Fiona Mangan searches for a way to describe how she went from taking up cycling in late 2020 to becoming the first Irish woman to complete one of the sport's Grand Tours.
"I think I've just been really stubborn," she laughs. "Growing up I just really liked making the most of every situation and trying to see out everything that I do."
Mangan, 27, rode for the Spanish team Soltec in the Vuelta Femenina at the start of May. Seven days in total. It was only after the first stage, a time trial, that she learned she could be an Irish trailblazer.
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"It was amazing, really class the whole week," she said.
"I know a lot of Irish women have done stage races and longer days. The Vuelta just this year was labelled a Grand Tour, like the Tour de France.
"But Irish women had competed strongly before - some of the girls are going to do the Tour de France this year too."
It came down to survival. The third stage, from Elche de la Sierra to La Roda, was 158 km on the flat but mentally it was the toughest day.
"It just completely broke up and we were in an echelon (little group) for ages," explained Mangan.
"When you're in an echelon, you can't conserve energy, you have to just keep rolling through and it felt like a time trial for nearly 100 kilometres because the stage broke after 60 km.
"It wasn't like you had a hill to go over and then you could recover. There was no recovery and it was just constantly on the pedals."
What helped get her through was the sage advice she picked up while with Greenmount, the Limerick club she joined three years ago as she set out on her journey.
"They taught me that in a cycling race you can have really bad legs at 10k but you just have to trust that the good feeling will come again," she said.
"Thankfully it did. I reached a whole new level of fatigue that I had never gone to before."
Mangan finished in 99th place overall, her spirits were lifted on the mornings that Irish people came to her before the start to wish her well.
She admits it felt like a "crash course" in cycling, adding: "I progressed more every day. When you're new to something, you have this quicker learning curve and that's how it felt.
"There was so much climbing and I wouldn't be used to that, but you got into a rhythm and you just stuck with that the whole week.
"You really had to take it day by day, to focus on each as if it was a one day stage race every day but still race smartly so that I wasn't wasting too much energy to survive the week.
"You definitely pal up with the girls, you're making friends as the week goes on as fellow survivors nearly. There's a nice feeling to that. You're forming a kind of bond, even if it's only temporary."
Gaelic Football was her first love and she played for St Mungrets in Limerick, but over time Mangan's competitive instincts drew her to triathlon before Covid pushed her in a more specific direction.
The swimming pools were closed during lockdown and Mangan was also dealing with a running injury. That left cycling. Zwift racing was the gateway to dabbling in mountain bike racing and cyclocross before she joined Greenmount.
From there, she was quickly encouraged to compete in the nationals.
Mangan continued to work as a biomedical engineer for a Galway company as she rose through the ranks.
The spark was truly lit in early 2021, when a two week stint working remotely in Girona turned into an eight month stay as she immersed herself in the vibrant cycling scene and competed in high-level Spanish Cup races.
Returning home, she won the National Series in Ireland and that opened the door to Rás na mBan and classics in Belgium, then last year finished third in the Road National Championships - after suffering from Covid and then breaking her collarbone just two weeks previously.
Mangan made the decision to work part-time when she moved to Belgium in April last year. When her IBCT team folded before Christmas it left her scrambling for a new one before Soltec offered her a place.
She is currently in talks with two or three clubs about next year. "I love what I'm doing, that I can wake up one morning, cycle for four hours and then work for a few hours, so I can mix it up like that," she said.
"But I'd love to do another Grand Tour. I'd love to do the Tour de France. My mum is French so that would be really amazing to do, it would mean so much to me.
"And I think my French grandparents would finally take me seriously if I told them I was doing it - for now they still think it's a great hobby!
"I'm at continental level now and taking the step up to World Tour would mean I could potentially leave my job and cycle full time and just see what that's like."
First things first, Mangan is back home and looking to claim victory in the Road National Championships that take place in Dungannon on Saturday.
"It would be such an honour to win it, it would be amazing to have the national jersey in Europe then for the rest of the year," she said.
"It's like another tool in your kit in the peloton because there's a respect associated with it. It's like another step up."
