Goodbye Adelaide...Hello my dreams...

Well 4days and counting now before the team and I head off for our final prep for the Commonwealth Games. I suppose its only starting to sink in that in less than two months time I will be rolling out onto the track in Delhi not only wearing the green and gold but for the first time in my career realising one of my childhood dreams. To be a member of any Australian team is a huge honour but to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games means so much to me. Not only that but its yet another opportunity for me to try and make a stand on the international stage of cycling and put my hand up as one of the favourites going into London in the individual events. Gold is what I am dreaming of and gold is what I want to bring home. This for me is a stepping stone to the ultimate - the Olympics.

The last few days have been quite tough. Training was a little tougher than I expected for an 'easy' week and I struggled by the end of the week. Luckily I have a few very easy days until we fly out as I feel that my body has reached its limit in terms of how far I can push it. This is actually a good thing because it means that I utilised the phase of training to its maximum potential and I didn't under reach or over reach - both of which have serious consequences.

On top of the training load I have desperately been trying to finish two Uni assignments due next week - which I am finding very hard to sit still and complete! I'll get into a roll for 20minutes and then I'll start thinking about how windy it is outside or something else I need to pack in my bag for my trip! Its very frustrating! Like for instance right now I should be finishing them up but I decided to write in my blog instead! Ha-ha!

Tomorrow I will finish the exact art of 'bag packing'. We are allowed 20kg of luggage only to take away for two months. This is not an easy task let me tell you! To give you an idea just on shoes I have to take: gym shoes, runners and 2pairs of cycling shoes. These are necessities (you will notice I didn't include high heels!) and they take a good chunk of weight allowance - not to mention I need to take a variety of training kits. On top of that I have a few odds and ends to tie up and make sure I am basically all set to go tomorrow for a Tuesday departure!

As I may have mentioned in an earlier blog we travel to America for four weeks. After our stint in America we meet up with the rest of the Aussie team for the Com Games in Aigle, in Switzerland. There we will be riding on an indoor 200m track (a size that I have never ridden on before!). We are there for 2weeks before finally heading over to Delhi in India, where I am told we will be the first Aussie team into the village. Which is exciting because we will get first reign on the kit! The official team is announced this week (hopefully my name is on that list!) and I am looking forward to seeing who else will be donning the green and gold in India!

A special mention here to my latest sponsor Selle SMP, who are supplying me with my new saddles. I cant recommend these saddles any more highly. Since I started riding 5years ago I have changed saddles at least every year and finally I have found one which is SO good. Its very comfy and ergonomically designed to accomodate for both males and females. As seen in this picture I am riding the female version of the 'Forma' which is wider in the back (to allow for women with wider pelvic bones like me!) and as you can see it dips down in the middle. This is perfect for me as previously I tended to sit crooked on my seat (mainly because of comfort issues) and this seat doesnt allow this. I love it and I think all cycling enthusiasts should try one!

I will regularly update my blog every few days while I am away so keep an eye on my website.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MUM (aka mothership) FOR TOMORROW. I love you to the stars and back : )

Take care all : )

2010 Copenhagen World Championships Photos cont...

Hi all,

Here are my favourite photos from the last day of competition. I have just used the photos from the final as I cant remember which races are what other than the final. I did it the hard way on this day having to go through the reps, but it worked in my favour. It wasnt until the final that I had worked out all of the crap in my legs after my cramping on the 3rd day. In the first round of the Keirin I actually still felt like I was going to cramp and I remember sitting on the rollers warming up thinking oh my god, I cant do this. Well I made the final and finished 4th - so not a bad effort considering! It was one of those days where I learnt I a lot about myself and my ability to keep fighting to the end - and I certainly did that in the final almost crashing and missing out on 3rd place by a photo finish - I was so desperate for a medal!

Keirin

This is the repecharge coming out of the final bend into the home straight. I had to finish in the top two to go through and I came three wide and made it through. It was a massive relief and I was angry because I had had such a poor first round. This race hurt the most but it was the race that made my legs feel better afterwards believe it or not!
Last race of the last day. I think I was also one of the last riders riding for Australia. I am 5th wheel and I knew that if I had any chance of winning I needed to be alot closer to the front, soooo.......around I come as the derny swings off. I felt really comfortable here, very in control and I knew I had set myself up for a good chance......just covering myself and waiting for the next attack. I knew that I wasnt quite strong enough physiologically to win it from the front so my tactics were to wait for one to the two big guns to get to the front and then protect their wheel...

...just as I had hoped Simona made an attack around the outside and I was sitting pretty...

...bell lap and I am sitting very nicely. Only problem is that I got a little impatient at this stage as Victoria Pendleton was boxing me in and I should have just relaxed and waited a little longer before trying to come out......uh-oh last lap...one the inside - wrong choice! Start back pedalling! ....

All's I am thinking right now is 'SHIT'! Dont crash, dont crash! I came soooooo very close and I still cant believe I didnt come down! I thought Simona was going to be relegated because she came out of the sprinters lane, hence why I went underneath rather than over the top. If I had of gone over there is no doubt in my mind I would have medalled if not won. Winners were Simona Krupeckaite from Lithunia, Victoria Pendleton from Great Briton and Olga Panarina from Belarus.

Hope you enjoy...Karls : )

2010 Copenhagen World Championships Photos

Hi all,

I was very lucky to get into contact with a guy on Facebook who took some photos of me and other athletes whilst we were competing at the recent 2010 World Track Championships. Paul Sloper is a big fan of cycling and would love to be a full time cycling photographer. I have attached a few (he took alot more) of my favourites and its needless to say that they are great shots! Thanks Paul!

Favourites from Day One - 500m Time Trial

Setting up in the gates. I was fairly nervous before this one as it was the first event of the meet. A few things went wrong in my prep which didn't help the end result. I finished in 6th I believe.

This would have to be one of favourites of the lot, love the catch of the light.

Favourites from day two - Team Sprint

Setting up in the gates. I believe this photo is after the false start and before Anna falls out of the gate. I reckon Gary our coach is telling us to relax after the false start, I was pretty relaxed - clearly Gary was not! Ha-ha!

Again this is one my favourites, great shot!

The loneliest part of the Team Sprint - on my own down the back straight finishing it off. This shot shows how long the straights were in Copenhagen. Also shows how beautiful the track is.

This photo says it all really. Second World Record of the night - the first women EVER to break the 33second barrier and second time World Champion. I was so happy in this moment because it was a realisation that I had great form and that we had put it together under some immense pressure.

Favourites from day three - Sprint Qualifying and rounds through to 1/4 Finals

Sprint Qualifying. I was strangely composed at this stage and that calmness stayed with me right through until the 1/4finals before I suffered from severe cramps. I rode a PB in the QF. I was very happy.

I raced fellow Aussie Emily Rosemond in the first round. I beat her easily. I am at the bottom of the track.

I raced Willy Kanis from the Netherlands in the second round. Willy and I have had some tough races in the past and she has usually beaten me. I knew I would have to ride hard to win as she was the silver medalist at last years World Championships in the Sprint. I won fairly easily again to go through to the 1/4 Finals.

I had a formidable opponent in the 1/4finals in Simona Krupeckaite from Lithuania. Just before this race I cramped so badly I was crying. I had two minutes to get onto the line and I was still cramping as I sat on bike at the start line in this picture. Any calmness that I felt had disappeared very quickly and I was panicky and upset because I just quite simply couldn't put down any power without cramping. Simona defeated me very easily in two straight rounds.

Because I lost my 1/4final match up I had the 5th to 8th final. By this stage I had been constantly moving for over 2and a half hours because of the cramping and I was exhausted. Non-the less I finished 2nd in this round to finish 6th overall. It was a good end to a devastating result.

The last day was the Keirin. I will do a second post a little later today with my favourite photos from then. I have to go training now!

I hope you like and thanks again Paul.

Karls : )

Adelaide GP Photos

Hi all,

Here are some photos from the Adelaide GP courtesy of Maggie Elliott from Mags Photography. Mags took the photos for my website as well. Thanks Mags!

This is the Keirin heat. I had two of the guys controlling the race from the front and I was waiting to make a move around the outside on bell lap. I wasn't quite strong enough to come around both guys and finished 3rd and had to go through the Rep.

This is the Keirin Rep. Little did I know that the fourth rider pulled out with a lap and a bit to go so I rode the whole two and a half laps on the front at a reasonable pace, this was about 15min before the Team Sprint Final so I was hurting just a little!

Not sure exactly what this is before, probably the Keirin Rep. Anna and I are chilling waiting to go up! Go the 5Bling gloves as well! : )

Anna and I gearing up for the final of the Women's Team Sprint. We rode a lot better in this round then we did in the heat. In the heat we ran our normal racing tyres but because it was so cold the tyres weren't gripping the track as nicely as they normally would (it was 10degrees - hence the leg warmers and jackets). Anna actually fell out of the gates in our heat because the tyres were so slippery and I almost didn't get on in the heat because my back wheel was skipping. We rode our training tyres in this final and it went a lot better - mind you we were still a fair bit off our World Record!This is me with Malaysian sprinter Fatehah Mustapa. I have raced Fatehah a lot in the past two years, and even teamed up with her for a Team Sprint at the Perth GP two years ago. She is a fantastic opponent with a lot of potential. I hope to race against her at the Commonwealth Games later this year.

Now that I have figured out how to publish photos expect to see a lot more up here from now on! Until next time...

Karls : )

Adelaide GP

Last weekend our last race meet was raced at our home track in South Australia. The Superdrome was cold and slow as we turned up to compete over two days. The first day was the sprint and the girls were matched up with some men around the same pace when we're at our peak. Obviously being winter and 3months out from an important meet the form wasn't so great and my sprint qualification time was a direct reflection of the training I have been doing as well as the direction I want to head in with my racing. As a result I qualified quite poorly and set myself up with the hard task of meeting a male in the first round. I raced off against Mark Glowacki from South Australia who qualified in 11.6 - definitely not an unbeatable opponent. I raced really well but was out jumped and beaten fairly easily. As a result I was into the B-Finals in which I raced off against all the remaining girls. First up I met youngster Cassie Flugee from Western Australia and won, then I met Junior Worlds representative Holly Williams also from Western Australia and won and then in the final I met fellow New South Wales team mate Cass Kell in which I also won. All in all I actually raced really well which is an improvement from Perth GP, now all I need is the speed!

The following day we had an early start, after a late night and went straight into a Team Sprint at 10am on Sunday morning! (OUCH!). I always say that the first Team Sprint of the season hurts the most and my philosophy held up well as I was in some serious pain at the end of both the heat and final. Anna and I won easily and were content with our time considering the conditions however we have a lot of work to do to get back to our World Record pace!

In between the Team Sprints we had Keirin races and we were once more matched up with the same males from the sprint the day before. I drew one of the harder heats and raced really well but was out classed by the two males in the race and had to go through the rep to get back into the second round. In the rep I had an easy heat and finished easily in the top three to make it through to the second round. In the second round I had my work cut out for me and just missed out in making the major final in a photo finish. I was a little annoyed but pretty happy with my race as I did very well. So I was into the B-final. In the B-final one of the guys decided to take a flyer a fair way out from the finish and I was forced to chase him down. After leading out one Keirin and riding two team sprints I was pretty stuffed and whilst I managed to mow him down I couldn't quite get over the top of him and had to settle for 8th overall.

I was actually very pleased with the weekends racing and have decided it was a good step forward tactically for me. Whilst I didn't have the speed or gas to go with my improved tactical awareness I am satisfied that I am on the right rack for the Commonwealth Games and beyond.

On a disappointing note we have just found out that a few of the key Great British riders are pulling out of the Commonwealth Games. Victoria Pendleton is the current World and Olympic Champion in the Sprint and she has decided not to participate in the games due to a conflict in preparation for the season. I have an appreciation for this decision as I am sure it was a hard one, but at the same time its disappointing to not get the opportunity to race against her. Having said that there are still a number of key competitors to race against and I look forward to the challenge that lies ahead in claiming those gold medals for Australia.

Next up the team and I are preparing for our training camp in America. I am looking forward to getting over there and soaking up the sunshine. After 4weeks there we head to Switzerland to meet up with the whole Australian Team for the Games before heading to Delhi to compete. I will definitely keep you all posted (hopefully with some photos!).

Take care all : )

Karls (or K-Mac as my coach calls me!)

Adelaide GP preview

Hi all,

This week the team and I are preparing for one last racing hit out before the Commonwealth Games. Today I am sitting at home not feeling 100% so I have been given the day off in order to try and be in the best shape possible come the weekend.

Its tough for me to sit at home not doing anything, when I know I could probably train. I also know that if I did train I would almost certainly get sick. As a sprinter we train at above threshold for the majority of sessions and you cant be unwell otherwise you cant ride well and get the adaptation required. This is something that has taken me awhile to be OK with as my old idea of training was you should flog yourself all the time, but as a sprinter you just can not do that.

This week has been and will be quite exciting for me as I have visitors down for a week. Over the weekend I had my good family friend Brie Dutton down and she came and experienced the life of a sprinter...I think I may have scarred her a bit as she joined in on one of our sessions and she was very very sore even before we had cooled down - this is a normality for me. If I don't walk away feeling smashed I haven't done my job right! My dad and my brother arrived as Brie left and my brother stays for a week whilst my dad drove my old car back to Sydney to sell (thanks Dad!). My brother, Jack, recently took up cycling and he is going to be a force to be reckoned with in a few years time when he gets some miles under his legs. My brother is what I call and 'enduro' - or in other words he rides on the dark side! ha-ha!

My mum and my littlest sister come down on Friday and stay over the weekend to watch me race and then I probably wont see any of them until after the Commonwealth Games - and that is one of the many sacrifices I have had to make to be the best I can at what I do.

As most of you may know the Tour De France has begun and Aussie rider Cadel Evans is in Yellow! Go Cadel! It would be great to see him win and be the first Aussie to win the prestigious event - especially as the current World Champ!

I shall update everyone after the weekends racing here in Adelaide.

Take care everyone : )

Karls

Perth GP

Last week the team and I made a quick trip over to chilly Perth for our first race of the season. Flying in the night before and racing all day Sunday before flying home again straight after racing finished, it was a tough 48hours that didn't go as well as I had hoped for considering my very good physical condition for this time of the year.

That aside racing is racing and I learnt a lot and have come out of it a better athlete after a disappointing meet. The day started off at 10am with sprint qualifying in a warm 5degrees!! We were really lucky to be able to race in leg warmers (you're actually not allowed to) and could at least stay a little warmer! I qualified poorly after over gearing myself and suffered the consequences of a sub standard time for me. This then shattered my confidence a little bit and as a result I raced very poorly finishing 3rd overall.

We were lucky (or rather I think unlucky! ha ha) to get the opportunity to race a handicap today and as the same with last year the sprint girls and I were out to show the endurance girls how to ride a bike fast! We did a great job of that with Anna Meares winning the handicap for the second year running after Emily Rosemond and myself led her to victory (dropping the endurance girls in the mean time! hehehe). BUT gease I suffered after that race. My legs were so badly lactated I wanted to curl up into a little ball and cry! It took me a good 10min to come good again before getting back out on the track for the Keirin.

The Keirin as usual went well for me. I put myself in good positions and raced to my strengths against the opponents I was up against. I was a little unfortunate to get beaten by a better rider up the home straight in Anna Meares and I just need a little more time and hard training to be able to hold my own against riders like Anna. All in good time.

This week we entered our last big phase of our prep for the Commonwealth Games and my body is a little worse for wear already! My injury seems to be coming along nicely with only the occasional niggle after our bigger sessions, which is a huge improvement from the everyday pain I was in for a while there. Next up I have the Adelaide GP on the 17th and 18th of July and I am really looking forward to putting out on the track the 'Kaarle McCulloch' that is within me.

Until then...take care everyone!

Karls