It’s been a long, long time since I last wrote an update on my adventures. The only excuse I can offer is a rather boring one – I’ve just had my head down, my focus on training, racing, and work for the past few months.
December and the festive season passed quickly in a flurry of travel. First up was a quick trip to Europe for my pro-team presentation, shortly followed by racing bouts in Nelson and Melbourne, where I experienced extremes in weather, from torrential rain in Nelson to highs of 45 degrees in Geelong.
Since then (where did January and half of February go?), I’ve done a couple of NZ national mountainbike races and kept up the hard training around Wellington’s hills. This time of year can often be pretty tough, as I try to balance heavy training with racing, while also maintaining my off the bike activities and pursuits. It’s really important for me to be training hard at this time of the year, because the off-season is when you can really focus on the hard work without having to rest and taper for races.
The first key races for me are the World Cup mountainbike races in March, April, and early May, where I need to perform well for Olympic selection. For now, though, I have another couple of weeks of hard work in Wellington, and then I’ll be looking forward to getting on the road and starting to focus on riding as fast as I can at the first international races of the season.