08.06.12

Ali Shanks updates us - News from the London Olympics build up.

Alison Shanks

This update is definitely very delayed, but I still wanted to write and share with you what an amazing feeling it was to win a second world title in front of what felt like a home crowd in Melbourne. We had so many Kiwis’ travel across to Melbourne to support us and your cheering really does make a difference. To be able to stand on that top step again and hear the NZ national anthem play was so special. To produce a personal best time by 1.5sec to make the final took a massive ride and then to back that up in the final to take the win was a day I will never forget. I would also like to mention a thank you to National coach Dayle who allowed Craig to call my race – this was so special to have Craig there track side calling my lap splits as I rode to victory.

The last few weeks in NZ were full on!! Lots of off the bike commitments as well as the day to day training to cram all in together.

After the Olympic team announcement we enjoyed a week long team camp in the Hawkes Bay which included the Club Nationals Time Trial as well as the Road Race. Was great to be back racing on the road again and I really enjoyed racing my Avanti EvoII with Di2 (amazing!!), and even got to unleash a sprint in the road race to win the bunch kick for 2nd place, while Reta Trotman an Otago team mate was super strong all day and took the win solo.

I have now skipped town, well country actually and spent a week in Monterey, California getting in some long road days with some good climbing before heading down to LA to meet up with the rest of the track team who just arrived in from NZ. We had a really solid block of training on the LA velodrome and we have now made our way across to the east coast in Pennsylvania. We are back in our same apartments from the last few places and for five weeks Kutztown will be home. It’s a little university town and with the all students on summer break it is a pretty quiet place. The country roads run out in all directions, with rolling hills and cornfields, perfect for our next phase of training on the road to London. I hear it’s pretty cold back home now, especially down south where the first lot of snow has fallen so it’s certainly been nice to leave the thermals, arm and leg warmers behind and replace them with the necessary sunscreen!

I’m really excited about the next few months as we build, and build, day by day to August 3rd & 4th – our race days.

Will keep in touch, and for more regular short updates follow me on Facebook.com.

Alison Shanks

AVANTI RIDERS