Vera Koedooder interview.

BikePure caught up with role model Vera Koedooder, the Dutch World Champion cyclist, who is one of the few athletes who are successful on the track and the road. The 27 year old superstar from Bovenkarspel, is riding for Specialized-DPD in 2011.

http://bikepure.org/riders-and-teams/pro-riders/vera-koedooder/

1, How did you get involved in cycling?

In the first part, I was cheering for my dad Jos sr. and 14 year older brother Jos jr. in bike races when I was a little child. Then I started with running / athletics, that was also the sport of my whole family (parents, 2 older brothers and 1 older sister). During and after that, my passion became (ice)speed skating. But in the meanwhile I also did about 4 ‘dikke banden races’ (bike races for kids on the normal bike), and I all won them with a big lead. As usual, I did cycling, roller-skating and running in the summer for training. Pretty soon I recognized that my run and bike skills in the summer were better then my technique skills on the ice. I did some bike races with a friend from the speed skate selection, which went good. When I was about 15 I made the choice to switch from speed skating to the bike. 1,5 years later I was Junior Track World Champion (Points race) on the track.

2, You seem to race all year round, don’t you get tired!? 

Ha-ha, yes it’s pretty hard. And it needs a good plan between rest and races, all year round.

I like both road and track too much to make a choice, and until now, I like the combination from both disciplines. I will try to go to the Olympic Games 2012 on the Track (Team Pursuit), so I need a lot of track training for that of course, but also power and condition from road -training and races.

I have had a 3-weeks rest period after my road season in September/October. During that period I flew to Rhodos for an 11-days holiday with my boyfriend.

The combination makes me taking some shorts rest periods trough the year from about one week.

3, To date what you regard as your greatest success?

Pff, that’s hard to say! When I can call a few victories, I will choose my 2 World titles at the Junior Track World Championships in 2000 and 2001 (Points race & Pursuit).

Then my World Cup Track win on the Scratch in November 2006 is a special one, because it was exactly one year after a big operation (I had a blocked vain artery in 2004-2005 which kept me away from the top-results). Another Track World Cup Scratch win (in Beijing 2010) was also great.

4, Did you parents influence you about getting involved with cycling? 

Yes, see also my answer in the first question. They did at least a bit. My dad also raced for a couple of years when he was young, and after a break he started cycling again when he was 37, just before I was born. So as a little kid I saw cycling on television, in real, and dad and brother talked about it at home. My mother was a recreational rider for many years until a few years ago, and my brother raced also when he was young (14-22 years old), but was not really talented.

5,What do you want for Christmas?

Some nice and loving days together with my boyfriend and family. Just after Christmas I want to have some medals on the National Track championships :-)

6, Why do you not dope? 

Because it’s very unhealthy and unfair! I will live a long and healthy life, with no bad conscience. Plus I don’t need it, because I can arrange a lot of podium places without dope!

7, Who would you invite to your dinner party?

My boyfriend, family, some good friends and maybe some interesting famous people, but I have to think really good about that last part because there are a lot of inspiring and interesting people where you can learn from ;-)

8, Interval training: turbo trainer or open road?

Actually all three of them . But in this case I will select Open Road .

9, How do you relax?

Watching television on the couch, going for a coffee with friends, reading, or playing at the Wii.

10, What do you wish for the 2011 season?

A healthy track/road season, with nice, big victories. And most of all, participate at the Track World Championships in Apeldoorn.

11, What would you have done if were not for a career in professional cycling?

Don’t have any idea. Could have been a lot I think! Probably some more study…

Maybe I was still a runner or became a duathlete, or doing another sport where you have to be long and powerful .

When not doing another sport professional, I also could have been a mother already.

Follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/Vera_Koedooder

Check out the champion’s website:  http://verakoedooder.nl/