"A kind of near-death experience": Jason Osborne and the ride on the volcano

When those who don't like exercise need someone to address their good old "sport is murder" call, Jason Osborne is the prime example.

The 27-year-old is an athlete whose competitions always require complete exertion at the end.

A recurring game with your own ultimate limits, even a ride on the sporty volcano with plenty of lactate production.

Osborne speaks of "a kind of near-death experience" that he experiences regularly in the boat or on the saddle.

Giving everything does not mean empty phrases for him, but sporting everyday life.

"In retrospect, I sometimes ask myself the question: How was I able to fight my way through it?

But that's part of being one of the best.” And he's one of the best – rowing on the water and pedaling in the virtual world.

As an athlete, Osborne is like no other.

Until last Saturday he was world champion and Olympic silver medalist in two different sports: e-cycling and rowing.

Since Saturday he is still the silver medalist in the lightweight double sculls in Tokyo, only in e-cycling he can now only call himself third best in the world.

Starting as the defending champion, the man from Mainz took bronze in the second edition of the world championship held on the Zwift platform.

In the course of the pandemic, the winter niche for ascetics who cycle at home has become a global phenomenon and a business worth millions.

Around the world, amateur riders and professionals pedal in front of the screen, on which they see themselves as a cycling avatar.

The landscape flies by at the speed that they generate at home on their smart trainers that simulate slipstreams and inclines.

From tactical strategies to attacks on the climbs, the virtual races on fantasy courses resemble the real ones.

"Prize money at the same time pain money"

On Saturday evening, Osborne was in the lead shortly before the finish on the 54.9-kilometer world championship course through virtual New York (180 men and women took part).

But then he was sprinted over by two Australians in the final meters and beaten by a paltry 1.45 seconds.

Osborne completed the one-hour exertion in his well-known rowing environment - in the boathouse of the Mainz Rowing Club.

A few dozen spectators cheered so loudly that Osborne "got a bit lost in the very chaotic finale," as he puts it.

Slightly weakened by an infection the week before, he suffered more than ever in the saddle in the race final.

“I had to go very deep to compensate.

The prize money was also money for pain and suffering,” says the blond boy, who would have liked to have continued cycling through the Zwift worlds with the virtual, rainbow-colored world champion jersey.

"But I have again shown consistency and stability in this profession."

Cycling has always been part of the training content of the rower Osborne.

He made a strong mark in the cycling scene in 2020 when he won the world championship premiere in e-cycling.

This was followed by the immediate preparation for the Olympics as a rower and finally the silver medal in 2021. After that, Osborne no longer seemed to be a wanderer between worlds, but to change the world forever.

The Rheinhesse was determined to switch to road cycling.

His ticket was the chance to work as a so-called "stagiaire", a kind of cycling intern, for four weeks in September and October.

Namely with one of the world's best teams, Team Quickstep.

The Belgians wanted to know how this German lightweight performs on real asphalt with a lot of pressure on the pedals.

Osborne was able to prove himself in the professional peloton over eight days of racing.

Shortly after returning from Tokyo, i.e. a phase in which cycling was hardly part of his training plan.

“I was immediately confronted with how things are going at the highest level.

But I didn't feel overwhelmed," says Osborne.

A ninth place in the prologue of the Tour of Slovakia was a good and at the same time his best result.

Time trials are his strength anyway, as evidenced by two top ten places in German championships.

This summer he wants to get a place on the podium there against the best German specialists.

But because the short-term engagement with Team Quickstep did not result in a contract, Osborne is back between the worlds.

Currently he considers himself a rower again, having already completed a first training camp in Italy and having another one in France in March.

He is moving from Mainz to Offenbach these days so that he can train in the strong training group at Germania Frankfurt.

Priorities shift back and forth.

The Rheinhesse does not see this as a nuisance, but as a "luxury situation".

"I'm just not on a single-track route." For the time being, he is a rower on call.

Because if another offer came from road cycling, he would probably try again.

And if not?

Next year his partner from the Tokyo silver boat Jonathan Rommelmann will return from a break.

"With him," says Osborne, "then attacking the gold medal at the Paris Games in 2024 is also a fine goal." And he will remain true to e-cycling anyway.

In 2023 it will be the World Cup again.