Fortunately, it wasn’t too big of an accident, but it’s far from ideal when you’re preparing for some important races: Pieter Heemeryck got hit by a car during a ride. There isn’t much damage to himself nor his bike, though: “The bike is OK, the rider is 98 percent OK and the German police is very helpful”, Heemeryck said, while thanking his former judo coach for his great ‘fall technique’.
Heemeryck had to deal with quite some disappointments during the past couple of years as an athlete. He often DNF-ed or couldn’t join the battle in front. That while he used to battle for podium and not rarely he would even end up on the highest podium stage of a Middle Distance race. Recently, Heemeryck decided to return to his former coach, and that seems to have been a good decision. Last week, Heemeryck finished in 9th place – six minutes behind the winner, Gustav Iden – at Challenge Family The Championship in Samorin. “First decent result on a half distance race since a very long time”, he said afterwards.
In the upcoming weeks, Heemeryck prepares for two big events: Challenge Geraardsbergen (Jun. 12) and – his main goal – Ironman Frankfurt (Jun. 26). During the latter race, Heemeryck hopes to earn a slot for Kona. However, before he takes his bike out for a long endurance ride again, he spends some days riding in the virtual world of Zwift in order to get over his crash.
