Christian Meier rode as a domestique in all three Grand Tours - but locked down and retired, he found a new sporting obsession.
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The role of a domestique is to ride in service of others: to deliver the stars to the finish line in the best condition and position to sparkle. "When I'm in my zone and out there doing my thing, in that context, suffering is actually not a good thing. I shouldn't be suffering; I should be in control.
It all sounds very familiar, but there's one crucial difference: Meier is not leading out a cycling peloton. Rather, it is a group of trail runners, heading up into the Girona hills. The brew is delicious. It illustrates a part of Meier's character that has been integral to his burgeoning new career in trail running.
"l felt like I was no longer growing. At the same time, with coffee, everything was so new and so young and there was huge scope for me to grow and move forward." "When I started running, most of my life had been doing endurance sport. The cardio side of things is very transferable," he says. "But from a muscular standpoint, it was terrible. I had so many injuries early on. I took a long time to adapt.He also struggled to cope when the trails weren't following an upward incline.
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