On Sunday I went to the Lee Valley VeloPark to watch the
London round of the UCI Track World Cup 2014.
Track cycling is my favourite sport; it’s so exciting to watch and I
love the fact that Great Britain is so good at it! Lee Valley is where the track cycling for the
London 2012 Olympics took place, and whilst I’d enjoyed watching track racing
on TV on the odd occasion for a few years, this was the time that made me
realise I just had to try this sport out for myself.
So that’s what I did.
I found out there’s an outdoor velodrome in Bournemouth, not far from
where I live, went along to a taster session then over the next few weeks
attended three more beginners’ sessions until I became an accredited track
rider. By this time the summer season was
over, meaning since the Bournemouth track is outdoors there was to be no more
riding there for a good few months.
Fortunately I can a really good tip about some winter training that was
available, from a chap I worked with at the time (no less than Gary Dighton who
competed in the team time trial at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics!). He recommended a weekly indoor ‘turbo’
session that took place really close to my house (for those who don’t know, a
turbo is a piece of equipment that you can fix the back wheel of a bike to and
ride stationary, which is great for controlled sessions and training when the
weather’s bad). 
The guy who ran these turbo sessions I started going to is
Adam, who, when a few months later I decided to try my hand at racing, became
my coach. I trained hard from March
onwards and that summer made my racing debuts both on the track and on road
time trial. A winter of intense training
followed; my riding really improved and I put in some good racing/time trial
performances this summer just gone too. Sadly
part-way through the race season I decided to take a step back to focus on my
career. Training for track racing is
really intense; you have to give it 100% to do well, and it’s draining mentally
as much as it is physically. I think
making this decision was the best thing for me at the time, but I still dream
of getting back to racing one day!
Going to Lee Valley on Sunday made me think of the fact that
this was the very place that inspired me to get into track cycling to begin
with. It reminded me that if you really
put your mind to something you can do it: coming to a sport at age 22 I knew it
was unlikely I was going to end up at elite level or anything, but I worked
hard, did well and got loads of praise from coaches who watched me develop and
progress over those couple of years. Right
now, although I’m happy with some elements of my career (mainly that I’m
studying for a Masters), there are others I’m yet to find my feet with (I’m
struggling to get myself paid work that allows me to work anywhere near my full
potential). Going to the World Cup at
the weekend has led to reflection on what I’ve achieved over the last few years
and gives me a little boost of inspiration to keep pushing and working hard; if
I keep doing this then this will come right.
I’ve spoken in a previous post (The Stairway to Heaven…) about
positives coming out of hardship, and that’s what I’m really trying to remember
right now. In some of my blog posts a
bang on about things people can do to keep themselves feeling good, and in a
challenging time I myself am having to work really hard to practice what I preach! I’m always inspired by people who overcome
adversity to achieve amazing things (see You’re the Inspiration) and this is
the case for my track cycling hero Laura Trott.
This girl never fails to make a race really worth watching and
wins gold after gold after gold for Team GB; not only this but off the track
she always seems bright, down to earth and funny. I love the juxtaposition between this bubbly
character that we see in interviews and the sheer focus we see in the lead up
to a race! Anyway, although Laura is one
of Britain’s best female athletes, her journey hasn’t been without it’s
challenges: she was born with a collapsed lung and later diagnosed with asthma,
being advised to use sport to help regulate her breathing. But physical training with a health condition
isn’t always plain sailing: in interviews I’ve heard Laura talk about the fact
that sometimes she ‘trains so hard her teeth hurt!’, and she can often be
observed throwing up after a race (poor girl!). She defies these challenges, brushes
them off and carries on, and is incredibly successful as a result.
In the coming weeks and months, I may continue to face the
same struggles I have done over recent ones.
But my recent visit to Lee Valley VeloPark has given me a little bit of
extra motivation to push through and carry on working hard in the face of
hardship. I hope this has made for a
decent read and that you enjoy my pictures from the track!
No comments:
Post a Comment