I’ve always been active as a kid. I first got on a bike when I was 2 years old and immediately didn’t need stabilizers. My sister was annoyed because she was 18 months older than me, but on stabilizers. I just got on and rode off easily without needing any. I think my parents knew then that I would love riding my bike.
My Dad would video both my sister and I having fun on our bikes, and while he was recording me, she fell into a stinging nettle bush haha. I’m pretty sure she did it to get attention, and when we watch the videos back we still laugh when we see it.
We went on a family holiday to Scotland where we hired some mountain bikes. My Dad enjoys cycling as a hobby and he was impressed by my balance on the bike and the natural ability I showed on the trails. I come from a flat county so he was impressed by how good I was at reading the terrain and handling my bike in the mountains even though it was my first time.
I absolutely loved the riding on this holiday, so when we got back home I put all my savings into buying the exact same bike I had rented in Scotland – a Specialized hotrock. A super machine in my 8-year-old eyes.
Early on a Sunday morning my Dad would be woken by me lifting one of his eyelids up and whispering, “we go for bike ride.” He would wake up all woozy and then we would get ready to go! I loved riding round and going on great adventures with my Dad, no matter how big or small, from riding in the local woods and holding a grass snake, to going to Wales for a few days mountain biking holiday which was just another level of excitement for a young enthusiastic kid.
I first started racing in small local road races despite being on my mountain bike. Then regionally in Norfolk and was winning these races, then I decided to go up another level and give the Nationals a shot. My progress was on an upward spiral, I started training and was soon podiuming and winning by the end of my first year at the National level. I was selected onto the Great Britain Cycling Team, and was honoured to be wearing the red, white and blue GB colours and representing my country at on an International stage.
I came third in my first ever World Cup and I knew then that I could be a world class athlete. A few races after that I became European MTB Junior Champion. Yes, this is something I DEFINITELY want to pursue!!
My progression went so quickly, but obviously this constant upward spiral can’t continue forever, and there was bound to be an obstacle in my way soon.
In late 2015, my heart rate would spike up to 250bpm within the space of 20 seconds. This wasn’t even when I was doing a hard effort. My heartrate would be around 120 on the bike and it would just suddenly spike, then drop back to normal all within the space of a couple of minutes.
I had two years of multiple consultations and hospital visits to figure out what was going on. I’d still carried on riding and racing through this time. I would go out training on my own which was obviously a big worry for my parents but I’d just be like ‘oh my heart thing is happening again’ and I’d stop riding, then after 30ish seconds it would go back down to normal and I’d carry on.
I competed in the European road race champs in 2016 and my heartrate averaged 222bpm for over 20 minutes. It spiked to 254bpm at one time during the race, but I kept racing, taking deep breaths and trying to get it to go down which it eventually did after 22minutes. Looking back it was pretty stupid to keep going but that’s my character and I’m glad I did because I ended up coming home with a bronze medal!
It maybe wasn’t the wisest thing carrying on riding during this time because you hear now about footballers just collapsing on the pitch with this condition. But I’d been riding with it for over a year before it was taken more seriously by the doctors, which made me think it wasn’t a really serious problem, and the abnormal HR spike would happen when I was riding steady, it didn’t happen when I was really pushing myself.
Again looking back, the heart and body can sometimes be unpredictable and my heart rate was actually close to that rate of someone having a heart attack, so I feel I got away quite lightly by carrying on.
After numerous visits to hospitals and consultants we finally got the diagnosis that I had supraventricular tachycardia-abnormal heartrate arrhythmia and I would have heart surgery in 2017.
The surgery was under local anaesthetic, so I was awake for most of it. I turned to my left and I looked at a computer and I could see the wires going up my veins! It was super weird but interesting.
Unfortunately after 5 hours of surgery, things didn’t go according to the plan. The place in the heart that was causing the issue was in a more complex part to where the surgeons thought it would be. It was within millimetres of the junction box which is the main area of the heart. They had a tiny margin for error – millimetres – and if they got it wrong, I would end up with a pacemaker which would mean the end of my cycling career.
It was a three-month wait to the next operation. It’s keyhole surgery from my groin so the three months was to give the groin some time to heal.
Thankfully the second operation was a success.
My parents and I just started crying with relief and happiness. We were so relieved that this issue that had be occurring for two years had finally been solved. I was so thankful to the surgeons and I send them a Christmas card every year to thank them for fixing my heart.
This experience puts my cycling career into perspective. I’m doing what I love. I’m living the dream. I’ve wanted to do this from such a young age and all the commitment and dedication is paying off. Going through something like that makes you realise the simple things in life are free. It’s so easy to take your health for granted and it makes me really appreciate it.
Tags: bigla, sophie wright, women's cycling Last modified: Jan 19, 2020
