Giro begins...

Unfortunately I have only a few seconds to write, and no time to try and attach photos..I am down near Rome at a place called Isola Faranese for the Giro dell'Italia Donne...the 10 day women's version of the Giro. My team has chosen not to do the Giro and so I am down here with the Australian National Team. It is a little different as you really get into the swing of how your team does things....but its nice to speak some 'Aussie' and get to know some of the up and coming girls of Aussie cycling a little better.

We started yesterday with a 5.2km primarily uphill individual time trial which was a struggle in the afternoon sun. The race had been moved forward 3 hours so that the Italians would all be packed up and ready to watch the soccer at 9pm...Italy vs Ukraine...and they through to the semi-finals...lucky I think or a national day of mourning would be in place.

There is no internet access or phone lines where we are staying really so I am sitting behind the reception desk at the hotel using their computer...they don't seem fazed by this at all! We move tomorrow and hopefully I get the chance to write some more.

Matrimonio Italiano style

So….my first Italian wedding and I was to be a bridesmaid to the groom, a very different concept to how we do it in Australia but then I am beginning to realize that we often do things differently. In Europe it seems that the whole idea of an engagement ring is not nearly as important as at home. Sometimes one is given, but not often and there is no standard protocol as in there must be a diamond involved….here the bridesmaid don’t dress the same, they just wear whatever and at the reception the bride and groom have their own table and the rest of the wedding party sit wherever. So apart from that and the fact that there is lots of very dirty, 21st party style jokes….its all the same, well they get married….maybe that’s the only similarity…but they don’t say ‘I do’, just ‘Si’.

So….pre-wedding there is a separate buffet for the bride and groom’s guests….Massimo was at his parents house and we had 70 people here downstairs at the apartment….it was only 36 degrees, so just lovely J The whole day was much more relaxed than I expected, the wedding was due to start at 5, buffet at 4 but at 12:30pm the bride suggested we all go for aperitif’s at the local bar….so down we all went and sat, had a drink at Bar Roma and relaxed, very nice. Liv and I then headed to the restaurant to set-up, being the dutiful bridesmaids that we were (Liv was Baby’s bridesmaid)…All went to plan, the bride made her appearance and then we headed for the ‘town hall’ of Novellara for the civil service. The bride, dressed in dark red emerged from her Volkswagon mini and the groom, dressed in white was nearly teary…so beautiful was his bride J The ceremony was brief but lovely, they had to agree to sections of the Italian civil code and then the mayor of Novellara spoke about the importance of family, and said some lovely words to the effect that a family is much more than the sum of its parts….a lady was there to translate for the 20 Aussies that had made the trip to Novellara but the mayor forgot to stop to allow her to translate each section and so we were left to understand what we could….all part of the experience…
We headed to the reception at Restaurante Bla’ Bla’…to be greeted by a mountain of prosciutto and many other yummy Italian antipasto dishes. The newly ‘crowned’ husband was fitted with ball and chain by his friends…he was not terribly impressed…but this set the mood for the rest of the night. Joke after joke, usually of a very dirty, dodgily sexual variety…we weren’t sure how mama or nonna would take this but they seemed fine about it. We decided that Australians must be very prudish on the whole…as I can’t imagine that my grandmother needs to know that it is the groom who usually chooses new sexual positions (that was probably the most tame question, I can’t write the best of them as I’m sure it would embarrass my father:))
So after plenty of molto buono food and wine we were all ready to get down and boogie and show the Italians a thing or two....and this we did...lots of dancing to the tunes of the Elvis impersonator singer. Baby got up and said a few very emotionally charged words......the Italians were all very impressed as the bride or groom never normally speak at the wedding... Lots more stories but too many for a blog post...I will have to show everyone the photos at a later date. Tante Auguri to Mr and Mrs Marani....it is great to have friends all over the world and share moments such as this....I am priviliged that this is my life :)

Craziness in Italy

I have been meaning to write a blog for nearly every day that I have been here in Italy but unfortunately my internet access has been quite shabby.....so where to start? I arrived here last Sunday and on Monday attempted to catch the train down to Novellara with my bike and big bag in tow...the train system here can be either not too bad, or a complete nightmare and unfortunately I had a trip involving the later. The highlight was of course when the train conductor threatened to call the police if I didn't get off the train with my bike. It was 35 degrees, I was sweating up a small river and had already caught 2 trains to get to Milan Centrale so I was a girl and began to cry....not that this helped my cause at all. Anyway...eventually made it down to Reggio Emilia train station with the train being 'in ritardo' (delayed) for 1 hour....but it was great to get here and see the crazy italians - Barbie and Massimo. Their wedding was on the Sunday and we still had some things to finish off but I really enjoyed the week....training in the beautiful hills in the mornings and relaxing and helping out in the afternoons. European summer has well and truly hit and it has been 35 degrees every day since I've been here....a great excuse to eat mountains of gelati :) One of the 'highlights' of my week was when Baby and Massimo took me to the 'Festa della Biera' (Party of beer) that was incorporating 'Ruttosound' (pretty much a big burping competition!), it was quite amusing, a crowd of 30 000 watching as 10 people competed in several different categories...power burping, longest burp and burping out a song....I must say I have never seen anything quite like it.
I must go now as the Italians are closing the bike shop for lunch...I will report on the wedding after lunch...

Pretty in blue :)

After the sudden week of summer that hit us in Holland, we had a few cool days to really confuse the body and make us realise that you do have to pack for every occasion. After a steady few days recovering from our athlete day we began a 3 day tour in Zeeland, about one hour south-west of where I live in Holland. The tour was called Ster Zeeuswche Eilanden, a UCI race and important for the Top Competition (equivalent of National Series) for the Dutch girls. The first stage was a 7.2km time trial with the racing beginning at 6:30pm, so we had the whole day to think about it :) I was keen to have a good one as this is normally something that I go quite well in, however the last block of racing had dampened my confidence and I wasn't sure if I could beat grandma down the street on a town bike...But a good one it was. For the first time in a while I felt like I had some power behind me, everyone in the car behind me told me that I lost some seconds on the final corner when I did over-brake in true hubbard style....but still, I ended up 4th and was happy with that. I was given the blue jersey to wear, the jersey for "Most fighting spirit". One of the best things about the jersey, apart from the fact that it matches my eyes (ha ha), is that it enables you to line up at the front of the bunch for the following stage and with 150km on small Dutch goat tracks this is very important.
The next day we had another long wait til 6pm to start racing 135km, so in the morning we took the time to go for a recovery spin and take some team photos as the team hasn't had a chance to be all together yet. It was quite a nice day with no wind and in Holland this is sometimes a bad thing as the races become slow and dangerous. This didn't seem to be the case, as the pace was on from the start, everyone desperate to be at the front and getting in a move. At the end of the day, nothing stayed away and we set up the sprint for Kirstin who was 13 secs off the lead so hungry for the 10 sec time bonus...she won, and we had all contributed to a really successful day. After a late night, it was hard to drag ourselves out of bed the next day to do it all over again, this time the race was 139km and again the weather was good. Kirsten was now within 3 secs off the lead and so we had a bit of a job to do to keep it together and get the sprint bonus seconds. At the end of the day it all came together, we all rode well again to set Kirstin up for win - she won the stage, the tour and has the Top Competition pretty much sewn up. A super effort!
Miesi and I dragged ourselves home, washed, showered and both started packing again. I went down the street to buy some dinner and then we sat out on the terrace - Miesi the German, Mirek the Polski, Natty the Aussie in Nederlands eating Chinese - quite funny when you think about it! I was feeling quite terrible but managed to pack my things and set my alarm for 4:30am - ouch! So here I am writing to you from Italy..I flew down this morning to Milan and am now at the Aussie base in Varese. The World Cup soccer match: Australia vs Brazil is about to begin and I'm glad I get to be in Aussie company for it. Tomorrow I will head down to Novellara to calm Barbie, the nervous bride to be whose wedding I am going to on Sunday. I'm actually the 'bridesmaid' for Massimo the groom, I'm not yet sure what this entails! I will report with photos attached :)

Non athletic athletes!

Today 7 of us from AA Cycling Team attended an AA Athlete's Day at a mini-athletic venue near Utrecht. We weren't sure exactly what the day was going to entail but were told to pack clothes that we could run around in....this couldn't be good! Cyclists are typically very unathletic at anything not regarding their chosen sport....we have puny, weak upper bodies which pretty much eliminates us from anything involving throwing or catching and very specifically trained lower limbs which makes us crapy at anything involving running around (especially in the 'on-season'). In the case of myself I also have no eye-hand co-ordination that I have ever been able to stumble across which usually results in injury to myself and those around me when I try to do anything requiring this. Its not a surprise that I ended up a cyclist!
But in the name of good sport and being a fun-loving bunch we kitted up and prepared ourself to learn how to high-jump and throw a javelin. We managed to shuffle around the training lap as an excuse for a warm-up and I think the lovely lady attempting to show us the skill of high jumping got a warning of how bad things would be. She showed us some running drills, and not a single one of us was able to co-ordinate these! We all managed to try to both high jump and throw the javelin, not with too much success....although Angela Brodka showed she has a pretty good arm with the throwing....wouldn't want to mess with her! Unfortunately I can't put all my photos of the day on here...just a few....Lucky that tomorrow we can go back to being cyclists....no doubt with some sore muscles from our sorry efforts ;)

Back in the groove

After my brief 'holiday' period I returned to Holland to get back into the swing of it with some Dutch racing which is a good chance to gain some confidence in the bunch and get some strength and power into the legs racing on the flat. The first race back was on Wednesday, the 145.3km Parel van Veluwe - a long race in women's racing terms. The day was sunny and still, no wind to break the peleton up which sometimes makes the racing very dicey in Holland and so I was keen to get into a breakaway, get some good training in and stay out of trouble...as it would turn out I got much more than I had bargained for! There were attacks going from the start, and I have to admit that even 3km into the race I was initiating things which is a little silly and/or brave depending on how you look at it! I got into a break of 5 girls after 18km, and the km's started to click away...at no point was I feeling fantastic but that constant thought of..."this is good for me, i couldn't hurt myself like this in training" was running through my head. The long and short of it is that the break stayed away....126km out the front, I flew completely and was caught with 1km to go....very tragic indeed! I was completely wrecked after the race...I couldn't move but this has to make you stronger right??
The next day we had a typical Dutch style crit on in Hazerswoude Dorp, only 5km from where we live....it started at 8:15pm but after one of the first real summer days here it was a lovely evening. The entire 1km course was on stones, pave kind of stuff...my favourite...not! However, I really enjoyed the race, it was fun....my team-mates Miesi and Suzanne were in the break from the gun and I 'controlled' the peleton, or so I like to think! Suus won on the night, Miesi was 5th and I won the bunch kick for 6th - sprinter that I am! We rolled home and couldn't believe that it was already 10:30pm....its still light here then...so very hard to turn off and try to get to sleep!
Saturday was another crit on in a place called Wik bij Duurstede, not a super fantastic course but good for some power training with many corners and short straights. I wasn't in flying form but team-mate Miesi was and she came away with the win on the day....there was a front group of 5 and then a few girls in between and then I was 2nd in the bunch sprint....not atrocious but I do need a little more practice with this crit racing! I rode home from the crit, about 80km and it was such a nice time to be on the bike, in the evening as the sun is starting to very slowly going down....I had a few "I'm loving life, the world is such a beautiful place" moments!
I finished the week off with another solid day on Sunday and a good dose of sunshine....I'm the Aussie and I'm starting to complain that it is too hot over here...something is wrong! For some reason, 28 degrees over here feels like about 35, or maybe I have just acclimatised to wintry Europe!

Holiday time for me

I have been very slack again with posting to my blog so I have a lot to cover this time. After Tour de l'Aude I had a week off the bike which was much needed. I headed to Germany to stay with team-mates and the crapy weather gave me a good excuse to stay in bed and be quite slothful! I made it out a few times...to Dresden for the day which was beautiful and on another day to the Wartburg castle in Eisenach which is where Martin Luther translated the bible from Latin to German...I didn't know any of this history which appalled the Germans :) So now I have gotten myself a little more educated and had a good rest in the process. After 6 days off the bike it was time to start again, unfortunately the weather was extremely shitty - lots of sub 10 degree temperatures and constant rain. Not the best weather to renew the motivation but I did get some good quality rides in. I was very excited when the sun came out on Saturday so in typical Aussie fashion stripped down whilst out riding, only to get quite cold once we hit the mountains. On the way home it started raining and I got really cold, and just to top the day off went quite hunger flat as well....ouch, I forgot how bad that feels! So...ended up getting a cold and spent the next two days in bed....very stupid me!
Now I'm back in Holland and have raced for the last two days...I'll write about that when I'm back from my pedal this morning :)

Survival in France

Gees...what a crazy couple of weeks! From Holland to Spain, to France and now back to Holland with 970km or so of racing thrown in there. Yesterday 78 girls made it to the finish of the toughest Tour de l'Aude that I have ever had the pleasure to finish :) All 6 girls in our team finished, and I think we were possibly the only team to be able to claim this. After 10 days of not so impressive riding, I put in a particularly unimpressive effort to get dropped on the first uncategorised climb, less than 10km into the stage...it was a long day for me in which I many many times questioned why I was there and what I was doing with my life! But such a relief to finish! It is very hard to explain to someone the physical and mental feeling of tour racing - for me, after 10 days I feel a shell of myself, completely empty mentally and physically. It is amazing that even though you feel so very terrible...you put the knicks on and some days can do some terrific things. Not that this happened to me in the last week! However, many of my team-mates put in some very impressive rides. Suus to unexpectedly ride into the yellow jersey and Adrie to make sure she was in pretty much every single break that went down the road all week. For many of the girls, this is great preparation for a solid month of racing in June, culminating in everyone's respective National Championships held in the last weekend of June. But for this little Aussie....today is day 1 of my mid-season break. A week off the bike, a mental rest...regroup and then rebuild for the second half of the season where there is plenty of tough racing again. After driving 1200km through the night to arrive in Holland at 9am this morning, I feel like I have just raced day 11 and am looking forward to lying down and watching the Giro...something we've missed in the last 2 weeks. I don't know how the men do it....10 days is plenty for me.

No power in Spain

After an afternoon and evening of travel we made it to our hotel in Vallodolid, a city 200km or so from Madrid in Spain, about 9:30pm. Unfortunately my bag containing pretty much everything had failed to arrive with my team bus, a mix up with communication means that it will be arriving in France just before Tour de l’Aude….so I came with the clothes on my back and luckily enough a spare pair of bike shoes in my carry on luggage. So after some kind donations from my team mates of everything else required to race….knicks, jersey, undershirt, bra top, socks, gloves, glasses….I had everything sorted for a day at least. We had dinner and I had a bit of catch up time with Liv….always good to see her, talk some good Aussie shit and share thoughts and stories of what has been going on.
10:30am start for the World Cup race today was a bit earlier than we were all used to….but after a lovely nights sleep I dragged myself out of bed, got kitted up and we rode to the race start, only 5km away. On the agenda was 123.3km, out and back with a big lap and then into the finish for 6 laps of a very tough, very up and down 6km circuit. We had a bit of a general race plan, a few of us have been sick, and we needed to see how the legs were out there. Unfortunately for me and my body I spent most of Friday in bed or on the toilet after an apparently bad run in with some smoked salmon that decided it didn’t agree with me….so for me, my tummy was a little queasy and I was a little weak…but trying to remain positive and glad to be racing in the sunshine. We set off, a field of 145 girls or so….it was quite aggressive from the start, but on wide fast roads everything was shut down. I chased quite a lot, attacked a few times and tried to remain vigilant in the front however I knew I was in trouble after about 50km when I quite suddenly had greatly diminished power in my legs…bugger! So another 20km later it was see-ya later to the bunch….and a roll into town for Natty. Another quite forgettable day I hope in the racing calendar. After the last few days I couldn’t be disappointed, I just hope to eat a whole lot and regain strength in the next days leading into Tour de l’Aude. On the team front we had a really good race. Our climber extraordinaire Theresa Senff powerfully climbed herself into 4th place behind Nicole Cooke, Judith Arndt and Suzanne Llungkog….an impressive result, so close to a podium finish that she deserves. The other girls all had good aggressive rides and I’m feeling really positive going into our next 10 days of racing that we have a team that can tackle the race head on. So…tonight we are in Spain, tomorrow we drive the 800km to France and then have a few days of relaxed training rides, and hopefully some sun-baking. Shame I don’t have my bikini…..its in my bag 

Back to the land of the tulip

My team clad room-mate!
The view from my window

After nearly a month of living out of my suitcase, it was great to come 'home' for a a quality 5 days or so. Miesi picked me up from the airport - don't know what I'd do without her :) I planned a bit of a day off for Monday so wasn't too disappointed when I awoke to rainy skies. Luckily enough the weather drastically improved and we've had mid-high twenty degree weather the last 4 days. I had to head out for some longer days on the bike, funnily enough it is strange for me to ride on the flat and I found that at the end of the ride my legs were really heavy and dead - all that constant pedalling! I had some nice rides, discovering some new loops and riding past field after field of many coloured tulips...so very Dutch. This morning I awoke with a very unhappy tummy...I've spent most of the day in bed, lucky a recovery day was on the program! I have packed my things again and leave tomorrow afternoon to drive to Brussels and then fly to Spain for a World Cup on Sunday. I have no idea when my next lot of internet access will be....so until then :)

Another weekend in Switzerland

I have just returned back to my base near Amsterdam after a great week in Italy and a beautiful but not so superb weekend in Lausanne, Switzerland.
After the World Cup in Bern I headed down to Varese, near Milan in northern Italy to the Aussie base that has just been established with a vision to be the AIS in Europe, capable of accommodating all sports and having doctors/physios/masseurs etc there full time. The weather was lovely – a sunny 24 degrees one of the days and I enjoyed some good training in the sun with the profie men and the AIS girls that were there. At this time of year the national program always has a ‘screening camp’ where the profies can come in and have their new team bikes of the season set-up properly as well as being screened and treated by our amazing physio Karin. It is a great chance to have everyone together for a few days and of course this always involves throwing a true Aussie bbq and having a few beers or wines together – all the staff and athletes. The real difference this year in comparison to past years is the sudden emergence of lots of kids. The profie men tend to use these few days as a bit of a holiday and bring the family…so wives, girlfriends and kids were all in tow….a nice family feeling.

Sister Kate came down after racing in Italy on Tuesday and I got a chance to spend a little quality time with her that I haven’t had for a while. On our recovery day we headed into Varese with Alex Rhodes, did a little shopping, checked out the city and tasted the famous or should it be infamous Italian hot chocolate – so thick that you can nearly stand a spoon up in it!

On Saturday morning we tightly packed everything into the car and headed north to Lausanne in Switzerland - such a beautiful place! The drive itself was magical, crisp blue skies, surrounded by snow-capped mountains....poor Katie got a little car sick in the back on the twisty descents but even moments like this make me think of how much I love my life and lifestyle! We arrived in Lausanne and did the usual pre-race day things, a bit on the bike, driving the course, having a stretch...nothing too exciting. We didn't start racing until 1pm so had plenty of time in the morning to get ourselves organised. I did a last minute drive of the course, which made me more scared than anything else considering that there were 17% uphill sections on cobble stones in the last 5km of the course. I love when we get a chance to race alongside the men and in this time trial 15 women head off before the men begin their final stage of Tour of Romandie. There are all the profie team buses and riders, big crowds, so many people involved in the circus that is professional men's racing. So off I went in this time trial....the first 10km was super fast downhill and unfortunately my technical skills are less than ideal...I was losing time on sections that didn't require too much grunt. I hit the hill, felt good at the bottom but then the cobbled section nearly killed me, I struggled up there in the 23 cog and had a lot of trouble trying to recover and get moving again. The last 2km of the hill was a big battle, and I finished completely exhausted. I fought to the line, rolled along then collapsed under a tree....a few people stood around me and had a stare but at that point I was past caring. I ended up finishing 9th - I was a little disappointed, I was hoping for a better one. I wasn't atrocious but not super either. Funnily enough, Katie and I were within one second of each other....this always tends to happen that we finish within 10 secs of each other, regardless of the course or who has done time trial training in every time trial we do.

Not much luck in Bern

After a not so positive Fleche Wallone, we had a few days in Maastricht in the south of Holland to do a little training, have some rest and enjoy drinking coffee outside with the first spell of really nice weather. We had a great few days and then hopped in the cars again for a 650km journey to Bern in Switzerland. We left early on Saturday and had an easy trip through the lovely countryside of Switzerland. On Sunday we awoke to rainy skies for the 5th round of the World Cup in Bern...6 laps of a 20.8 km circuit with a tough 9% 1km climb at the half-way mark. The question was whether or not to race carbon wheels in wet conditions but I was optimistic that the sun would come out and opted for the fast wheels. I said to my team-mate Suzanne that I had a really good feeling about the day...I was to be proven wrong, but then that isn't the first time! The race began rather briskly, with several teams keen to make it a hard race and try and get rid of World Cup leader Ina Teutenberg. Over the climb each lap there were less and less girls, although it tended to re-group a little over the descent and back onto the small windy roads. I was feeling quite hesitant in the bunch but gaining confidence on each lap as I was climbing well and feeling strong. Unfortunately it all went pear shaped when a Spanish rider fell on the fastest section of the descent, taking quite a few girls with her.....me included. Luckily I was relatively unharmed with only small bits of skin off the usual places...elbows and knees and fingers, where one of my hands went into a girls spokes...ouch! It took a while for me to get up and moving and get my bike fixed so the race was well and truly over for me....I rode another lap with one of the Aussie girls (struggling up the climb in the big chain ring as I had ruined my front gear lever and couldn't get into the small ring) and then called it a day. It was a really exciting finish with Zoufia Zabirova making her classic solo attack move in the last 1km and the bunch sprinting for 2nd only metres from her. So after the race I packed up my gear, gave my bikes to the Australian team and jumped in the car of team Nobili (Liv Gollan's team) for the trip to Italy. I am spending a week in Italy with the Australian team, having my new team bike set up by the biomechanist and getting some much needed physio screening. The next race on the agenda is Souvenir Magali Pache time trial this weekend in Switzerland....hopefully more luck for that one!

A tough Fleche Wallone

The fourth round of the World Cup Series of the year was held yesterday - the infamous Fleche Wallone, finishing on the 1km long 'wall' - the Muur de Huy. This is the fourth time that I have ridden Fleche but this year was special as mumsie and dadsie were there to watch - their first taste of European racing. They looked particularly excited as I passed them with 300m to go (they got a good look at me as I was nearly standing still!).....my dad exercising his vocal cords well and truly...just a shame that I was 2.5 mins off the pace! The race began rather sedately but with such a tough last 50km this wasn't a real surprise...the pace swiftly picked up in the last 40km and 1km from the top of the second last climb my little legsies were no longer able to hold onto the bunch in front. I was disappointed with myself as I really wanted to get over that climb and help my teammates onto the final berg...but today wasn't to be. Nicole Cooke proved that this is really her kind of terrain, taking the race out for the third time, with the Germans Judith Ardnt and Trixi Worrack completing the podium.
Luckily for us...there is always another bike race, and after a 3 hour ride through Limburg and into Belgium today my legs are getting ready for World Cup #5 to be held in Bern in Switzerland on Sunday. I am staying in the south of Holland for just 2 more nights and drive to Bern on Saturday morning....looking forward to a recovery ride and big coffee in the morning :)

Win in Furth!

So...after too many excuses but no writing, I am finally posting my first proper blog thingy.

I have now been in Europe for just over 3 weeks, and it has gone quite quickly. I was picked up from the airport by my team-mate and house-mate Sandra 'Miesi' Missbach and together with Liv Gollan we spent a few days in Holland trying to get over our jet-lag and get used to the cold. Our first European race of the season was the Ronde van Vlanderen (Tour of Flanders) - a great race with so much atmosphere but unfortunately for me a lot of cobbles as well. It was great to be back and racing with the team and I was just hoping that it would be possible to help out somewhere on the course. Unfortunately it wasn't to be and again I proved to my team that a cobble specialist I definitely am not!

After Flanders I headed to Germany with my team-mate Theresa Senff for two weeks of training in the hills. I wasn't quite prepared for just how cold it was going to be...when it began to snow the morning of my second day there I realised that not packing my thermal jacket and pants was a big mistake - what was I thinking! But a good two weeks it was....plenty of good rides in yucky weather...and the one day we did race the sun was shining - quite a blessing! We travelled to a place called Furth, near Nurnberg to race a small German race. We had 4 laps around a 16km lap - it included a 1km climb to the finish, very steep 18% at the bottom and cobbled near the top. Early in the race four of us got away, and then with a bit of team-work I was able to launch up the hill on the second last lap and solo to the finish. So two solo victories in two weeks - a great start to the year for me!

Comm Games win!

In front of a home crowd, friends and family I have just had the biggest win of my career - I am now Commonwealth Games Champion. The wonderful thing about this is that you get to hold the title for the next four years. What a magical day! To be able to win solo with a decent enough margin to savour the victory doesn't occur very often. I was lucky enough to cross the line with an Australian flag in my hand and then watch my team-mate Oenone Wood sprint to a silver medal after a lead out from Sara Carrigan and Liv Gollan. To top off the day, I was able to stand proudly on the podium and sing the national anthem extremely badly with all my team-mates up there...my sister (and fellow gold and silver medallist) by my side, my best mate Liv Gollan right there, Oenone, Sara and Rochelle....I don't know if any of us can hold a tune but we did our best in the Melbourne sunshine! A whirlwind day!