After what has been a long, exciting and intense 2 months of build up to the Juniors track world champs I am now home for more than 5days for the first time since June and am reflecting on what was one pretty memorable experience.
The endurance team had an amazing near month in Trexler town in the United States. Then we came home to be back in a full team camp down in Invercargill for our final team build up to the Juniors world track champs. We had the support of a huge management team and were only getting quicker as the days went on. Team and race selections were made on the Thursday before racing and I had quite a mixture of emotions when I found out what I would be riding. My main goal was to be in the teams pursuit team and sadly I didn't make the cut to be in the team because I wasn't coming on as quickly as the other girls were and with 5 girls going for 3 spots there was always going to be 2 who missed out. I was really gutted to be told this because its always hard hearing that you cant do what you had set your sights on doing, but on the other hand I was lucky enough to be selected to ride the individual 2km pursuit which was the other race I really wanted to do. After shedding a few tears of disappointment and nerves I quickly realized that the opportunity to race my favorite race at a junior worlds for the second year was something I was really proud of and it meant that all I had to do was focus on myself. Racing all started on Wednesday the 22nd and that was the Teams Pursuit day so when the girls were all on their taper and bringing their freshness levels up I was training my guts out still to make sure I was as fit as I could be in the day of racing. Sunday seemed to take its time to come around but when the day finally arrived I was feeling super ready to get on my bike and race. Training had been going well and the track was feeling quick and hot. I had a huge support crew behind me and I was feeling quite nervous and hit the first km of the race at a pace which was quite a bit quicker than what I was able to hold for the whole race so although I did a PB time for the year I didn't go under the 2min30second mark which is what I was aiming to do and i did a 2min31second which put me in eighth place (exactly the same as last year). Being part of the most successful junior worlds team that NZ has had is something that I feel very lucky to be a part of and I am so proud of every one in the team for what they have achieved.
I'm sorry I couldn't bring home any gold silver or bronze wear home around my neck again this year its been one tough year. I can honestly say that it has made me even more hungry to have the rainbows around my neck so lets hope it can be done at a senior level this time! And thank you so much to everyone who helped support me and get me to the champs especially My parents, my coach and my sponsor Avanti Bikes, and everyone who contributed to getting me to this trip. I couldn't have these opportunities without you.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Home sweet home
After just 18 days in the lovely Kutztown we have now packed our bags and are home back to winter and 'reality'. Coming to Kutztown has been great fun, fantastic training and a pretty awesome experience. Its am amazing place to train and was very worth wile.
We were lucky to spend a quick 5days at home to recover from the previous 3weeks and the jet lag so that we were ready for anything when heading down to Invercargill our final destination in the build up for the junior world championships.
It has almost been a week since we have been down here and having the full squad of riders and management has been pretty cool. The five of us endurance girls are in a house again at the second home of BikeNZ the Admiral court and its nice to be able to have a good living space where we can do our own thing or spend time with everyone else just like we were used to in Trexlertown.
Training is going good and being back on the home track is feeling pretty quick. The people down here are buzzing with the excitement of the build up to the worlds and there are flags all down the main street and events for the schools and public to promote the event! Which is so cool to see the whole town getting behind us with their support.
So really there isn't to much to report from the week so far but I will be sure to keep the updates as regular as possible.
Georgie
We were lucky to spend a quick 5days at home to recover from the previous 3weeks and the jet lag so that we were ready for anything when heading down to Invercargill our final destination in the build up for the junior world championships.
It has almost been a week since we have been down here and having the full squad of riders and management has been pretty cool. The five of us endurance girls are in a house again at the second home of BikeNZ the Admiral court and its nice to be able to have a good living space where we can do our own thing or spend time with everyone else just like we were used to in Trexlertown.
Training is going good and being back on the home track is feeling pretty quick. The people down here are buzzing with the excitement of the build up to the worlds and there are flags all down the main street and events for the schools and public to promote the event! Which is so cool to see the whole town getting behind us with their support.
So really there isn't to much to report from the week so far but I will be sure to keep the updates as regular as possible.
Georgie
Monday, July 23, 2012
Some more of the action
The build up trip has been going super quickly and we are now into our last week before heading back to the chilly winter in New Zealand. The past week has consisted of another nights track racing, which went largely better then last time but still not remarkable.
Then on Wednesday we had our first day of training on the track. It was a TP training day and I must say that doing a TP on this track is a whole different story then what it is in Invercargill. It was one of the hotter days we have had so between efforts it was straight to the tunnel to hide from the sun. We cruised home from the session on our bikes and my srm said that the temperature was peaking at 46degrees.... not sure how accurate that was but I'd say it was around the mid 30's.
On Thursday I headed out to get lost in the cornfeilds as well as around the crystal cave area. Its pretty crazy you will be riding thinking that you are totally lost then 2 minutes later you will be back on the road you began your ride on! At the end of the ride I was getting slightly lost but luckily was saved by Sophie and Liam who were heading in the opposite direction home... which is where I thought I was heading!
Friday the weather decided to pack in and rain properly all day so unfortunately our racing was canned but as always there was a just as hard erg session plan B set in place so it was off to Bob's house for a mass erg smashing for the second time.
On Saturday the whole team headed south to Lancaster to do a local critrium which ended up being the state champs! It was a pretty cool course in the suburbs with all of the roads closed off so the locals came out o support and I have never seen so many yard sales in one day as what i saw when we were driving to park the car! The race went well and the 5 of us kiwi girls pretty much dominated the whole race, winning all of the primes and Getting 1st (Sophie), 2nd (Cassie) and 3rd (Me). I was glad to finally have a good race and come away feeling positive.
I thought it would be good to show a bit of the scenery that we get to look at while riding on the roads around here! Its really lush around this area with big red sheds and cornfields everywhere!!
Georgie :)
Then on Wednesday we had our first day of training on the track. It was a TP training day and I must say that doing a TP on this track is a whole different story then what it is in Invercargill. It was one of the hotter days we have had so between efforts it was straight to the tunnel to hide from the sun. We cruised home from the session on our bikes and my srm said that the temperature was peaking at 46degrees.... not sure how accurate that was but I'd say it was around the mid 30's.
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| The track before Tuesday nights racing. |
On Thursday I headed out to get lost in the cornfeilds as well as around the crystal cave area. Its pretty crazy you will be riding thinking that you are totally lost then 2 minutes later you will be back on the road you began your ride on! At the end of the ride I was getting slightly lost but luckily was saved by Sophie and Liam who were heading in the opposite direction home... which is where I thought I was heading!
Friday the weather decided to pack in and rain properly all day so unfortunately our racing was canned but as always there was a just as hard erg session plan B set in place so it was off to Bob's house for a mass erg smashing for the second time.
On Saturday the whole team headed south to Lancaster to do a local critrium which ended up being the state champs! It was a pretty cool course in the suburbs with all of the roads closed off so the locals came out o support and I have never seen so many yard sales in one day as what i saw when we were driving to park the car! The race went well and the 5 of us kiwi girls pretty much dominated the whole race, winning all of the primes and Getting 1st (Sophie), 2nd (Cassie) and 3rd (Me). I was glad to finally have a good race and come away feeling positive.
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| Alysha and I before the crit. |
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| Womans field at the crit start line. |
I thought it would be good to show a bit of the scenery that we get to look at while riding on the roads around here! Its really lush around this area with big red sheds and cornfields everywhere!!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Week One
It has now been just over a week since first arriving in Kutztown and I am pleased to say it is all going pretty well. We have slowly built up our training over the week to help us cope with the jet lag and to bring us up to a nice and hard weekend. On Friday we got out first look at the track and our first of many nights of racing. The Trexlertown track is a long 333m slowish concrete track and is quite a different track to ride compared to Invercargill's one which we had been riding just under 2 weeks ago. There were a few delays from rain which slowed down the start of racing for the night but eventually we got under way with the races. It was really good to get back to racing but quite a shock to the system! For the night we were paired up in teams to help race for each other, Cassie and I were together and it would be fair to say that with no major placings neither of us had the best of nights races, not that we were to bothered it was some very good training and good fun, plus there are many more racing nights to come. Us kiwis overall did have some good results though and it was evident that we were dominating all the races we were in.
Saturday was another tough and testing day of training, with an easy road ride for about 50mins in the morning to give the sore legs a wee stretch which was quickly followed by a smashing erg session. With hammered legs from racing the night before this didn't make for the most pleasant of training days but I came out of it feeling pretty pleased with my self and you always know sessions that smash you are going to be good in the long run. I had some pretty good timing on Saturday because about 30mins after erg I had a massage to pound out the multiple lumps that were all through my legs.
Sunday was a long road day which included the local derby bunch ride/race which is sort of similar to the mechanics bay bunch in Auckland. It was pretty amazing the amount of riders in the bunch and how quick some of them could go. We rode past the local Amish church and got to see the line up of horse and carts as well as having to pass a few, which is quite scary because you never quite know what the horse is going to do. We also went to Wegmans to do the food shopping on Sunday. Wegmans is a huge food market style supermarket and was very overwhelming with so many choices of food to get.
Monday was our first full rest day and first day of shopping. We headed to the King of Prussia mall which is about a 50min drive from home and the second largest mall in Amreica! It was amazing and the shops were endless. After 3 hours of shopping I think I did pretty well with helping out the American economy. Then on our way home we quickly went to the outlet mall and had a wee look around there. Once we got home it was time to head to the local favorite 'The Tavern' to celebrate John our managers birthday.
So far everything has been going really well and my injury is cooperating with me and not being painful in anyway so I am feeling very relieved about that.
Tonight we are going to the track for some more racing and we will be doing track racing again on Friday and a criterium on Saturday.
Georgie
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| The full team waiting to start racing. (Photo from John/ FB page) |
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| Photo of racing |
Saturday was another tough and testing day of training, with an easy road ride for about 50mins in the morning to give the sore legs a wee stretch which was quickly followed by a smashing erg session. With hammered legs from racing the night before this didn't make for the most pleasant of training days but I came out of it feeling pretty pleased with my self and you always know sessions that smash you are going to be good in the long run. I had some pretty good timing on Saturday because about 30mins after erg I had a massage to pound out the multiple lumps that were all through my legs.
Starting the erg session...
Sunday was a long road day which included the local derby bunch ride/race which is sort of similar to the mechanics bay bunch in Auckland. It was pretty amazing the amount of riders in the bunch and how quick some of them could go. We rode past the local Amish church and got to see the line up of horse and carts as well as having to pass a few, which is quite scary because you never quite know what the horse is going to do. We also went to Wegmans to do the food shopping on Sunday. Wegmans is a huge food market style supermarket and was very overwhelming with so many choices of food to get.
Wegmans
Monday was our first full rest day and first day of shopping. We headed to the King of Prussia mall which is about a 50min drive from home and the second largest mall in Amreica! It was amazing and the shops were endless. After 3 hours of shopping I think I did pretty well with helping out the American economy. Then on our way home we quickly went to the outlet mall and had a wee look around there. Once we got home it was time to head to the local favorite 'The Tavern' to celebrate John our managers birthday.
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| On the way to the mall |
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| Post shopping, the car went a bit slower up the hills on the way home. |
So far everything has been going really well and my injury is cooperating with me and not being painful in anyway so I am feeling very relieved about that.
Tonight we are going to the track for some more racing and we will be doing track racing again on Friday and a criterium on Saturday.
Georgie
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Kutztown
After some tough months training in the cold, damp and disgusting weather of the NZ winter and battling a couple of mystery cysts in my leg I have now set foot into the American summer in Kutztown PA. Traveling here was pretty easy compared to last year with only two flights 12hrs and 6hrs then a 2 hour drive from Newark airport to our new home. Cassie and I got to Kutztown at about 3.30am local time without bikes but luckily they arrived on the next flight that Alysha, Racquel and John were on so it wasn't to much of a drama. All 5 of us endurance girls are staying in the same apartment and are now living the cyclists flatting life. Today was a 'cold' day getting up to 32degrees ish .... so not looking forward to the hot days!
Today we went for a ride for about an hour around the area to get our legs moving. Riding on the right side of the road is always a challenge but haven't had any close calls yet and hoping to avoid them.
Looking foward to getting into some good training in this amazing area's weather and see what can be done to the fitness in the next few weeks!
Georgie :)
Our street
New home
our street again
And again
Today we went for a ride for about an hour around the area to get our legs moving. Riding on the right side of the road is always a challenge but haven't had any close calls yet and hoping to avoid them.
Signs warning about horses and carts...
Georgie :)
Friday, March 16, 2012
2012 begins
The first near 3 months of 2012 have gone by very quickly and a recent update is more than overdue.
The year has got off to a rocky start for me health wise. I have had a few on and off illnesses that have prevented some important training over summer, however the only thing that we could do was to be smart and do what I could and try to keep my fitness as best we could. My sickness has all been to do with chest and chronic sinus infections which makes it really hard for me to breathe.
At the start of February I headed down to Invercargill to the Elite Track Nationals to compete in the U19 Omnium champs. This trip was to get a good gage of my fitness and have some tough track training. I finished up in 4th place overall, getting 3rd in the flying lap, scratch and points races and 4th in the , pursuit, 500m and elimination. I was pleased at the end of the day with what I had achieved considering my health and it sure was some hard and close racing.
Then at the end of February start of March I was back down to Invercargill again for the Age Group National Track Champs. Again it was a tough champs but I was pleased with the way they panned out. In my IP I ended up in 4th place but I went 3seconds faster than 3weeks before which showed that things were looking up so that was pleasing for me to see. In the 500m I did a PB which was another positive of the week! I got 3rd in the Scratch race, 4th in the points and my Auckland team of Racquel Sheath and Devon Hiley won the Teams Pursuit! This is the second year in a row that my team has won the U19 TP. The racing was so tight and hard like last time which is always exciting. I came away from the week with some clear goals in my mind and areas to work on for the future.
Today it was announced that I will be in the team for the 2012 Junior World Champs in Invercargill in August of this year. I am so happy about this news and would like to thank everyone who has helped me in one way or another to get there again this year. I would also like to thank Avanti for putting me on some great bikes both on the road and on the track. I am loving riding my new Questa Team Road bike http://www.avantibikes.com/womens-race-performance-road/questa-team.aspx?bid=526 and can not wait to get on to my new Time Trial bike which is coming soon!
It is a fantastic experience being in a Junior Worlds team. This year we have a great team again and I can't wait for the racing, especially since we have a fantastic home advantage being on the track down south. I know this will fire the team up and we will have another successful year I'm sure!
For now its training for my school holiday of tours and camps and making sure Dio Cycling has a great start to the school cycling season.
Georgie :)
The year has got off to a rocky start for me health wise. I have had a few on and off illnesses that have prevented some important training over summer, however the only thing that we could do was to be smart and do what I could and try to keep my fitness as best we could. My sickness has all been to do with chest and chronic sinus infections which makes it really hard for me to breathe.
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| Team's Pursuit with myself, Alysha and Racquel. |
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| Racquel, Myself and Devon |
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| U19 Team Pursuit podium |
Today it was announced that I will be in the team for the 2012 Junior World Champs in Invercargill in August of this year. I am so happy about this news and would like to thank everyone who has helped me in one way or another to get there again this year. I would also like to thank Avanti for putting me on some great bikes both on the road and on the track. I am loving riding my new Questa Team Road bike http://www.avantibikes.com/womens-race-performance-road/questa-team.aspx?bid=526 and can not wait to get on to my new Time Trial bike which is coming soon!
It is a fantastic experience being in a Junior Worlds team. This year we have a great team again and I can't wait for the racing, especially since we have a fantastic home advantage being on the track down south. I know this will fire the team up and we will have another successful year I'm sure!
For now its training for my school holiday of tours and camps and making sure Dio Cycling has a great start to the school cycling season.
Georgie :)
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