Final Chapter

So the journey is over......I made it to the Olympics and had the time of my life. To be part of such an amazing experience will be with me forever. The days leading up to the race were a little nerve wrecking. It started pouring rain two days before the womens race and didn't stop, the course turned into a slippery mess and the organizing committee decided to postpone our race till 10am the same day as the mens. Race day arrived very hot and humid but I was ready, I started at the back of the grid but moved up quite quickly to find myself in mid pack. I felt fantastic for the first two laps sittng in 19th and punching up all the steep climbs. The third lap the heat started to get to me and by the fourth lap I was a mess. All I could think about was escaping the heat and my head wasn't with it anymore. I stopped to collect myself and four riders passed me, I was beyond that and managed to finish that lap to finish 2 laps down. I can quite honestly say that it was the hardest race I have ever done and although I had good form and felt fantatsic at the beginning the heat took its toll on my body. I did my best and thats all I could ask for.

Ry and I did a bit of sightseeing around China after the Games including the Great Wall, Mings Tomb, Summer Palace, Silk Street Pearl Market and treated ourselves to an amazing foot massage. China is a beautiful country and I had a great time. I am back in the States now getting things back in order and who knows whats next for me...

2008 Beijing Olympics

What a whirlwind of action. We arrived in Beijing on the 17th after what felt like two days of travel, 28 hrs in transit actually. Anyway was pretty wrecked and even more gutted when my bike didn’t come out of those magical bulky baggage doors. Doh! W e caught a taxi straight over to the clothing warehouse (massive) and were outfitted with enough clothing for an army, pretty chuffed with the haul. Then zoomed back to the village for a 9pm dinner at the dining hall (experience within itself) then fell into bed at about 10pm. Rose the next day with promises of a bike which did not materialize and ended up visiting the mtb course on foot just to check it all out. Was planning on a hard hit out on the course on Tuesday so when my bike still wasn’t here I was getting a little desperate. Much to my relief they had located it and it arrived at 1:30pm. Just enough time to build it catch the bus out to the venue and cut a few laps before they closed the course for the day. Yeah! The course was pretty crazy. A lot different to the test event, they made it a lot more technical and the hills are like riding up bloody vertical walls. I picked my way round the first laps but was pretty comfortable after 4 laps when we packed up and caught the bus back to the village.
Can I just say that being a part of the Olympics is f*#king awesome. I am loving everything, the smog isn’t too bad, the village is amazing, the other athletes are awe inspiring and the Beijing people are sooo friendly. So far I have only had a chance to visit the velodrome but I am hoping to check out a few more events when time allows. Cool, cool, cool. I leave you with a few pics of the village and travels in Beijing.

Pink Jersey

Photo from the VTT

Hex Stage 3, 4 & 5

Sorry for the lack of updates. Stages don’t start until 2pm and by the time we finish clean up, got to dinner and travel to next stage there isn’t a lot of time for blogging. Anyway we competed in the 4.2km TT in Paris on Sunday which was crazy. We had to ride up and down stairs and it had a fair amount of running too. It was drizzling rain which made the cobblestones extremely slippery. I was feeling good and actually came first, Kate second and then Laurence in third. I scared myself pretty good on one of the slippery ramps but the crowd enjoyed it.
Next day we had a fairly flat stage through farmland with some steep running sections. It turned into a roady format with large bunches forming. I missed the lead women’s bunch but Kate and I worked together well and also Josh Keep helped us out. We finished about 15sec behind Laurence’s group so we didn’t lose too much time.
Going into the last stage I was 6min behind. Once again it was of benefit to work with a group although I found myself at the front a lot on the first lap. I escaped from Laurence on the first lap when she stopped to pull a stick out of her derailleur. The course had a lot more technical sections than the previous day so I had a bit of an advantage over Laurence Laboucher today. Dan McConnell was waiting for me on the second lap and when I caught up to him he proceeded to pace me around the course while we gained time on Laurence Laboucher. It was a very tough race which didn’t let up at all and by the finish I crossed in first for the women and had 10min on second place. This gave me the overall win and the Pink Jersey. Pretty stoked I won the 2008 l’Hexagonal VTT. Thanks Dan!
Dan and I flew back to Italy after the race and are now at the AIS Base again for 4 days. We fly to Beijing on the 17th to prepare on the Olympic course.

Hexagonal Time Trial and Cross Country

The Hex TT was one lap of a 7km course, not a lot of climbing and a fair amount of weaving throughout the town Vittel. I headed off at 6:04 just behind Kate and followed by Laurence Laboucher. I felt good and strong and finished 2nd, 9sec behind Laurence. Just as I finished my race it started to rain, then pour, then hail and then massive hail. Dan was just on the starting ramp when this started so as you can guess his time was a little slower than the rest of ours due to the crazy weather.

The cross country started at 2pm and the women had 3 laps of the 12km course while then men had 4 laps. We were all set off together which was pretty crazy as the women were totally swamped by the men in the first 100m. I was feeling strong on the first lap and led Laurence but she passed me on the next climb and I found myself floundering in the mud. The whole course had turned to mud and the decents were just a slippery dip while the climbs were a slog with your bike weighing 3x as much as usual. I finished 6min behind the leader so was pretty pleased with that.

Today was a rest day and we drove 400km onto the next stage. We have a Time Trial through Paris tomorrow and apparently it is quite scary and technical but only very short - 4.2km. I am looking forward to checking it our myself.

Pics are from me in the Cross Country and Dan McConnell in the TT (check out the hail on the ground in Dan's pic)

L'Hexagonal Stage Race

Touch down in Vittel, France. We are here to compete in the L’Hexagonal Stage race for some good training and race prep for the Olympics. The Aussies have two teams the National Team with Dan McConnell, Andrew Blair, Adrian Jackson and myself and the Composite Team with Kate Potter, Nick Both, Josh Keep and Alban Lakata (Ring in) . So far we have had the team presentation followed by a team demonstration over an obstacle course set up in the middle of the main street of Vittel. It consisted of two crazy jumps that everyone rolled, 2 sets of 3 log jumps, a sand pit, a gravel pit and a bridge crossing. Each team was timed and had to do 2 laps with the fastest 4 teams progressing to the next round. The National team did well with a third place which was pretty cool. We were all happy to get through the course with no accidents since Dan KO himself on a log jump in this race last year
Today we have the Time Trial on a 7km course but we don’t start racing until 5pm tonight.
Andy sporting his antique Oakley sunnies & a Team Meeting in our plush Formula 1 accommodation and the podium flowers from 3rd place