It was the best impromptu decision I ever made! Back in the summer of 2020, I met Jeremy, who owns Bikulture in Madeira, at Bikepark Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis through a friend we both knew. He couldn’t stop talking about how amazing Madeira is and urged me to come visit him.
Fast forward three years, and everything fell into place just right. I had this idea of maybe organizing a camp in Madeira someday, so I went ahead and booked my flight. Then, Rosa, one of the athletes I coach, came to spend a week with me, and together we explored the trails. Jeremy even signed us up for the Avalanche Rasposeira Race, a big race with a mass start! Unfortunately, Rosa got sick and couldn’t join the race. After talking it over with her mom, she stayed home, and I decided to go to the race by myself. It was my first time in a mass start race, but everything was well organized. My goal was simply to finish without getting hurt. Even though I hadn’t trained enough and started in a group of five during the qualifying round, I found myself in the tenth row at the start line among 250 other racers during the actual race. I ended up getting second place in the women’s category and 93rd place overall. It was so much fun, and I genuinely recommend this race to everyone!
