Making Resolutions.

As my preparation for the 2010 season rapidly heads into overdrive I thought it was about time I dusted the cobwebs off my laptop and got back into the swing of things-that is, keeping you updated about my cycling adventures and giving you a glimpse of what it’s like to travel the world as a professional cyclist.

So what have I been doing with myself since August I hear you ask? After a three week hiatus from bike racing in late September that saw me bar-hopping around Europe with my best friend I returned to Australia eager to get back into all things bike racing.

Having signed a professional contract to race with Team Columbia-HTC in 2010 (check out their website here: http://www.highroadsports.com/) I was faced with the prospect of returning to Europe in a little under three months to kick off my second European road cycling season and my first as a professional cyclist.

As it turned out, my plan to defer university for a year while I travelled Europe and attempted to fit in a bit of bike riding here and there wasn’t turning out exactly as I thought it would. While UNI is still happening, it will just take a little longer to get through. University, for me, will be done while tripping around the world chasing my dream and from the comfort of my European base in Girona, Spain- I have enrolled in a Bachelor of Communications which I will do completely by correspondence through Griffith University.

The idea of racing with, rather than against, one of the biggest teams in the world was incredibly motivating and I jumped straight into my training and preparation for the coming season.

This motivation was quickly dispelled when I came to the realisation that three weeks of no exercise, late nights, copious amounts of French pastries and Belgium beer doesn’t exactly leave you fit to climb Everest, let alone the small hills on Canberra’s bike paths (they’re tough!).

Needless to say, the first few weeks of my training program saw me dragging myself across Canberra on my push bike at a little faster than snail’s pace.

Now-two months on- I am a week out from my first race of the 2010 season, The Bay Criterium Series, and can only hope that the hard work I have put in will pay dividends. A series of four closed circuit races held every year around Geelong, the Bay Criteirum Series regularly draws some of the best fields for female cycling in Australia. After finishing third overall in this event in 2009 I am hoping I will be able to go one or maybe even two better.

Only a few days after this series is the Nationals Championships which will be held in Ballarat, as they are every year, and will be for the next six years...but lets not get into that. The recent announcement by Cycling Australia that the National Championships will be held on the same, arduous course for the next six years is a sore point for most road sprinters in Australia.

The Championships consist of three individual events: a Time Trial, a Road Race, and a Criterium. Having never won a national medal in any discipline on the Road, here’s hoping that I can finally start my collection.

So with the 2010 season moments away, what is my New Year’s resolution? While learning as much as I can from the best team in world features pretty prominently on my list of resolutions, keeping my blog regularly updated definitely takes the top spot.

But really, with a new team, a bigger race program and plenty of things to be learnt there will be no shortage of things to write about.

So I appeal to you to forgive my failures of the past and re-add me to your favourites. Watch this space, I promise it will be worth it.