Chula Vista Update - Sarah
3 July 2008
As you may know, I went down to Wellington, the night before I flew out to USA for the opening of the new BikeNZ building. I arrived in the afternoon where I went to the NZOC to meet some people there. While I was there, I did an interview in the new Olympic Museum with a TV One crew for the official announcement of making the Olympic Team.
After that, I went out to the Hutt Valley Thunderbolts BMX Club and met a whole bunch of BMX kids to give a brief talk and sign some autographs. It was very cold and about to rain so one of the neighbours let us use his garage so we were all out of the elements.
At the opening, I got a tour of the building and talked to a few people before opening the Pelorus Trust Sports House. It wasn’t until the photographer told me to hold the ribbon (with swimmer Philip Rush) before I pulled it that I was actually going to be opening the building. This Sports House isn’t just BikeNZ. Touch NZ, Swimming NZ, Softball NZ, Handball NZ, Volleyball NZ, Sport Wellington, Wellington Volleyball, Wellington Rugby League and Leisure Active also occupy the building (as far as I know).
I arrived in America on Saturday evening after flying from Auckland to LA then onto San Diego. It had been a few busy days so I upgraded to business class. I needed to catch up on good sleep and I wasn’t going to get it in economy. It was great, good food and lots of room. Played PSP, then watched a movie before sleeping and waking up for breakfast.
Once arriving into LA, I spent four hours at the Qantas lounge before getting my second flight to San Diego. The rear seat was free so I got four seats to myself for the flight and I slept the whole way on that flight (about an hour). When I arrived, I caught a taxi to the hotel and chilled in my room until the next day.
On the Sunday, I went to gym with Matt Kritz (gym coach from New Zealand) who happens to be in San Diego visiting family which is a massive coincidence. After gym, I went to Walmart to get some food before heading home to play some more PSP.
Monday, we got to ride the track for the first time. Marc and Ken turned up about 20 minutes before our track session because their flights had been delayed overnight.
The track was a little different to what I imagined it to be. But the start hill is exactly the same and the layout of the track was up there as well. All the jumps on the track were slightly harder for training purposes. There is no track in the World as good as this one besides the Olympic track (which we can’t get on) so we are really lucky to have the chance to get on it.
The training went well but there was a pretty big side wind so we didn’t get to do every straight but it was good to get a feeling of the track again.
Tuesday was the same but everyone got to get on the track together on Wednesday morning from 9am. The wind doesn’t come in till about 11am so it was really good to get some riding done without the wind affecting anything. Worked on the second and third straights for a while, trying to get the most out of each jump. After getting some guts to do the first jump, I went up to the top of the start hill and did some gates with Kim Hyashi (USA) and Nicole Callisto (AUS). Did a few gates with them and felt pretty good.
For the next two weeks, we will be on the track almost everyday with other trainings around the track sessions. I look forward to getting lots of time on the track and feeling comfortable before heading home to New Zealand to finish up the Olympic build-up.
Thanks for everything,
Sarah
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