Rider Features: British-Bolivian on a Bike

Here’s a ‘rider blog’ from British-Bolivian female cyclist Floren Scrafton from Bristol currently racing for FTP Racing Women’s elite team

Rider Features: British-Bolivian on a Bike

Floren writes “I’m a British-Bolivian female cyclist from Bristol currently racing for FTP Racing Women’s elite team”.

“We’ve all heard of Colombian cyclists, but what about #BoliviansOnBikes? With this post I hope to engage fellow cyclists by sharing my background, my cycling goals and a preview of my thrifty kitlocker. Having recently finished my PhD in Interdisciplinary Bioscience at the University of Oxford, I am using my new-found freedom to pursue my dream of becoming a professional sportswoman. I am a late convert to pure road cycling, but I am totally hooked on it and convinced I’ve finally found my sport (more details to follow). I’ve also just turned 30, pedaling my way into the peak endurance decade for us ladies, so the time to go for it is now!”

Floren’s Team of Supporters (…applications always open)
Since last October, I’ve been working with my first cycling coach, Dr Tom Kirk (Custom Cycle Coaching) who’s been guiding my development as well as supporting my ambitious goals and (slightly complex) international race/life calendar. Tom coaches me bilingually in English and Spanish so I don’t get rusty, and recently, I joined him and a group of paradise-seeking cyclists in Órgiva, Spain, for one of his annual Cycle Alpujarra Training Camps.

In seven days, we devoured 645 km with 12,550 m climbing; ¡Vamosss! Another key person in my team is Alec Leslie of Pannekoek Cafe & Bike-fitting (Oxford) who sponsored me my first bike-fit and who gives me endless tips, encouragement and hundreds of cool ways to never stop learning about this captivating sport (Alec also introduced me to VeloUK, early Saturday morning chaingang “chops”, as well as my coach, Tom).

Above: GP Fuenlabrada, Madrid 2024 – 5th

CYCLING GOALS

This season:
• Medal at Bolivia’s National Road Championships 3-5th May 2024, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
• Help win races for and with my current British team FTP Racing in Regional – National competitions
• Gain international large-peloton race experiences in the Spanish National Road series – Copa España
• Complete my first season of cycling-specific training and determine my strengths as a cyclist
• Gain a contract with a UCI Continental team for next season

Long-term:
• Become Bolivia’s fastest female road cyclist
• Race for a Women’s UCI World Pro team and help them win tour stages and classics races
• Medal for Bolivia in South American and Pan-American Championships
• Represent Bolivia at the World Championships and Olympics (life-long dream!)
• Use my experiences and results to promote Bolivian endurance athletes and improve the accessibility of cycling

Floren’s Previous sports and how she got into cycling

My sports background has been a varied mix of team and endurance sports and I have represented teams in the UK, Spain and Bolivia at regional to international level. My first main sport was football, playing midfield for Bristol Rovers Girls FC, Bristol Academy Centre of Excellence and Birmingham Uni’s First Team.

I then became a runner off the back of my football training. I represented England as a junior in cross-country and for three seasons held top 10 UK fastest times for the 1500m (per age category). One of my proudest results was finishing 3rd at the 2021 Bolivian National Track Champs racing at 2600 m altitude in Cochabamba.

Not only was this a novel physical test managing a rapid acclimatization to high altitude, but in the background, Bolivia was experiencing a devastating second wave of covid-19 which had also affected my family.

Growing up in Bristol, moving around by bike was not only essential, but tradition. I used to use my Fuji hybrid commuter as a means for ferrying higher volumes of snacks, confectionery and drinks to my secondary school to keep supply in line with demand from my student (and teacher-inclusive) tuck-shop business. My first experience on a proper road-bike however came in the summer of 2014 whilst visiting a friend in Oviedo, Spain.

They lent me a bike and cycling shoes and pushed me out the front door onto the right-hand-side of the road at speed to join a peloton of 20+ male Spaniards who were waiting for us because we were late. Up the hills, the guys shouted at me in alien terms, ie, bike language and in Spanish, things like “quita el plato grande!!!” [come off the big ring] or “sube piñones!!!” [easier gear] and then along the flat “chupa rueda!!!” [wheel suck].

It was an exhilarating and chaotic crash-course intro to road cycling, but I felt comfortable and naturally strong on the bike – a sum of footballer’s legs + runner’s lungs?! Back in the UK, I found a beautiful 53 cm aluminum Bianchi bike on Gumtree for £250 which became my cross-training vice/guilty pleasure if ever injured as a runner. It was only a matter of time until I joined the dots and started competing in duathlons and triathlons.

Between 2016-2024, I raced six seasons with elite Spanish teams, Club Triatlón Diablillos de Rivas then Club Triatlón Oviedo, winning five National Spanish team titles. In triathlon, my best performance was a bronze at the 2021 England Sprint Distance Champs having exited the water in 25th.

Loving the road-bike aspect of multisport events and tired of swimming and trying to balance three sports whilst finishing a PhD, I decided to give pure road cycling a go in the summer of 2022, racing for Oxford University Cycling Club. Rolling straight out of back-to-back running-duathlon-triathlon seasons with a wealth of fitness but zero concept of bike racing, I got my BC license and signed up to three road races.

Cycling – The Results
I debuted with an 8th place at Chitterne (Regional B), which improved to 5th (with the prime sprint win) and 4th at two subsequent Oxfordshire Road Race Series races (Regional A). I got my first podium at the local ART Summer Series Crit round Dalton airfield.

Just as I felt I was learning the art of sitting in and conserving energy, I then caught covid, which, in the context of coinciding challenging life circumstances* proved impossible to fully recover from, aka ‘long-covid’. I missed the remaining 2022 season as well as significant chunks of last year’s season too as this developed into recurring severe tonsilitis.

The comeback to full health and fitness has been, ‘long’, and non-linear, but my team FTP Racing Team have been incredibly supportive, and I ended 2023 on a high note with them: I finished 2nd at the WE123 Banbury Star Crit in September, gaining my Cat 2 license in the process, an 11th at the National Road-bike TT Champs and 1st at the Richard Kell Memorial Series Crit the following month.

Copa España Noja, Cantabria – 56th

This season, I’ve been out training, networking and gaining early season race experience in Spain and I really can’t wait to see how this translates to UK races. I finished 5th at a GP city centre Crit race in Fuenlabrada (Madrid region) and 56th /175 riders at my first Copa España race; a bittersweet result after overcooking the first part and consequently missing the crucial break for the main peloton, but a massive learning experience and a power PB of 232 w for 2h30 (due to the chase!).

I’m currently recovering from a recent long-awaited tonsillectomy operation but as soon as I’m ready I’ll be getting stuck into domestic races with my FTP Racing team. To boost my chances of gaining a contract with a UCI Conti team for next season, I’d like to do a couple more races in either Spain (Copa España) or Belgium for the kermesses (I heard these are insanely fun!).

For my Bolivia-cycling goals, I need to race in Bolivia for visibility. Initially, I’d planned to gain this opportunity at the Bolivian National Road Champs in May, however, I may need a longer recovery period post-tonsillectomy unless I can emulate Richie Carapaz by winning my country’s National Champs just 6-weeks later.

As always, there is a Plan B, which would include delaying my trip to Bolivia until the autumn to train and then contest their high-altitude stage races, which would be a unique challenge in itself… and something to pitch to GCN?

*getting hooked on pure road cycling in the summer of 2022 was a key distraction away from family illness and consecutive losses and even when I couldn’t race, being able to sit on my bike, turn the pedals and escape was priceless.

Cycling kitlocker
The biggest barrier to cycling so far has been the cost of everything, but thanks to generous friends (especially Alice Thomson, Alec Leslie and Lucy Harris) and some nifty thrift shopping, I proudly present my current cycling kit set-up:

How to fund my cycling ambitions?
Starting from scratch post-PhD has been exciting, but in hindsight, a highly precarious way to start a cycling journey. If anyone wants tips on how to thrift, exist and race in Spain on a budget, let me know! I’ve been exploring suitably flexible and remote work options, finding things like freelance tutoring/research mentorship, part-time administrative jobs, and the coolest opportunity so far: occasional in-person on-bike (they provide the Pinarellos) video gigs with GCN Training.

Follow Floren on Instagram (@florenvs) #BolivianOnABike