| Back to the track |
Well time has gone by quickly since there was a huge deal of achievement and excitement in my life and career at the Apeldoorn World Championships and the campaign continues towards the big goal of London. Since I returned home from Holland my schedule has been busy. I had a chance in my break post worlds to head home to QLD to see my family and friends from up north. I took the chance to fit in as much as I could for it was unlikely I would return there if not for very short trips before the Olympics for it was about time to be selfish in that preparation. Whilst there I visited a young group of riders in Rocky and attended a bbq to get to know them. My nephew Noah took me to his grade 2 class for show and tell and I had a lot of fun especially when he was so shy. He introduced me as his Aunty Anna and that I rode bikes. Got to love the simplicity kids can break things down to. I spent time with Marks family in Rocky and MC’d our friend’s wedding, Tegan and Lindsay McMaster. I went out to Middlemount to see my parents my brother Scott and his wife Danielle for a week. It was so nice to unwind and catch a breath in the company of loved ones. I caught up with Amanda Macey and her family, a friend from early school years in Middlemount and met Grayson, the newest addition to her beautiful family. I attended the wedding of my high school friend Brooke Hagan to Matt Raine in Emerald before heading to Caloundra to see my big sister Tracey and husband Richard and to spend quality time with them and my nieces Piper and Brooklyn. I spoke to the year 6 students and their school sharing my experiences and stories. Upon leaving Caloundra I stopped in Sydney to attend the Fitness expo at the convention centre Darling Harbour for my sponsor Musashi where for two days I challenged anyone who wanted it to a race on a virtual computer. It was a lot of fun and a bit tough given I hadn’t trained and didn’t warm up J No one was able to beat me but they got close. After I left a few of the crew from Musashi had a go and it happened. My time was beaten J All in all it was a great deal of fun, especially having my virtual race bike set up next to Derek who is Australia’s strongest man and also a sponsored athlete who was doing his own demos and challenges. Training began a few weeks after I took time away to have a break both mentally and physically and it was like being dropped in the deep end. It’s funny when you are so used to the routine of training and the work load that only a few weeks away from it can seem as though it has been months or more. I was sore and tired and I swore that my seat was comfortable when I last rode it but even that took some time to get used to again. But get used to it I did and training has been solid since re-commencing in Adelaide. It all is on the line from now as it has been before in the wind up to what is going to be a huge 15 months. Since training began back in Adelaide I also did a few appearances to speak to the coaches at SASI (South Australian Sports Institute), to the teaching profession at the ACHPER conference and I was guest at the Lord Mayor’s Quarter club meeting to raise money for the SA Olympic Council. I took a group from BHPbilliton, a wonderful sponsor of mine, who like to ride on the road, out to the track for the first time to show them a different side to cycling. We spent three hours riding around taking different lines, racing, challenging and learning about how skilful and tactical it could be. Everyone had a blast and we didn’t even have a stack. We almost did when one forgot to stop pedalling but he managed to hang on and didn’t get bucked over the bars. A fun day was had by all and most importantly they all made donations to the Little Heroes Foundation for attending the day, a charity for which I am ambassador. So the benefits were shared far and wide. I joined with Russel Ebert and the Port Adelaide Football Club with their Community Youth Program to go out to schools and spread the words of being active and eating healthy to young kids. Russel who is an iconic footballer for the PAFC came to the track asking if any of the team would be interested. Given Russel’s daughter Tammie is a member of our staffing team, the link was great. Kaarle and I joined the program and I have gone to different schools spreading this knowledge with players from the team; an excellent initiative to be a part of. I recently spent a day out at Whyalla visiting regional schools for the day. I spoke with Dean Brogan, Brett Ebert and Ruth Wallace from the SASI women’s soccer team to 6 groups of classes from 3 different Primary Schools and we finished the trip with a leadership group of Grade 12 students. It was extremely rewarding. I will continue to be a part of this as much as I can where training can fit around the session times. I have had a lot of media interviews since returning home and I also got to do a few special ones. I was interviewed for SA Life which will air next month, I was photographed to appear in the British Airways magazine along with 7 other athletes from around the world who were all preparing to challenge for medals in London and I did a photo shoot for a feature article to be in the PINK magazine released in October this year so keep an eye out for that. PINK is the national magazine for the Breast Cancer Foundation of Australia. While training was heavy and the time I had away from training I was busy, I got a chance to relax with Mark and enjoy some wonderful shows and experiences. We attended the musical Wicked which was really fabulous. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the show, we went to see the world renowned Walking with Dinosaurs which was educational as well as a spectacle to see! We also celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary by going behind the scenes at the Adelaide zoo to see and feed the Tigers and Lions. It was an incredible experience and I would do it again! Tigers are my favourite animal and I was fortunate to have a great team who gave me this as a Birthday gift last year and what better time to cash it in and do it then on our wedding anniversary. I took a weekend to travel to Berri with my husband Mark for the Riverland Tour for which he raced in and enjoyed the country river region. I am currently just returning from a very fun weekend in Noosa where I helped to celebrate the 30th birthday of a very dear girl friend of mine, Miss Bright. It’s not often I get a chance to duck away for a weekend and so these two occasions were wonderful to be able to do so. We are now in the off season and the training load is intense and before winter is over things will start to roll and time will again start to appear to move fast. With training camps scheduled to break the Adelaide winter we will quickly be into competition season. This season I will race in Kazakhstan in November, at the Nationals in Adelaide in January, The test event in London in February the World titles at home in Melbourne in April and then it’s the short stretch to the Olympics in August. But that’s all a long way off yet. First up the team is headed to Perth for a winter grand Prix and training camp which everyone is looking forward to. So if you’re on the West Coast and want to see something exciting and different then head out to the Silver drome in Middleton to watch some track racing on June 26th. And stay tuned for more from me. |
