Motherhood, Guilt, and Leaving Elite Amateur Cycling

Committing to amateur sports with the intensity of an elite athlete takes a heavy toll on other areas of life. For Maíra, known in the cycling community as Japa, this trade-off became undeniable when chasing results began competing with family life. For nearly two years, she even took a sabbatical from her professional career to balance household demands, parenting her daughters, and an exhaustive training regimen. However, the relentless physical strain came with an immediate cost: running on empty whenever she was off the bike.

Her training routine demanded far more than hours in the saddle; it meant daily sacrifices in rest, nutrition, and social commitments. Returning from long weekend rides and training trips, the lingering exhaustion compromised the quality of time spent with her daughters, who began noticing her fatigue and asking for a more engaged, attentive mother.

A question from her daughters and the turning point

The turning point came in July 2024, shortly after Maíra reached the absolute peak of her physical conditioning. In June of that year, she had set personal records across power output, endurance, and VO2 max. Having won the Haute Route in 2023, she was deep into preparation for the Haute Route Alps when a casual conversation with her daughters during a family vacation in Europe shifted her perspective.

When the girls asked if she could 'stop being healthy' just for their vacation, Maíra realized how profoundly her rigid training schedule and strict diet were affecting their time together. The emotional wake-up call prompted her to reassess her priorities and decide that this season would mark the end of her high-performance competitive era.