Final update from Moscow

I finished the competition on the last day with my Individual Pursuit. It was a cold day with thunder storms and temperatures in the low teens and the track conditions were the slowest that they had been all week which made the gear selection difficult because it is sometimes a good idea to go down a gear when the track is slower, but I decided to stick with the gear I had chosen to ride and that I had trained on. With that aside I was feeling confident, fit and ready to race finally after 2 days off. I went into the race with the goal of setting a new PB, beating the girl who I was riding against and getting a top 10 placing. I did a 2.31 which was a second slower then my PB but considering the conditions of the track I was pleased with it. My time put me in 8th place out of 23 riders and I also beat the girl who I was riding against which meant that two out of three of my goals for the day were achieved.

About to start the IP

Also on the same day Georgia Rode herself into a position to be in the gold ride off for the IP and ended up with a silver just a second off the German who won. Fraser and Alex also got a silver in the Madison.

And that concluded the Junior Worlds campaign for 2011. The team was the most successful NZ cycling team to go to the championships, coming home with a total of 10 medals. It was a great experience and I have learnt a lot about myself, what its like to be on a trip to a competition that is of a high level like the one we were on and I learnt so much about what I am going to need to do before the championships next year. 

So now for me I am back in Auckland in the nice cold Winter weather. I am going to have a few weeks off the bike to recover both physically and mentally, then its all go again getting ready for the Junior Worlds of 2012 in Invercargill where hopefully the hometown advantage and my experience from this year will work in my favor.

Those of us who came back to NZ at Auckland airport

Another quick racing update.

Yesterday was another very successful day for the kiwis who were racing,

The day started with Dylan in ninth place in the omnium but with a superb pursuit coming second and two wins in the scratch and the kilo he managed to climb back up the placings into 3rd position behind Roman Ivlev a Russian and Caleb Ewan from Australia who took the win.

Dylan getting his well earned bronze medal.

(photo from Mary Abramova)

Then we had Cassie up in the women's scratch race. It was what looked like a tough 30 lap race with lots of surges and attempted attacks, but Cassie hung in there showing everyone exactly how to race a scratch race and with a lap to go she was in the prime position for a medal and when it came down to the line she came speeding in behind Georgia Baker from Australia and Jennifer Valente of USA.

Cassie in the scratch race.

(photo from Mary Abramova)

The last up was Steph who qualified to go on to the gold medal ride off against another Russian, Anastasiya Voynova. Steph rode some amazing races but Anastasiya managed to squeeze past her and take the gold, so Steph ended up in second. Victoria Williamson from Great Britain finished off the podium beating Russia's Tamara Balabolina for the bronze.

Steph on the podium getting her silver. 

(photo from Steph)

Today is another full on day of racing with Sophie on to the last day of the Omnium, Fraser and Scott doing their 3km Individual Pursuit, Steph in the Kerian and finally Alex racing the men's Points Race. So lets hope they can add to our medal tally.

Yesterday and today are rest days for me which is nice to have a break between races, but it is all back into racing tomorrow with the 2km individual pursuit. This is my favourite race and I am aiming to do a 4second pb. It will prove to be some good close racing because there are some pretty quick girls out there and everyone is looking to be on fine form. So hopefully in the last few days there can be some more great results achieved.

Racing and a team update

Racing started out with a bang on the first day of racing for us kiwi's. We had two amazing teams who gained a bronze and Hayden who worked for the majority of the men's scratch race in a break and ended up in 4th place. The boys team pursuit team qualified 3rd to go to the ride off for bronze where they beat Germany who last year beat them in exactly the same situation, and the team sprint girls won their ride off for bronze.

The boys getting their bronze medals.

The second day was us girls turn to take to the track. It was qualifying in the morning where we managed to get 3rd, just 0.300 of a second ahead of the Italians. We worked hard together but felt like we had more that we could give in the afternoons session, so we had a few plan changes that we came up with. Then in the final after one false start we were away we started down on the Italian team and although we bridged the gap the race finished just one lap to early for us to be able to beat them so they took the bronze with us in fourth just half a second behind. The Australians who qualified in second position managed to beat the Russians and their home advantage to win them selves another title. Understandably we were disappointed with our placing being so close to a medal but it has made us all even more hungry for the podium and like they say there is always next year and there is still many more races to come.

Cassie, Georgia and me working our way into the TP

Sophie had her points race last night where she had a superb ride and managed to pick up the third of New Zealand's bronze medals. She rode a smart race and remained calm through the race despite a few crashes (which she wasn't in). An Italian rider had a great ride, taking a lap from the field to get herself 20 points and the gold and it was a Mexican who took out the sliver.
Alex also raced the kilo last night finishing in 11th place.
Steph quailfied 1st in the sprints just 0.011seconds of the junior world record and has made her way to the quarter finals which are on tonight along with the final.
Up tonight along with Steph we have Sophie and Dylan in the omnium and Cassie racing the scratch. So it should be a good nights racing with hopefully more medals to come.

More Moscow Mayhem

We have been in Russia for a few days now training hard and getting all the last minute details done and dusted. All our teams are coming together well and we are entering the competition with a lot of confidence. Training on the track is totally different to the training we had been doing on Aigle. We share the track with Great Britain, USA and Ukraine so it is all a matter or claiming the track and fitting in what we can before our time is up. Even though its crazy it is cool to see all of the different cyclists from all around the world who are here with the same goal as us... to take home some rainbow jerseys. The temperature is over 30degrees every day and has only been getting hotter since we arrived, so our time in Aigle prepared us well compared to what I am hearing is totally freezing weather back home.

Way to hot to do anything

On Monday we had training on the track in the morning and then the whole team headed to Red Square for the afternoon. It was insane getting there considering we were all clueless about where to go and we could not read or speak any Russian, but luckily we all made it there in one piece. It is an amazing place and the buildings are like nothing I have ever seen before. You walk in and it is like a combination of Russia, Germany, China and India all in one place. We had a walk around for a bit and I managed to do some bargaining a stall owner and purchased a Russian fur hat. While we were out we saw the American team making the most of the experience just like us, which was cool to be in a massive place like Red Square and to see some familiar faces. Then we found a nice cafe to sit and relax in before it was time to head back to head home again to remember what we came here to do.

 Some of the amazing buildings in the square

Fraser, Chris and myself getting in touch with our Russian side.                                                       

Russia is growing on me and I am realizing just how much of an amazing place it is and how far they have come. The food seems to be improving and we are all making ourselves at home and finding the things that we are comfortable with which is good since good nutrition is just as important as training.

Salads at dinner.. the only recognizable thing we are served.

The racing all starts tomorrow with the Kiwi sprinters and boys Team Pursuit teams racing.. Its going to be an eventful day and I can not wait to support my team mates! My first race is on Thursday, which I am ecstatic about. It is the Team Pursuit which is the main event that we have been training for since we left New Zealand. I can not wait to race finally after all the months of training and I have a lot of confidence in our team and I will keep you all updated with how the team is going. 

Moscow

We have finally made it to Moscow. It took a whole day of traveling, with a 4.30am wake up to catch the train from Aigle to Geneva, then a just over 3 hour plane ride and then what was meant to be a 1hour max drive which turned into over 3hours to make it to our accommodation.

Once we had found our rooms and made ourselves at home then we headed to the track for dinner. We were all straving because we had not eaten since we left Geneva so we were all very keen to see what the had install for us. Dinner consisted of a various choice of unidentifiable meats and some pasta which was not to many peoples liking so it was back to the hotel on empty stomachs.

View from our accommodation 

The next morning it was back to the track again to have another mystery meal for breakfast. Then Georgia, Cassie, Sophie and I went for a bike ride around this bike path which is about 1km from where we are staying. It is a pretty cool place because it is slightly up on top of a hill so it gave us a different view of the city and just how massive it is. We also later found out that it is where the Olympic road race was held in 1980.

 View of the city

Later on we went to the track for the first of our first session, it was a massive change to go from a tiny 200m track to go to the long 333m Moscow track. It is a cool track and will be amazing to race on.

Just one of the massive corners on the track.

The team is coming along very well and all accordingly to plan, so it is looking like we are in for some very good racing next week.

The last week of Aigle

Hello all here is update number two. 

So last Wednesday we caught the train into Montreux because we had a rest day and we had a good look around the town or almost city. It is a beautiful little place on Lake Geneva that is very picturesque. Filled with cafes and ice cream stands along the lake front. We all split into little groups and had a look around for some lunch so Georgia, Sophie, Cassie and I went to a small Japanese place for sushi. We ended up meeting the others back at the train station to catch the train home which was good so then we spent the rest of the day relaxing at home in Aigle.

Georgia, Cassie, Sophie and Me in Montreux

The next two days were pretty heavy days on the track with all IP and TP work. Which went very well. Followed by dinner at the track and back home for some chill and then bed time.

Training hard...

Then on the Saturday we had another rest day, so we caught the train into Lusanne to go to the Olympic museum. The museum was amazing and inspiring, it was filled with lots of great stuff which we all enjoyed looking at and reading about because we felt like we could relate to the people who were on display. That night we we went out to the local Thai places for dinner (where one of the other cyclists who is staying where we are works) which we all loved and it was a good change from the food at the track and it reminded us all of home.

The entrance to the Olympic Museum

Sunday and Monday were again straight back into hard days on the track with some short road rides to help the recovery from the track along. 

Tuesday was just a road ride with the boys in the morning then we had the afternoon free so a few of the others and I decided to catch the train up the mountain to Leysin which is approx 1300m up the hill. Its a gorgeous small skiing town, it had an amazing view straight back down into the valley where we are staying and gave us a good sense of direction. Then it was time to catch the train back down the hill in time for dinner at the track again.

I found out that I will be riding in the Individual (IP) and Teams Pursuits (TP) at the Championships. Which I am pleased about because they were the two events that I preferred to ride in.

Today was another day at the track, we had a team photo to start and a few efforts followed by a recovery dip in the river by the track (which feels colder then an ice bath if you ask me) and then we all had to pack our bikes and suit cases because we head to Russia tomorrow with a super early 4am start to get to Geneva in time to catch the plane to Moscow. 

Ice baths in the river

Our final ride in Aigle

So thats phase one of the build up done, its time to say goodbye to Switzerland and привет to Russia.

Junior Worlds build up update 1

Hello, here is a quick wee update on what has been happening in my first few days in Aigle, Switzerland. Which is where the NZ Junior Track Cycling team is having our build up for the Junior World Track Championships 2011.

 The girls ready to leave at Auckland airport

We arrived in Aigle, Switzerland late on Friday night local time after two 12 hour flights, two 1 hour flights and a 1hour20min train ride. Aigle is a small town about 10km off lake Geneva, it is surrounded by massive mountains on either sides... so you can't ride to far without ending up on an endless climb like the ones you see on the tour de France. We got straight in to training and on the Saturday the Enduro boys and girls all went on a bunch ride for just over 2 hours heading along a river towards St Bernard (which is where those massive dogs are from) and then we had a wee explore around the town for the rest of the day. Sunday was our first day of track training on the small 200m Aigle track. Knowing where and when to lap off in a teams pursuit took a while to get used to, but that training went well and we just did a couple of team efforts to get back into the swing of riding as a team on the track again. 

Monday was a hard V02 day with individual efforts and then I went for a road ride towards the lake through the middle of endless corn field's and rode up a cobble road hill to a church in a small town to have a look around the area and the view was just amazing. I find this place so beautiful and very much like a European Wanaka. 

Yesterday was a power day. So we had huge gears on and we did standing starts which are killers. Then us enduro girls went out for an hour ride with Mark Ryan who is an elite cyclist that is staying with us for some of the time while we are in Switzerland because he is here to do some intense hill training, he gives us another riders point of view on what we can do to improve which is a great help especially because he is a rider him self.

Ride along the river

Finally, today is a rest day so we only have an hour recovery ride then we are free for the day to go out sight seeing around the area. I think that a group of us are going to catch the train to a place called Montreux which is a town on the lake for lunch and maybe a shop and if the rain stops then we will go to a water hole for a swim. 
Apart from today the weather has been amazing with temperatures of 30degrees plus a day and adjusting to this crazy heat has been tough but such a good change from the freezing NZ weather. We are staying at a hostel like place that is associated with the track here and it is 3km away from the track so we ride to and from training and we also have dinner and lunch at the track, the meals have been amazing which is a huge help with getting settled into life here. Time is flying by here and the competition date is creeping up super fast, but I can't wait for it all to begin.

 What we called home in Aigle

The outside of the Aigle track.