The year goes by quick when you are having fun...and totally busy.

It is now November 2008,  nearly 11 months since my last update in this section.
Nearing the end of my 3rd year racing I am starting to find my niche and get smarter in my racing and training. Some great successes and some awesome people I have achieved and met. 

A new sponsor alongside of Torquay Cycling Factory has come on board.  Hi Giant, Hi Darren Rutherford.  Hi Jo Hall.  Thanks for seeing how I fit in your team.  Looking forward to some great riding and a fun relationship.

The year so far:

January: Australian XC championships at Mt Stromlo - 19th in Elite Women
Australian National Road Championships at Mt Bunningyong - Open women, finished 5 laps with bunch, did one more and then DNF.  what an experience.

February:  Ouch - a - rama.  The Otway Odyssey hurt like crazy and my brain did not want to play.  I think I finished 15th in Open women. 
Had fun all Feb doing the Friday night  races with GMBC at the Youies.

March:   Did a Tri X race at Lysterfield on a cranking hot spell day, got sick the next day.  Had 2 weeks off the bike. Time to reconsider my training and my reason for entering races.

April:  Back on the band wagon.  Feeling fitter.  Did MTB Tour guide course at Bright for a week.  Had a great base training week doing this.  Started a four week block of track, just 3 hours on a sunday for 4 weeks.  Awesome for speed and power.  Feeling Strong.  Did the 50km BMC Classic at Woodend and won it, came 4th overall, feeling bloody awesome. How did I do that!? All on one Torq Bar and one bidon of Torq drink.

May: A few fun enduros, Geelong 6 hr, Anaconda Enduro @ Lysterfield, You Yangs Duathlon and a club road race.  Mixed in with our first MTB Skills camp at Anglesea with the most mud I have ever ridden in.

June:  Another Anaconda Enduro, A fun Stage Race at the You yangs and a lot of cold rainy winter days.

July:  Colac Road Race, 30km loop race at You Yangs, and a 6 hour Enduro at Lysterfield.  Starting to kick goals again!  Yey.

August: Some long training rides coming on now on the roadie.  An Adventure race with Liz and Christy in the snow at Daylesford, A road race, and a horrible Castlemaine 6 hour enduro(just was not my day)..and our RDS weekend camp at Forrest.

Sept: More long road rides....quite a few.  Some tough work with Sally coming to stay and many hours spent riding.  Bendigo 6 hour which I won convincingly and had a fun time with our gang.  And training with Calum who is more than half my age...some good training had!

Oct: The last of my long rides culminating in a 220km very long and hilly road ride.  Just over a week later...Scott 24 hour - "I won!"  Oh wow...I can win a big race like this?!  Then 2 weeks later I won the Surf Coast 6 hour...crazy!  Then off to Bright for some riding and R& R with Jeff, albeit sick as a dog.

...and that brings me to November.

Nov:  4 days of MTB climbing up in Bright with Gen.  Gravity 12 hour in female pairs (a win ) with Jac.  And now with just over 2 weeks to go until I will be on my bike racing the Kona 24 hour.

This week (10th-16th Nov) has been crazy-

• about 5 media committments
• winning the Colac Sportsperson of the month award(go to dinner next month to recieve award)
• a new sponsorship deal with TCF and Giant bikes

• ...and just loads of love and friendship from so many people.

January 2007 is when I wrote to following...

It is now January 2008 and it is amazing how time flies. 

This will be the beginning of my 3rd year riding and racing continuously and I am about to turn 35!

My daughter will be turning 14 only a few days earlier and Norm, well he is now 37, may as well round that off to 40 eh?

Anyway...my story still remains the same...

As a child, I was a “bookworm artistic type”. 
Sport?  Competition?  What the?
However, I still loved my bike always.
Being the eldest child, I was quite happy to make my own fun.
I used to plan long trips on the bike with a picnic in my back pack.
There were no mobile phones for my mum to call me and ask where I was…just me, a trail and my bike…ALL DAY LONG! 
This was to set a trend in my life that I did not realise until later in my life.

As a teenager, I encountered a bit of a hiccup. 
In 1987, I was 14 and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease.  A form of cancer.
“No Problem”, I thought.  Just a little distraught at the thought of losing my hair with the chemotherapy, that’s all.
After my treatment was over & I was in the clear I convinced my family to join the local leisure centre where I began to nurture my passion in health and fitness.
It was not much longer after this in 1988 that with the help of a few keen teachers we managed to organise a school trip on the Great Victorian Bike Ride.
Once again, building upon my “cycling trend” for the future.  The ride was so much fun that I went again in 1989.
As a 16 year old, doing year 11, I kept 2 casual after school jobs to save up to go and also buy a new bike.

After leaving school I did the unthinkable and got married at 18 years of age.
Married life took me to Sydney from December 1991 to November 1992.  My husband was in the Navy and I completed 6 months of Uni. 
Whilst in Sydney, we both bought new road bikes and got rid of the car.  Cycling was the best form of commuting in Sydney.  We did also do a few longer trips north and south of Sydney.
November 1992, after my husband Norm left the Navy, we moved to the Gold Coast.
Soon after we got involved in the cycling scene and used to compete in club criteriums on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  I was also unemployed and used to go to the then CES(Centrelink) in the morning(of course on my bike).  If there were jobs to go for, then I would not ride, if there was nothing of interest, I would plan a ride anywhere between 50-120kms long, often in the Hinterland behind the coast.  Aaaahh…what a life!

As winter approached of 1993, we were introduced to the mountain biking scene by my husbands brother, Rick Douglas.  My first ever ride was in Nerang State Forest on a fully rigid frame.  As scared out of my skin that I was, it was not long after that I entered my first race and had my first Mountain bike. 
It was a weird way that I aquired my first mountain bike.  I had a friend who had one and wanted a road bike, I had the road bike and wanted the mountain bike.  We were both the same size, height etc…so we swapped bikes and shoes!
So Mid 1993, I had done a few races and a 3 hour enduro.  However I was now 3 months pregnant.  I continued to ride for as long as I could, but eventually in about October at 6 months, my belly got in the way so I resort to swimming and aqua aerobics(boring!).

January 1994 saw the birth of my daughter, Saskia. 
By the end of February I had a new road bike and did a few crits again as well as some local Mountain Bike races.  Post baby fitness was non existent and I suffered heaps, but still kept riding! 

June 1995 and we moved back to Geelong where I am from.
This is when we lost contact with the cycling community and spent some time being parents.  You know, riding along the river with the bike seat, then progressing to walking along the river with your kid on a 3 wheeler, then eventually convincing them to have a go without the training wheels. 

So after many years I think I must have forgotten about the cycling bug, until in December 2005, me and a few friends went riding at the You Yangs.  Out came the fully rigid bikes and that blurred vision as you descend for the first time in 10 years.
Anyway, we were hooked and was born the first challenge. 
Fat Tyre Flyers, Hard Day at the Office 8 hour enduro!  What a challenge!  I went in a female pair and my husband in a male pair.  By now we had gone out and bought our first entry level hardtail bikes from our local bike shop, Tri 2 Cycle. 

In 2006 I amazingly completed and competed in 24 races around Australia.  That’s nearly 1 a fortnight.  I have an account of all the money spent and let me tell you, its more than some people would spend on a round the world holiday of a lifetime!
During 2006, I upgraded my bike from a Scott Reflex 20 to a Scott Genius RC.  Bought so many new kits that I can wear something different every day of the week and still have choices left at the end.  I have also spent some time and money on improving my fitness and skill on the bike with various coaches such as Donna Rae-Szalinski, Rob Faul & Rob Eva.
This investment in myself has allowed me to progress from the level of Sport Women through to Expert Women.  I have also completed many solo enduro events from 6 hour, 12 hour to 24 hour.  All with podium finishes.  Actually I managed 13 podium finishes out of 24 races!   

2007 is going to be a bit tougher.  People expect more, I expect more!  It will be hard work to achieve as many podium finishes again as I pit myself against some of Australia’s best who have been riding and racing consistently for up to 10 years. 
However, I am looking forward to participating, learning and improving, which in turn will allow me to have more fun than ever!

...2007 was tough with lots of podiums and a realisation that I am more suited to endurance events rather than olympic format XC racing.  I also had some fun with road racing and am starting to like this aspect of cycling too.  I like the mind games and tactics where as racing MTB is more about an individual effort of hard yakka the whole time.

I was able to complete the year winning the female SOLO category at the Kona 24 at Forrest on Dec 1st and 2nd.  This enabled me to qualify for the WORLD SOLO CHAMPIONSHIPS at Canmore, Alberta in Canada late July 2008.

This year will be a new level of hurt again. 

I am enjoying being a role model to other cyclists in general and hope to build on this as I gain greater credibility in the world of cycling.

Many people have told me now that I have done 2 years, that is the minimum time required to get your legs and body used to cycling.  Sort of a mini apprenticeship.  I suppose now I have another 2 years until I am "fully qualified!"