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