Life

The Best You Can Be Chasing The Dream

May 19, 2018

Roger Harrison



Saudi Gazette

Lydia Gurley is a petite young woman whom you might overlook in a crowded room. That’s the way she likes it. Quietly spoken with a lilting Irish brogue and a sniper’s gaze when looking at people, even on a first meeting it is apparent that she is a rather special person and easy for casual observers to underestimate.

Put Lydia on a racing cycle however, and she will reveal how special, by leaving most people in her wake. (I’m not really a sprinter so not really sure about this statement). Even dedicated amateur cyclists would have a problem covering 130km in the morning on the open road and over 1000-meter mountains. “I like long hills,” she confides. Fewer still would have a lunch break and then spend hours weight training.

“A big part of competitive cycling, like many areas of life, is about the mindset,” she says. “If you are determined enough and work at it, you can achieve in time what you would see as impossible now.”

She knows whereof she speaks. Lydia took up track cycling at the age of 30 and has a clutch of medals and the achievement of representing her country, Ireland, in international competitions behind her.

Lydia’s started cycling career, not competitive at that stage, when she was 26. While living in Canada, she began participating in triathlons.

“I enjoyed the cycling element more than the running and swimming, so I moved into cycling and track racing.”

On the track, the distances she specializes in are between 10 and 30 km, rather than the grueling 180 km of the triathlon. She says, “The main difference between the two sports is the level of pain. Track racing is very intense and hurts more, but it’s over a shorter period of time.”

She never looked back and now rides professionally for the Irish national team.

Before becoming a full time funded cyclist, Lydia had to fit her training around her chemistry PhD studies. For the time being they are on hold.

In her early teens, Lydia visited Saudi Arabia several times, visiting her family who worked in Jubail. “I was intrigued by the culture and how close to its raw source environment the society was.

“Only a few kilometers outside urban area, you’re back in the wild,” she reflected. She thought that it needed a special mind-set to be able to handle that kind of harsh source environment. “It would take a tough and determined person to live in those conditions. I sometimes wonder if that characteristic could be applied to the sport of cycling. It looks easy, but that’s deceptive.”

Fast-forward a couple of decades and Saudi Arabia has moved on. Early April 2018 saw the Kingdom’s first ever women’s cycle race. Some 47 participants took part in the first ever cycle race for women, organized by Nadima Abu al-Enein, in the Kingdom. It seems women have taken up the challenges that are part of cycling and are testing the waters.

In this landmark event, the determination to succeed was evident in the fact that it happened at all. The 10-km race backed by the General Authority for Sports coincided with the International Day for Health. Cycling however is much more than a healthy way of increasing fitness.

Lydia Gurley is a fully-fledged international racing cyclist, competing at international events for the Irish international team. As with the women who took part in the fledgling race in Jeddah, Gurley settled on cycling initially because she liked the sport. That choice led to far greater things.

Although a deeply thoughtful woman, Lydia is hard pushed to explain why she devotes so much time and effort to cycling. “It’s a simple question with a complex answer,” she says. “Sure, winning medals and representing your country on the world stage is tremendously rewarding; that’s only part of it.”

A punishing training schedule of six days a week involving hundreds of kilometers of roadwork and very tough sessions in a velodrome chasing a motorcycle demands a toughness of mind and determination very few people can muster.

“I think at the core of it, it’s about being the best I can be. How far can I push myself, what my limit is. I’ll never know until I try. By some strange twist of fate I have found myself in this position and I intend to make the best of it”

As part of a team, Lydia works closely with colleagues and follows a strict team discipline. “It’s a valuable experience working with people, whatever your personal thoughts,” she reflects. “Getting the team to gel and winning events is part of the mix. There are valuable lessons in not winning as well.” (Most of my events are individual events so I’m more comfortable with the statement below)

As part of a team, Lydia works closely with colleagues, coaches and teammates. “It’s a valuable experience working with people, especially in high pressure and stressful situations” she reflects. “On the day trying to get everything right, having the legs and executing a race strategy, that is all part of it. There are valuable lessons in not winning as well.”

Lydia takes a very existential view of not winning. “If the team or I don’t win, it’s because someone else was better on the day. That’s the hard fact; it’s up to the person how they handle that.” It is about what you do when you are down that defines what you will achieve in the future. You can chose to feel sorry for yourself and quit or refocus and rededicate yourself to the task that is always a choice.

It’s a tough philosophy. “True. But the lessons and training in life skills is valuable and is a transferable skill. I believe that one can take the lessons I learn every day into other areas of life, the corporate world for example. Simply it’s this. Nothing comes without work, dedication to the task, handling disappointment and a touch of good luck.”

Lydia is a specialist track cyclist. “Road racing and training gives you the endurance which, despite the shorter nature of track bunch races, is really important. I prefer track racing because usually if you mess up of one race there is often another race the same day to try again. In road racing if you miss a break, or are poorly positioned at the finish, it’s game over and a long day in the saddle can feel wasted.”

On the track, the Madison her favored option. This 20 to 30-kilometre race involves two cyclists from each team, often with her teammate Lydia Boylan, racing one at a time round a short indoor circuit. At any one time there may be up to 18 teams, on the track. They swap several times during the race, dividing the work 50/50, the ultimate team event.

It is a thrilling event to watch. The subtleties of race planning, strategy and on circuit tactics fascinate Lydia.

“Split seconds, the position of the cycle to within centimeters relative to your competition and the opposition’s tactics are all part of the race. Focus on those elements overcomes the pain.” She stoically accepts pain as part of the job. “It’s worse on the track than the road, but it doesn’t last as long!”

Just two years after taking up track cycling, Lydia won a World Cup medal in track cycling. Modest about her achievements, she thinks that she has more to give.

Under her belt already Lydia has an impressive list of achievements, even more impressive as a very “new girl on the block”! The include Irish Road Race, 2nd, June 2015, Irish Time Trial, 3rd, June 2016, Cali World Cup February 2017, 3rd Scratch race and European Championship, Berlin, October 2017, 2nd in Madison with Lydia Boylan.

“When it comes down to it, after all the incredible support and backup I get from my coach and the team, I am the one responsible for what happens during a race. I don’t know if I have reached that “best I can be” level yet. The journey of discovery goes on!”

As for the Jeddah race, perhaps the mental toughness that is an essential part of cycling at competitive levels that Lydia saw twenty years ago has been revealed in the young women who took to the saddle. Apart from the obvious physical benefits of sport, the team and personal skills developed in the saddle could make an invaluable contribution to other areas of society in the long term.

And it’s all about young people discovering a way of being the best they can be. And the Women’s Madison event has for the first time been included in the 2020 Olympics.

Now, there’s a challenge!


May 19, 2018
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