Making the Impossible Possible: World Champion Caroline Pasedach 

In 2019, Caroline Pasedach thought it was all over. An experienced German competitive cyclist and a doctor at a big university clinic, she was also on the German National Team for 4X (a discipline between Downhill and BMX) and was the World Champion of a 24-hour mountain bike race (24h-MTB-Indoor World Championship in Freistadt, Austria). Then she went paragliding for the first time. And fell from the sky.

“You will never ride again.”

The accident happened shortly after the start of her flight. She and her pilot barely got off the ground when the wind gusted from an unexpected direction and folded the glider. They crashed back on the grass. HARD. Her pilot fell on top of her, and she damaged both wrists. 

“My wrist was badly broken, and I also suffered a nerve injury to the hand,” she recalls. 

This caused a condition called complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). It is a chronic illness for which there is no cure. She had to undergo surgery.

“The doctors told me I would never cycle again. I told them that they don’t know me!”

“My life was miserable.” She ate too much and became overweight. She was very unhappy with her life. Her life became a nightmare. This was not the way she wanted to live. 

“They didn’t know me.”

Then one day she woke up, feeling fat and disgusted, and said to herself, “I am a doctor. I’ve dealt with many obstacles in my life. Why!? Why am I doing this to myself?” It was time to meet this challenge head-on. She would change her life.

Since she couldn’t work with her injury, she quit her job. 

In the first two years after her accident, she focused on regaining normal hand function. Due to a broken tendon, she had to undergo a second surgery almost a year after the first one. The operation made the pain syndrome worse, and she had to be treated in a special clinic for six weeks to regain movement of her fingers. Cycling was not possible at all. 

Since she was unable to hold the handlebars properly and outside riding would have been too dangerous, she turned to Zwift. She put some books under the front wheel of her indoor bicycle to reduce the pressure on my hands. 

Zwift gave her strength and confidence.

Zwift helped her lose weight.

Zwift turned her life around. 

“The doctors were wrong.”

She could ride. She could race. The doctors were wrong.

Now she trains almost entirely on Zwift. She loves it. It helped her get and stay in shape. Thanks to Zwift and better eating habits, she lost over 100 pounds, and is in the best shape of her life.

“Zwift helped me realize I was more than a long-distance cyclist.”

During her Zwift training, she started to snag a bunch of green sprinter jerseys, and she was really flying around the routes. She was fast! Faster than she thought she could ever go. This gave her the confidence to sign up for a European Championship Vintage Time Trial race in 2024. 

“I used the Zwift Time trial training plan and won that race! I couldn’t believe it! Zwift made me a better cyclist.”

After the success at the European Championship, she competed at the Vintage World Championship for Road Cycling – and won again!

In 2025, she cycled across the Australian outback from Brisbane to Perth – 5,000 miles. 

“I made the impossible possible.”

Read Her Upcoming Book and Support Her Next Big Adventure

“I wanted to give all the patients with complex regional pain syndrome hope that they can reach their goals, like I did.” To that end, you’ll be able to read about her comeback as she kept daily notes on her experience and is now writing a book about her experience:  “I don’t know how many people will read it because everything I write is the truth and it is not always nice and shiny. But the world is exactly like that. I want to write about the ups and downs, because that’s how life is.”

Coming up for 2026, she plans to cross the United States twice. “I am signed in for the Transam Team for Bike the US for MS from June to August. After that I want to do the Southern Tier.” 

You can support her ride by clicking here.

Follow Caroline’s journeys and thoughts on Instagram at @caropasedach and Facebook at facebook.com/caroline.pasedach. 

Ride on, Caroline!