue seeking that title.
- 28:15And since the world championship, my life really has changed a lot because I
- 28:21decided to focus full-time in being an athlete and specifically in cycling esports athlete.
- 28:28So I started just racing every weekend.
- 28:32Every Sunday, my wish has a race called Sunday Race Club and they put it up
- 28:38for different categories and they offer really, really good prize money,
- 28:41very attractive prize money so that you can actually make a living out of it if you do well.
- 28:47That's really good. Yeah. But there are other platforms out there.
- 28:50Do you think other platforms also start their own championships?
- 28:54Because it was Zwift and then now it's my wish. But do you think like Roovy or Zwift would do it?
- 28:59Because you could maybe compete in different platforms? Or am I saying something stupid?
- 29:04No, I like the idea of being multi-platform and competing.
- 29:08Zwift has different series they put over the winter. sorry
- 29:12they put on the swift games and the
- 29:15swift world series it's called they're not
- 29:18uci affiliated but they are very high-end
- 29:21series that offer also very good prize money that's what
- 29:24attracts the high-end athletes because it's
- 29:27it is a full-time job if you want to race at that level it
- 29:30just is in and people that have also other jobs a huge respect because it's
- 29:37it's a lot of work to be able to to be at that level so yes i like racing both
- 29:42platforms my wish and swift i don't know about any other platforms it would
- 29:47really depend on how attractive they make it so.
- 29:50Probably would have to be prize money involved so that you're trying yeah of
- 29:54course if my wish is giving significant prize monies why would you put your
- 30:00efforts and burn your matches in other platforms if you're not making a living
- 30:05out of it especially that it is your full-time job Exactly.
- 30:10So yeah, since Worlds, I just fully embraced being an athlete,
- 30:14racing every Sunday since then.
- 30:16I didn't skip a race, I don't think.
- 30:19And I will only skip if I really need to, because I have also other ambitions
- 30:24like I do want to race a little bit on the road. This weekend,
- 30:28I was racing on the road, but I took my setup with me.
- 30:31I was traveling and still did the Sunday race indoors too.
- 30:36So in this year, a big goal is to pursue the national title of road racing in Brazil.
- 30:43So in July, I'm going to fly to Brazil and I'm going to race on the road.
- 30:48And try to pursue that title i i really do want
- 30:51to do it it's again it's a different discipline but
- 30:54i'm a full-time athlete so i think i can also handle two
- 30:57disciplines that works i unfortunately not
- 31:01more than two like the virtual cycling and the road goes
- 31:04really well together i would love to keep going with mountain biking
- 31:07but that would just be its own thing you
- 31:10need very specific training it's very risky yeah
- 31:14very risky and i think i ruled and indoor are
- 31:17very complementary where mountain bike you really need
- 31:20the skills outdoors just like gravel yeah
- 31:24you need to be out there really feeling terrain your
- 31:27whole body takes a bit in yeah yeah i do
- 31:31really want to try gravel though i really
- 31:34have that in my like in my heart i was
- 31:36like i i love the off-roads and i
- 31:39love just like just long like climbs and
- 31:43off-road and not not much technical so some
- 31:47someday at this at a certain point i i definitely
- 31:50want to try gravel it's in your near future get get the title get those titles
- 31:55you have a lot of homework to doing 2025 and you know race race is race like
- 32:02it can't it can't it's not easy to win races it can't happen so much like this weekend i was.
- 32:08To win a race at the last lap i had a mechanical so it's
- 32:12just part of it and virtual racing the same
- 32:14thing like you can have an internet drop all the connection failure or whatever
- 32:18it then it can screw you up so it's like yeah those are the main goals and the
- 32:24main ambitions but this is not like the end of the world if i can't if i didn't
- 32:28get it like if i missed that my the goal is to work towards it,
- 32:34work with integrity, work with everything I have and everything I can.
- 32:39And I think that is aiming for the good and for the right thing.
- 32:44Very well said. Very well said. But it's good to have those goals to work towards
- 32:49with all that you said. Yeah.
- 32:51Well, I'm very excited to cheer you on and see you grabbing those titles.
- 32:58I was going to ask if you ever meet your
- 33:01online competitors in real life and go for a
- 33:04spin but now I already know you married one
- 33:07of your I mean maybe not competitor but one of
- 33:09your fellow riders but does it
- 33:12happen that you can go on maybe on a real life spin with one of your competitors
- 33:16from e-cycling well most people that I race with virtually they don't live nearby
- 33:23but we do have actually a friend he's called Hayden Packer. He's known as Farm Watts.
- 33:30He lives just like one hour car drive north from us.
- 33:34So sometimes they came to visit actually after Sunday Race Club and had lunch with us.
- 33:39There's also a weekly ride here around the area where sometimes he shows up.
- 33:45There's other people that are from that community that have something to do with virtual cycling.
- 33:51But for the girls, most girls I know, they live overseas.
- 33:55And then the only time we got to ride together was in Abu Dhabi. So that was really cool.
- 34:00That was just an amazing experience to meet everyone in real life, let's say.
- 34:05Because you feel like you've known them for so long and then all of a sudden they're like real.
- 34:10So that was really cool. We did a little ride there.
- 34:14Yeah. I mean, it has happened very seldomly to me, but sometimes when I'm just
- 34:20training, I see the name of someone that I know that is also training at the
- 34:25same time at the same course. It's so cool.
- 34:27Yeah, yeah, it's fun. So we talked about Brazil national road title.
- 34:35E-cycling world title, anything else?
- 34:39What's next? So, yeah, for this year,
- 34:42I'm focusing on those two things mainly because I was in touch with the Brazilian
- 34:47Federation and they have one spot only for the World Championships in Rwanda this year in Africa.
- 34:57And they also have only one spot for the 2028 Olympics.
- 35:01They obviously with one spot want to send the best rider they can send.
- 35:05So the deal was okay
- 35:08if i can prove myself to be the best available
- 35:11rider that would be an opportunity for me
- 35:14and like yes why wouldn't
- 35:17i want to go compete at the world stage against
- 35:21the best of the world it's like a huge opportunity yeah
- 35:24and also olympics but that's like
- 35:27still like a little bit far away idea because i really
- 35:30want to make sure that really the best most fitted
- 35:34rider goes there to represent brazil and i
- 35:38believe i am talented but i want to see where the other girls are at and that's
- 35:43why we decide okay just come race that if i could join other races i would but
- 35:49they already happened and i i couldn't make it in time so it's just more like
- 35:54a common show yourself thing and then and then we'll see from there.
- 35:59Other than that, I'm really busy enough with the Sunday racing and it's always, it's a lot.
- 36:05Even talking now to you, like I said in the previous pre-show,
- 36:09I'm sitting on the couch with my recovery boots on.
- 36:12No time to waste. We have a big recovery ride to do today with my husband.
- 36:16We're going to go out for a couple hours today to shake the legs out from the hard weekend.
- 36:21So it keeps going and my wish keeps us busy with the racing.
- 36:25So it's cool to have that for sure. Yeah, you have a lot going on and a lot of good things.
- 36:31So 2025 is looking really, really exciting and the future even brighter.
- 36:37Are there any bucket list races or event that you would like to participate?
- 36:42I think that the world championships on the road is a big one.
- 36:49I saw the course and apparently it's one of the hardest courses that there has
- 36:55ever been because it's a very sharp climb up and down 11 times on a circuit.
- 37:03And that type of racing really suits me. It's a warm place in Rwanda,
- 37:08so I really do well when it's warm.
- 37:11Out body adapts pretty good to
- 37:14heat and i would just love to do it
- 37:17so i've been to rwanda i hope you go there you'll love it it's beautiful beautiful
- 37:22country and the climbs are steep i mean that country is not i don't think there's
- 37:28one flat part well you're either climbing or descending yeah yeah cool that's awesome good to know.
- 37:37So I feel your energy and you're such a go-getter and you're so determined.
- 37:42What, if you would define your mindset in one word, what would it be?
- 37:48That's a hard one, but I was talking to my husband and he was like, you're methodical.
- 37:53You're very methodical. I mean, I grew up learning music instruments and having
- 37:59all, like, if I have something, even if I wouldn't have any other talents,
- 38:03my talent is discipline.
- 38:06So and with plus with the german culture mixed
- 38:09in it makes me really methodical so if i have a
- 38:12plan if i have a goal i'm like this this this like
- 38:15this execute and do it it can be
- 38:18good it can be bad sometimes because racing needs a little bit
- 38:21more flexibility and like it's more chaotic and you
- 38:24have to be able to adapt to all kinds of chaos
- 38:27things yeah when i just donate you yeah but
- 38:31uh being methodical i think it's like it's it's
- 38:35a big one i mean i can see that but
- 38:38yeah very i can see that cool well i am so happy i got to know you a little
- 38:47bit more and let's keep in touch i wish you a wonderful recovery and a wonderful season,
- 38:56Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me.
- 38:59And that's all for today's episode. I want to thank the listeners for tuning in.
- 39:04Your support means everything. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider
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- 39:11Music.