Namaste!

Hi all,

To say that the past few hours or so has been an eye opener is quite an understatement. Whilst in many cases the trip here and the standards that we have been subjected to thus far have super seeded that which has been shown in the media it is still by Australian standards quite low.

In all honesty the buildings are not quite finished - but when I say not finished I am talking the finer details like some lawns and painting. Whilst most buildings are finished there are still hundreds of workers around the village doing things to get the village up to a livable state.

Not a bad building at all! Each floor has 4, 4 bedroom apartments each with 4 bathrooms, a kitchen and laundry. Pretty good really!

Our apartment houses the whole female track cycling team with twin share rooms and each room has its own bathroom. We have a decent size living room and kitchen as well. The apartments are quite a strange set up and I am told that when the games are over probably 4 different families will occupy this one apartment that we are using when in fact if we were back home in Australia I would be horrified by that thought and think that the apartment is a good size for just one family. It goes to show the differences between our cultures and living standards.

Contrary to what the media has been portraying the security here by far exceeded my expectations with checks as you get on and off buses and armoured guards everywhere, including a special lane for the Commonwealth Games buses that I kid you not has armoured gaurds every 50m or so. The man power is insanely huge.

Our trip from Europe to Delhi was reasonably comfortable – but a flight is a flight. Upon arrival in Delhi we were already getting the special treatment with a special immigration and customs section as well as food and beverages waiting for us. Once we got all of our luggage we were sent outside to the buses where Anna Meares was bombarded by the media.

Anna being bombarded by the media.

Again...our luggage is pretty massive for 8 people!

Dan looks pretty happy to be in another airport! Left to right: Anna Meares, Scott Sunderland and Daniel Ellis.

Finally in Delhi! : ) Very happy!

Our tracksuit is pretty inconspicuous!

The bus trip was a little long and tedious with the police vehicle having its siren on the whole time and the lots of twists and turns to miss the traffic that accommodates for 20million people in the one city – almost the entirety of the Australian population lives in New Delhi. We saw slums and stray dogs but on the other hand we saw beautiful temples and the people are more than welcoming, they are lovely and really want us all to have a great time and experience.

A view from our bus on the way to the village - the roads are in chaos because the commonwealth Games have its own lane...20million people are in gridlock - its good for us not so good for them!

The main stadium - its a pity I wont get to see it properly as I wont be doing the opening or closing ceremony.

Upon arrival in the village we showered and got to open our goodies bag which included all of our team kit and formal wear. I was like a little kid at Christmas and I am sure my mum is going to get some good wear out of some of the stuff once the games are over and done with! We were also briefed by the head honcho of the Commonwealth Games Association as well as some other very important people of which I cant say too much about but the briefing made us all feel safer and more secure.

The atmosphere in the village is already quite intense and only a quarter of the athletes are here. The dining hall is amazing and I have to concentrate on eating my food and not looking at everyone from all the different countries. Today I had lunch with some of the young Gymnasts from Australia who were lovely and who compete on the same days as I do. I am very taken with the Scottish men to! Ha-ha I don’t mind the accent at all and Anna tells me I should wait and see them in their Kilts! : )

These fridges are everywhere in the village and all drinks are free! Its like being a little kid in a candy shop! : )

But all that said and done I am first and foremost here to do one thing – ride my bike fast. We get on the track tomorrow afternoon which is exciting and I cant wait to see what the track is like. The weather is hot so I expect the track to be nice and fast. I also cant wait to test out our new riding kit – which is very yellow! It will look good on the bike. Until tomorrow everyone : )

Karls

India Bound

Hey all,

Well tomorrow the team and I finally leave Europe bound for India. There has been a lot of media attention and speculation over the event and it has created some tension within the team but mostly we are all actually really pumped up and ready to get there and let the Indian people (hopefully) put on a really great show - which I am sure they will.

We get regular updates from the Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACWGA) about the conditions and what to expect and from what they are telling us it all sounds like its pretty positive - despite what the Australian media in particular are saying. Our team manager Paul Brosnan is currently in India, and has been for nearly 48hours now and I know for certain that if he wasn't happy with the set up and conditions that we wouldn't be going - that is what makes Paul a great team manager, he goes in asks all the hard questions and gets us what we want.

At the end of the day we have been told that if when we get there we are not happy or concerned for our safety we can be on the first plane back to Australia. I think it is only fair to get there and make a personal assessment of the village and the atmosphere rather than base my opinion on what the media is saying - which most of the time is looking for a story and to exploit a situation. Of course I also have some reservations and some concerns but as I said I will be making my judgment when I arrive there.

Training has been coming along really nicely, and I am happy with where I am at and looking forward to what I can do in Delhi. We have been lucky here to be able to do a little bit of sightseeing, as you can see in the photos below. The town we are staying in is quaint and very pretty and I love all the flowers everywhere. One day I would like to have a nice colourful garden!

Anna and I doing some sightseeing - and some shopping! : )

I love the flowers! They are everywhere here!

Gary (my coach) and I pose for a photo with the mountains in the background.

It was Anna Meares' 27th birthday on Tuesday and we helped her celebrate by eating a nice chocolate cake and surprising her with a gift for a behind the scenes tour of Adelaide Zoo, where she will get to feed the animals and do all sorts of cool things like that! I hope she enjoys it!

Anna enjoying her cake!

I was a little unfortunate to suffer from a small bout of food poisoning earlier this week. I woke up early one morning feeling very ill and consequently spent a good two hours lying on the bathroom floor vomiting up my dinner. Since then I haven't had much of an appetite and the food here is relatively ordinary anyway so I am hoping the food in the athletes village is of a better standard. Luckily it only set me back 24hours or so and I was able to train at full tilt 48hours later after an epic 16hour sleep. Although I am sure it did impact my training, which I am taking as a positive because I was moving quite nicely in training.

With the camp ending in Europe a few of our key support staff made their way back home, as we can only have a certain amount of staff and riders at the Games. Ideally it would be great to have our whole support staff in India but this time its not to be. A big goodbye and thank-you to Tammie Ebert, Kevin Tabotta, Davide Cappelletto and Alec Buttfield (I hope I didn't forget anyone!). Also a big thank-you to our staff still on board and I look forward to sharing my first Games experience with you all.

Two staff members in Michael Winter a.k.a 'Mikey' (Mechanic) and Berthy May (Swanny) stop for a much deserved rest whilst we're at training.

I will be regularly updating my blog in India and I am also on Twitter, Facebook and I am featured athlete on the AIS website so please everyone keep an eye on what I am up to and I hope that I can help you all come on the Commonwealth ride with me.

Next I write you all I'll be India - wish me luck! : )

Karls

Commonwealth Games Support Messages

Hi everyone,

Its lovely to know that the support for the Aussies is at full tilt back at home and I have been getting some nice emails and messages from various schools and people showing their support for my Commonwealth Campaign.

A special shout out goes to my little sister Mackenzie and her class 2C and her teacher Miss Cooley at Camden South Primary School who are going to follow my progress at the games in class. Thanks 2C and I will definitley try to come back and visit you all when I return from the games - hopefully with some medals to show you all! : )

Also a big thanks to Jordana from Miss Browns class at St John Bosco school in Adelaide who chose to send me a lovely a drawing and good luck message. Thanks Jordana I really appreciate it! : )

The issues surrounding the Commonwealth Games seems to be growing in intensity now that we are only 12days away from racing and only 6days from arriving there. I have to say my original doubt over these issues being of concern is turning slightly, with hype particularly in the Australian media growing in intensity. If I remember correctly however there has always been issues before every major Games in the past with concerns before the Athens Olympics about venues being not being completed and of course the pollution concerns in Beijing.

I remember going to Cali in Colombia in December 2008 and being told of the kidnapping concerns. Whilst that in itself was an experience the trip non the less was a success and the Colombians put on a great show and I still to this day claim that racing in front of that crowd was by far the best crowd I have raced in front of. Of course there were times when it was a little confronting but I went to a third country coming from a developed and amazing country in Australia. India will be an eye opener - that is a guarantee. But for the most part I think it will be a great experience and the rest of the Australian cycling team and myself will be going unless the government deems it unsafe - so please everyone keep up the support and remain optimistic.

On that note the link to send support messages to any athlete/the team in general is:

mailto:commgames.aussie.team@gmail.com

The link to send support messages to cyclists is:

mailto:cycling.cwg2010aus@gmail.com

Take care all : )

Karls

16 Days!

Hey guys,

Well I sit here writing to you all now in beautiful Europe. It very nice here and its a stark contrast from America in so many ways. Like for example the roads here are narrow and the cars are mostly small but in America the cars are huge as are the roads. The food here is also a nice change from the highly processed and sugary food in America. Although I was a little scarred when I was told horse is a regular meat choice on the menus in the country we are staying. My mum will not like that one bit, being a horse fan! My mum's horse also just last week had a foal. His name is Ziggy and he is so cute as you can see in the photo below and I can not wait to get home in a few weeks time and spend some time with my family and all the new baby animals.

Ziggy and Wow

The rest of the camp in America ended well and we were quite sad to leave the friends we had made and the atmosphere and training environment. We are now however with the rest of the team and I am so happy to be rooming with good friend and fellow Commonwealth Games team mate Ashlee Ankudinoff. Whilst our accommodation is pretty basic its nice to be around the “enduro's” and on a new track in a new country. The drive to our hotel was a beautiful one and I got some good photos.

Anna Meares and I on a break from our 4hour car trip to our hotel.

Our trip over was again not uneventful, with four countries in 24hours and lots of luggage. Before we left we said goodbye to some of the team who unfortunately didn’t make the Commonwealth Games in Peter Lewis, Alex Bird and two staff members in Nick Flyger and Scott Baker - who are sorely missed here in Europe. During the camp it was Nick's 30^th birthday and he conveniently didn’t tell us, but we have a way of finding things out so we surprised him with a 'birthday cookie' that we got made for him. As you can see there are sheep on the cookie because Nick is from New Zealand and there is a long standing joke that New Zealander's love their sheep! Happy Birthday Nick!

Nick's Birthday Cookie - YUM!

We were unable to finish the whole cookie so we dared our team mechanic Stewart Smith to eat a 'cookie sandwich' in one minute – he did it but he didn’t feel very well for some time! It was rather entertaining on our behalf!

Stewart Smith - 'Stu' attempting to eat his cookie sandwich in a minute.

Scott Baker - our Strength and Conditioning coach

Sorry Pete, couldn't resist putting this one up! Nice hat! Yeeeehah.

With Peter and Alex gone two new sprinter team mates joined us in Europe in Shane Perkins and Jason Niblett. The pair have come off a very successful racing stint in Japan in the Keirin series and it is great to have the two 'parrots' (a nickname we affectionately give the jokers or the silly ones in the group) back training with us. Shane conveniently brought over a projector and lots of movies so we are all enjoying having team movie sessions in the common room.

Shane Perkins - 'Perko'

Jason Niblett - 'Nibbo'. Nibbo has an insane ability to push out his belly - its rather gross!

With only 16 days to go until the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India we now begin the countdown and everyone in the team is getting very excited, yesterday we were given our tracksuits to travel in and it was like I was a kid at Christmas. I was so excited to try it on – and perhaps a little bit proud of myself! Even our coach Gary West was parading down the hallways in his nice new trackie.

We have had some great training sessions and the spirit in the team is growing everyday, despite some ordinary ones thrown in there to make life interesting. Whilst I have had some emotional ones with a few tears shed here and there its very easy this close to competition to get anxious and nervous. I am in great shape (despite a small injury to my TFL from the travel) and I am the fittest, strongest and most powerful I have ever been...I just need to be patient and let the speed come. This, as my coach will tell you, is not really my forte (patience) and I tend to be quite harsh on myself so its been a little bit of a roller-coaster ride the past few weeks at times...with some great ups to come I feel.

Not a bad job huh?

The area we are in is beautiful!

One of the female 'enduros' Belinda Goss.

And so I end with a big thanks and a mental high 5 to my coach Gary West who tends to cop the flack from the downs of that roller-coaster ride that I am on. Thank you Gary – a great coach, mentor and person.

Tomorrow it is my good friend and team mates Anna Meares' 27^th Birthday and so I wish her a very Happy Birthday!

Karls : )

P.S. I have already been told by a few people that they have sent me support messages for the Commonwealth Games. A special mention goes out to Miss Kenneally and her year 7 class at Cowra High School! Thanks for the support guys and I hope that you will be cheering for me as I go for gold. Also a shout out to Camden High School for you're messages of support and whilst I haven't received any of them yet (I suspect I will receive them once I get into the village) I am definitely feeling the Aussie spirit behind me already.

Gatorade fights, wasp stings and suicidal chipmunks...

With only a week left on our training camp the days seem to be flying by in a bit of a fatigued blur. I cant remember being so stuffed from training for some time. All I seem to do at the moment is sleep, eat, train, study. This however is a good thing and is always the purpose of a training camp. I have been riding quite well and am showing some signs of the development of some sweet form. My team mates also seem to be thriving off the camp and everyone is in high spirits, despite being tired. We are all however looking forward to a change of pace and getting to our next destination and meeting up with the rest of our Commonwealth Games team mates before heading over to Delhi, including the rest of the sprint team of Jason Niblett and Shane Perkins who have been sorely missed!

I recieved a great email last week from my NSWIS (New South Wales Institute of Sport) team of Katie Slattery (Sport scientist) and Sam Pervan (Strength and Conditioning) of a photo of a skin-suit that I signed for NSWIS and Katie and Sam in particular. There is no way I would be where I am right now without there support and development of me as an athlete. I love returning home to NSW and using the NSWIS facilities and working with Katie, Sam and Gary Sutton (NSWIS head coach). I feel very proud to be up on the NSWIS wall of fame and be amongst such athletes like Ian Thorpe. Thanks NSWIS, Katie, Sam and Gary.

Sam on the left and Katie on the right.

As most people may know I am currently studying at the Australian College of Physical Education (ACPE), I have been really lucky to be able to do my subjects by correspondence and I have a really good lecturer and support team back at the College. I thank them greatly for having an appreciation for what I do and for my goal of (eventually!) obtaining a degree.

Next month I will be a feature story in the new Australian women's sport magazine called Move. Its a great magazine and I am really proud to feature in it so please do go out and buy a copy and support women's sport in Australia! : )

This past week has been quite a funny and testing one. Everyone has a cranky day and our poor coach Gary West tends to cop the flack of our cranky days. I said to Gary the other day what would he do if we all had a cranky day at once...he couldn't even comprehend that! Ha-ha.

With being tired and cranky comes some testing times between us athletes as well. Yesterday at track fellow NSW team mate Peter Lewis took it upon himself to create some trouble whilst I was taking a sip of my Gatorade he squirted it fully into my mouth which resulted in Gatorade going all over me! None the less I got him back by squirting the remaining Gatorade all over him. Vengeance is sweet! : ) I was also stung by a wasp yesterday as well, but it was only a small sting and I only suffered from a little but of inflammation thankfully! It hurt though!

There are a lot of chipmunks where we are staying and some of them are crazy little buggers. One little guy on our road ride the other day got a bit of a scare when he was crossing the road as we were riding along, he was quick to turn around and run back to his tree. It was quite funny - but then again we find a lot of things funny being so delusional and tired. Ha-ha.

This week has also marked the beginning of a lot of information starting to come through for the Commonwealth Games. Its starting to hit me a little and I get goosebumps thinking about it! Unfortunately though I found out last night that we will be unable to attend the opening ceremony as we race the following day. I will have to make friends with some other Australian athletes so they can take photos for me!

Apologies for the lack of photos this blog, I broke my last camera and only bought a new camera a few days ago - a lot of the photos are not very interesting, they are mostly of the taking photos of themselves posing. Ha-ha. So I will make a great effort before the next blog to take a lot of photos.