{"id":3684,"date":"2022-05-11T08:22:09","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T08:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/?p=3684"},"modified":"2022-05-11T08:22:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T08:22:09","slug":"the-titans-of-the-skoda-we-love-cycling-team-meet-shannon-mccurley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2022\/05\/11\/the-titans-of-the-skoda-we-love-cycling-team-meet-shannon-mccurley\/","title":{"rendered":"The Titans of the \u0160koda WE LOVE CYCLING TEAM: Meet Shannon McCurley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In every race, every single rider has a story to tell. During this year\u2019s Titan Desert we are charting the journeys of 10 racers from all over the world who are tackling the race in Morocco. With a dearth of experience across many terrains, they all have their unique attributes to succeed on the sands.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Here, We Love Cycling speaks to Shannon McCurley, who is tackling her first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/titan-desert\/\">Titan Desert Race.<\/a> The Irish\/Australian star, who is currently living in Melbourne is swapping the wooden boards of the track for a mountain bike to take on the dunes of Morocco, something that is leaving her tempering her own expectation despite her international recognition.<\/p>\n<p>She starts: \u201cI&#8217;m a track and road cyclist so this is a complete 180\u00b0 turn from what I normally do, so, fingers crossed that I survive! I guess I&#8217;m out here living still and looking forward to the challenges the \u0160koda Titan Desert race presents me with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shannon is no stranger to a big stage, having taken part in two Olympics. The 29-year-old is a sprinter on the boards, winning a silver medal at the 2019 European Championships in Apeldoorn. But this challenge, as she explained, is something totally different for her.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CdYaGrZsYxm\/<\/p>\n<p>Asked why she is taking on the <a href=\"https:\/\/titandesert.com\/\">\u0160koda Titan Desert<\/a> Race, she explained: \u201cMy motivation to take part in the event was to be pushed out of my comfort zone. When the opportunity presented itself, I was like sure, let&#8217;s do this. Now I&#8217;m like wow this is going to hurt a lot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s completely out of my comfort zone being a track and road cyclist. So mainly I&#8217;m looking forward to challenging myself and just diving into the unknown. I always love a challenge. I&#8217;ll definitely complain but I&#8217;ll get it done!<\/p>\n<p>Residing in the state of Victoria on Australia\u2019s east coast, Shannon is hoping the transition will not be too taxing as she makes the long journey to North Africa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m currently racing on road here in Australia so haven&#8217;t had much time to get on the mountain bike ahead of the event so hopefully the transition is smooth enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The double Olympian certainly has the spirit to take on the race along with raw power. And, couple this with a season on the road in Australia, the endurance should see her race well in Morocco. However, technically \u2013 given the self-confessed lack of training on the mountain bike, Shannon could see herself slip through the pack on trickier sections.<\/p>\n<p>But, for Shannon, the goal is simply to complete her first Titan Desert Race \u2013 something she is already thinking through attitude-wise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like I&#8217;ll have a lot of challenges, so I won&#8217;t list them all. Both mental and physical but I&#8217;ll do with it a smile as long as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In every race, every single rider has a story to tell. During this year\u2019s Titan Desert we are charting the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":3687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-3684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycling-in-ireland"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shannon McCurley At the \u0160koda Titan Desert - We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2022\/05\/11\/the-titans-of-the-skoda-we-love-cycling-team-meet-shannon-mccurley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Titans of the \u0160koda WE LOVE CYCLING TEAM: Meet Shannon McCurley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In every race, every single rider has a story to tell. 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