At 35 years of age, Nathan Byukusenge will be the first Rwandan ever to compete in the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. On September 5th he will take the start in Vallnord, Andorra, confident that he can do his country proud and motivated by the thought of Rio 2016.
Years of pounding out six-hour training rides in the hills of Rwanda have armed Byukusenge with tremendous endurance, which no doubt helped him earn 6th place in the African Continental MTB Championships in May. Team Rwanda coach Sterling Magnell immediately reacted:
“It was then that we knew he was our guy and our focus shifted towards laying the groundwork to set him up for the ride of his life in Rio.”
Byukusenge is one of the original members of Team Rwanda, which he joined in 2007. He lives with his wife and son about 130km away from the team’s base, the African Rising Cycling Centre, which is located at 2000m altitude in the northern Musanze district. During team training camps he lives at the centre from Monday to Friday. Although a road cyclist, he rides a mountain bike whenever he has the opportunity and has participated three times in South Africa’s legendary mountain bike stage race, the Cape Epic, and twice in the Swiss Epic.
“He has incredible stamina and endurance,” says his coach. “Although he has just turned 35, he is still progressing because he has never had such intensive training. He is also getting better technically.”
For the athlete in question, confidence is building as the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships approach: “I have a good training programme and I am adding in strength training to help me, especially with my starts. I am very excited and thankful for the opportunity to see the competition I will face next year.”
Byukusenge’s selection for Rio will not be confirmed until Spring 2016, but in the meantime the athlete is putting all the chances on his side. Participation in the 2015 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships is an important step, and although he will start far too back on the starting grid to realistically hope for a top result, he aims to weave his way through the field and secure a place where he can finish the race.
“His goal is to make up as much ground as possible and glean some knowledge for his campaign going forward,” explains Magnell.
“Above all he relishes the chance to race on the world stage. The man loves to ride his bike. He’s going to have fun.”
The lightweight (55kg) athlete still needs to work on his power and acceleration which are so necessary in the short intense effort of cross-country racing and Magnell has had Byukusenge doing core and strength sessions as well as short intense interval training to mimic XCO racing.
“I am not a young man in the sport but to make the Olympics at 35 shows that if you train and eat right, you can ride competitively for a long time,” says Byukusenge.
He considers Swiss rider Thomas Frischknecht to be a role model. The former UCI World Champion is also known as Europe’s “older Statesman” due to his long career at top level. “He is still very strong and a great mountain bike cyclist. Because I am older, I see I can have a future in the sport like Thomas. I rode his old World Cup bike at the Cape Epic in 2012!” he adds.
Maybe some people in the world of mountain bike have not heard of Nathan Byukusenge, but his #GoNathan hashtag is promoting his presence in Vallnord. And his coach has a warning:
“Nathan is a seasoned professional. He knows his body and how to pull the most out of his bag of tricks when he needs to."
“He’s eager and tremendously motivated. You can see his passion for the dirt and I think a lot of people will be surprised at how much ground he might cover while focusing on his Olympic bid over the next year.”
The dream of Rio is a particularly important one for the Rwandan athlete: “People still think about genocide when you say Rwanda,” he explains. “I want them to think cycling and what cycling means to our country and how it is changing our country and people within Team Rwanda.”