Australian Titles Day Three

As the temperatures continued to sore in Sydney the heat was proving to provide a fast track. Earlier on in the week Jack Bobbridge broke the Individual Pursuit World Record - a record that was thought to be untouchable. This was an amazing achievement for Jack and shows hes well on his way to hopefully claiming the rainbow jersey in the event at this years World Championships! It also proves to be an encouraging sign for the Australian boys Teams Pursuit Olympic hopes with some fast times also set by other members of last years winning Teams Pursuit team. The results all through the week are in fact a good sign for Australian Track cycling in general across all disciplines as we all work towards achieving Olympic glory in 2012.

Day three for me was the sprint rounds. In the quarter finals I met Catherine Culvenor from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Catherine rode two great rides showing some great skills however I was able to also ride two tactically astute races and come away with the win in two straight heats. This meant that I was to meet Stephanie Morton from South Australia in the Semi Finals.

Stephanie has made some great improvements over the past 12months riding a brilliant 200 so I was going in to make my point and set myself up for a hopeful ride against Anna in the final. Stephanie also races on the tandem and just prior to our race she rode a kilo riding a brilliant time only just off the World Record! I could tell she was hurting from this ride and whilst she put up a good fight in our races I was able to beat her in two straight heats to move on into the final against Anna.

On the start line against Stephanie Morton

As most people who follow me will know that the battle I have with Anna on the track is a great and tough one. Anna is a fantastic opponent and I am lucky to have such an opponent to come up against. I am not one who likes to come second and having always come second to Anna I am pretty desperate to get one up on her! After my poor qualifying result and Anna's fantastic qualifying I was a little nervous that I wasn't going to have the gas to match her tonight however that proved to be a false assumption. Whilst I wish I could say tonight was my night it wasn't and Anna reclaimed the sprint title. However I rode two very good rides and couldn't have asked much more of myself to defend my title. In Anna I am up against an athlete at the peak of her career - I believe currently Anna is the best female sprinter out there in the world and to be beaten by only half a wheel for me is a good sign that come the World Championships I will be not only able to mix it with these girls but win.

And the cat and mouse games begin...me following Anna

So close...yet so far! Up the home straight against Anna

My last ride against Anna proved to be a real awakening for me as I employed a tactic in a race situation that I haven't been too confident in using or successful in using. It forced me to use patience and I was stoked that I was able to do it in a high pressure situation against an opponent like Anna and execute it almost perfectly! It has given me a real sense of feel and awareness and I think for me its definitely something that when I execute it right will make me hard to beat! So I was very stoked about that.

Sprint podium left to right: Me, Anna Meares, Cass Kell

With the sprint over I was really starting to suffer in the heat. That night I slept poorly and couldn't go to the bathroom despite drinking at least 5-6litres of water during the day. That night during my warm up I actually stopped sweating and if I was sweating it was only water - no salts or electrolytes. This is a definite sign of dehydration and I was pretty surprised that I was dehydrated considering I was taking every measure to make sure I stay hydrated - this shows you how terrible the heat was. With only one more race to go I was actually looking forward for the racing to be over so I could rest and recover ready for the Manchester World Cup two weeks later.

Until tomorrow...