Short term focus: World's. Long term focus: Rio. Living at the OTC in Papendal. By BdJ

Jun 26, 2014

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 3492 times

Being a professional BMX rider can have different meanings. Some go to school and ride pro class in the weekends. Some go to work and sign up for the pro race to win some money. But some of them are actually professional, meaning they don't do anything but train and ride their bikes. Ever since BMX was put on the Olympic program in 2008 at the Beijing games funds became available for BMX racers to actually be a pro rider. Programs had to be set up, but once a sport becomes Olympic, money is there to make things happen. And the better the riders score at the Games, the more will be spend on the sport.

Laura Smulders' bronze BMX medal at the London Games together with the good results of the men in England set a basis for the next four years. We got to take a look at the Olympic Training Facility in Papendal and got an idea of what it's like being a pro racer.

2-times Olympian Raymon van der Biezen and Martijn Jaspers

took some time to show FATBMX around. We started off with the breakfast/lunch room. Nothing but quality food was found and that's where the riders kick off their day. The personal pass keeps track of what they eat. It also shows the price they'll have to pay for the food, coffee, juices, cereal, bananas or whatever they fancy that day. The riders eat together with other Olympic athletes who happen to be training in Papendal that day.

I noticed how clean everything was. Part of it is because the facility is rather new. When entering the weight room the first thing I noticed is how much space there was. Then I was missing the machines as we have in our fitness center. Training at the OTC gets very specific. Working with schedules, repetitions, weights, it all has to make sense. It needs to make the rider stronger.

After hall one, I was shown weight room number two. May I bring to your attention that the racks were all painted in orange for national motivation. The ice baths in the room next to it aren't something the riders fancy, but if they want to chill, they're right there. Next to the weight rooms the facility has a room for the volleyball team, a boxing area, and a new indoor athletic sprint section. It was an impressive building to say the least.

Next stop was the housing area. It felt more like a dorm. The security guard had to stop by to keep the BMX-ers in check. About 10 riders have a room each at the facility. They live in Papendal and get to train every day. The SX track is right there so whenever it's time to get on the bikes, they only have to pedal 2 minutes to get to the starting hill. It's pretty incredible to see that BMX has come this far. The talented riders are given the opportunity to be focusing on BMX 100%. Without the Olympics this would have never happened.