2012 Olympics….Not to be

3/7/12

On Tuesday last week it was finally confirmed to me that my dream of representing Australia at the 2012 Olympics was not to be.  After coming home from my disappointing European World Cup campaign a few weeks ago, I have been, of course, resigned to the fact that the selectors would not look highly on my International results.  However, it only really hits home when you are actually told over the phone that your attempt at selection had failed.

This time last year I had no idea that  I would be in this position.  I started training in June 2011, with the aim of putting together a consistent domestic season over the summer months.  I raced a few of the marathon events and stage races over the winter and spring, while trying to build a solid base.  The racing, and consistent results,  helped keep me motivated through the tough Melbourne winter, which certainly lived up to its reputation with plenty of rain, freezing winds and at times hail. There weren’t many mornings when I could leave the house without more than 4 layers on.  I remember being reduced to tears during one particularly rough patch when what seemed like the worst weather Melbourne could throw up happened to coincide with some big training days.

I don’t know that many people fully understand just what it takes to get to the top level in mountain biking, or in any chosen sport for that matter.  From the outside it can look quite glamorous; however I can honestly say that a lot of hard work both on and off the bike is required.  I really believe that the two most common attributes of a successful sports person are hard work and dedication.  Its all well and good running talent identification programs to pick out those with the highest power to weight, the best skills on the bike, or with highest oxygen consumption.  These are all important contributors to success however, if these talented athletes are unwilling to do the ‘hard-yards’ they will only get so far.  Consistency of hard work is what really makes the difference between an average performance and the best an athlete is capable of.  Many people are motivated enough to string together a couple of weeks of solid training and controlled diet, however few can keep the motivation going for a months on end.  It’s when all of the above factors are combined, that a champion the likes of Cadel Evans is produced.  I certainly can’t claim to be one of the most naturally gifted of athletes, however I can honestly say that I do work hard and to a large degree this paid off during my 2011-12 Domestic Season.

I had structured my Season plan to peak for the 2012 National XC Championship with the goal of taking out the title. While the 2011 National Marathon title had been special, the XC championship is the one most highly regarded in Australia and it is the competition where all of the best mountain bikers in the country are guaranteed to compete.  In recent years I had come close with a couple of 3^rd places, however the top spot had eluded me and this goal kept my motivation high.

It was only after pulling on the National Champions jersey in Adelaide, and having finished the domestic Season undefeated, that my thoughts turned to Olympic selection.  The goal of getting to London all of a sudden seemed more realistic and achievable.  For Australian riders, the selection process is made difficult in more ways than one.  Yes, results are important at National Championships, however International results are looked at more favorably and of course to achieve this travel is necessary.  The majority of Australia’s top-ranked mountain bikers will spend the summer months juggling high training loads with paid work in order to save the funds required to get to the World Cup races later in the year.  Some are lucky enough to have great sponsorships to help with the costs and most have a supportive network of family and friends to help out.  It has been a combination of generous sponsorship, support from my partner Ed and my own coaching and podiatry work that allowed me to get to the world cup races over the 2011 and 2012 seasons and put myself in contention for the Olympic team.

Following my successful domestic season my International racing began in Rotorua, New Zealand, where the Oceania Championships were held.  For the Aussie Females, this was always going to be a tough race, given that the two best New Zealand females were ranked inside the top 20 in the World.  I was excited to see just how close I could get to both Rosara and Karen from New Zealand.  The race went quite well, although certainly not my best as I seemed to lack that extra “punch” to really accelerate through the corners and over the small pinches.  I finished up in 3^rd place, and top Aussie but still 4min down from 2^nd place.

From New Zealand it was onto South Africa, Belgium, the Czech Republic and France for World Cup rounds 1, 2, 3 and 4.  These World Cup races were most important for Olympic selection and for the Aussie girls it was important to get into the top 30. It was during this time racing overseas that my luck seemed to run out, and my clean run of races and good health came to an end.  I won’t go into too much detail as I have already done so in earlier posts, but in South Africa I suffered a nasty crash during the last lap, and from then on, during the remaining World Cup races, I was fighting to regain health after contracting a virus.  Even so, I was able to post some half decent results along with Rowena Fry from Australia in the elite women’s races.  Young Rebecca Henderson was the other shadow squad member and she was certainly stringing together some impressive results in the Under 23’s category.  Having her in a different race to Rowena and I, was always going to prove difficult for comparison.  The under 23’s was a completely separate race to ours, often held on a different day, in different conditions with a field generally half the size of ours.  Bec showed just how talented a rider she is with podium results and I certainly believe she was a deserved candidate for the Olympic spot, however I also believe that the comparison of results between her races and ours is like comparing apples and oranges.

In hindsight there are probably a number of things I could and should have done differently and perhaps I would have been writing about a better outcome.  However, I guess it’s always easy to look back on where you went wrong and devise a better plan.  Yes, I am disappointed I didn’t get the chance to really race at my best overseas and make a stronger bid for Olympics, however I also know that I’ve been extremely lucky to have been given the chance to even try.  A number of people have asked me, why I didn’t contest the Olympic selection and lodge a formal appeal.  I think that while comparison between the elite and U23’s races was extremely difficult, Bec did prove that she is a star in the making.  While she has not yet raced at the elite women’s level this Season, these Olympics will go a long way to providing the experience necessary for her to be in medal contention during possibly the next 2-3 Olympics.  I guess I have also come to realize, during the selection process this year, that Olympics doesn’t mean everything to me and wasn’t the sole driving force behind my motivation this year.  There are so many other events both in Australia and internationally where you can race the Nation and World’s best riders, all the while experiencing the different cultures and scenery of each venue and the fantastic friendships made along the way.  At the end of the day, I just love the sport of mountain biking and success at the highest level plays just a small part in my passion.

It has been great to have a decent break, following such a full-on year, and allow the mind and body to fully recover and re-charge.  It’s during these training breaks, that things are put into perspective and you realize that there is so much more to life than just riding a bike!  The downtime has allowed me to do things I don’t normally have the time for especially catching up with friends and family who have been such a fantastic support.

After having such a major goal of Olympic selection, I have found it very hard to sit back and come up with some new goals for the coming Season.  For me it is important to have some firm goals in place, before I can get serious about training.  I think to have the drive to train day in day out, despite weather, fatigue and other distractions, it’s important to have a vision of what it is you are wanting to achieve and when. I especially want to give something back to my major sponsors Anytime Fitness, Trek and Momentum Energy, as they have been so wonderful over the last 6 months of travel and racing. So, I have decided that once again, I would love to compete in a few of the major stage races held throughout Australia over the spring and early summer months.  Some of these will include the Cape to Cape in Western Australia, Terra Australis in the Victorian high country and the Forrest festival down in the Otway Ranges. I would also very much like to defend my National XC title as well as the Series championship over the 2012-13 Season.  For now these seem like some tough yet realistic goals, so I’d best get out and hit the trails and start shedding some of that winter baggage!