24 Hours with No Borders - A different off season with Julian Siemons

Charlotte Weiland
2023-12-23T23:00:00+01:00

Julian Siemons from the No Borders Gravel Team is a) Belgian and b) a bike racer.

These two characteristics usually translate into a specific kind of off-season.

Because as soon as the gravel season ends, Julian transitions to even skinnier tires to race cyclocross.

Plus

Julian Siemons from the No Borders Gravel Team is a) Belgian and b) a bike racer.

These two characteristics usually translate into a specific kind of off-season.

Because as soon as the gravel season ends, Julian transitions to even skinnier tires to race cyclocross.

But for the youngest member of the team, the end of 2023 has not gone to plan. Now his winter looks different for another reason: on 21st October, Julian crashed heavily in a cyclocross race in Heerderstrand, the Netherlands, eventually finishing fifth but with C2 and C3 spinal fractures.

We caught up with Julian at home in Belgium during the build-up to the festive period to find out how his off-season has been going.

How has your winter been going so far?
In September I had a great start of the cyclocross season. With two wins and several top 10 places in UCI cross races, I was looking forward to the rest of the season. But then at the end of October, I crashed.

At that moment, I looked ahead and thought I could make my comeback at the nationals in January. But the surgeon said that was too optimistic. In the end, I spent three days in hospital. November was a month filled with boring days and lots of recovery. After a second scan in December, I was able to start riding on the rollers. That really boosted my motivation! These days I am now doing small indoor sessions, but need to make sure I sit up straight. Nevertheless, I am quite happy to see some progression.

Let’s imagine a winter without my crash: I would be riding a full cyclocross season. With the Christmas period approaching, my calendar would have been fairly busy. It’s possible to race four or even five times a week. But knowing that the National Championships in January are around the corner, I’d try to keep it moderate and not race everything. After the Nationals, the season will be close to the end. I’d have four races left in February before my usual off-season as winter turns to spring.

cyclocross season, which starts in September 2024!

When would you normally have an off-season?

I always take three weeks rest and use that time to focus on work and planning for the next road/gravel season.

Back to your injury, how has the recovery process been and how has that affected your riding?

The injury kept me off the bike for eight weeks. That’s a lot, but during those days I tried to do some body exercises with Blood Flow restriction. This is a device that restricts your blood flow and causes you to go into lactation faster. In this way I kept my muscle mass a bit.

From the 11th December, I started training on the rollers again. I have to keep my upper body straight to avoid strain on my neck. I started doing 15 minutes and after one week I pushed it up to 50 minutes.

When would you normally have an off-season?

Let’s imagine a winter without my crash: I would be riding a full cyclocross season. With the Christmas period approaching, my calendar would have been fairly busy. It’s possible to race four or even five times a week. But knowing that the National Championships in January are around the corner, I’d try to keep it moderate and not race everything. After the Nationals, the season will be close to the end. I’d have four races left in February before my usual off-season as winter turns to spring.

I always take three weeks rest and use that time to focus on work and planning for the next road/gravel season.

Back to your injury, how has the recovery process been and how has that affected your riding?

The injury kept me off the bike for eight weeks. That’s a lot, but during those days I tried to do some body exercises with Blood Flow restriction. This is a device that restricts your blood flow and causes you to go into lactic faster. In this way I kept my muscle mass a bit.

From the 11th December, I started training on the rollers again. I have to keep my upper body straight to avoid strain on my neck. I started doing 15 minutes and after one week I pushed it up to 50 minutes.

How is the rest of your winter and recovery looking?

This winter is going to be mostly rebuilding towards next season. Lots of hours on the indoor trainer and starting my rehab. Currently, I still have to wear a brace until mid-January and then I have a new scan scheduled. Fingers crossed I’ll be allowed to train outside again and then if everything goes well I plan to go to Spain for a big block of training. A broken neck vertebra apparently takes a long time to recover, but I am on the right track and hope to be back outside cycling as soon as possible.

What are your plans for 2024, what races are you targeting etc?

I hope 2024 will be a great comeback year! After a good training camp, I will kick off the racing season on the 28th April in Gravel Fondo Limburg. After that our National Champs Gravel is next up on 1st May. One day later I fly to Girona for the TRAKA 200, where I’ll meet the race of the No Borders Gravel team.

I will also target some bigger gravel events as well as the Nationals and Worlds. Besides the gravel, I will also do some road races in Belgium. I really enjoyed racing both disciplines this year – the speed you get from riding on the road is super useful in the gravel races. And of course, I am already looking forward to the upcoming cyclocross season, which starts in September 2024!