Australia Day 2012

Wow, what a beautiful day! Today is Australia Day and if you take away the people who want to cause controversy or to make a name for themselves and the long drawn out speeches by politicians it all really comes down to celebrating the wonderful country that we live in.

It is all about being grateful that we have the opportunities that we do, the ability to voice our opinions and the freedom to be who we want to be. Yes of course there are things that we don't like or agree with but isn't it nice to know that we can openly discuss them? And like a good Aussie the day is all about spending time with family and friends...mateship is important to Australians.

I was honoured to have been nominated for an Australia Day Award, Citizen of the Year for the City of Darebin. Russ and I headed up to the Preston Town Hall along with other nominees and 100 people who were about to take the Citizenship oath and become Australian Citizens. Boy did that bring back memories from 2005 when I too became an Australian citizen.

Darebin is amazingly multicultural. There are 130,000 people living in the area and they are from 148 different countries, speaking 105 languages. No one can tell me that Australia isn't multicultural!

It was wonderful to see people of every age reading the oath and receiving their certificate, congratulations to all of our new citizens.

As for me, no I wasn't named Citizen of the Year, but I was very proud to stand up there on the stage with the other nominees!

So to all Australians...Happy Australia Day! Oh and now for the traditional Aussie BBQ with home grown Australian Lamb!

Progress is all about Baby Steps

" Even just a little progress, is progress. Even the smallest step forward is very much worth taking, because it maintains a positive momentum." a quote from Ralph Marsden.  How true this statement is.  We all seem to want to get to the finishing point before we have even begun.  I know that I have been guilty of this at different times in my life.  But for the last few months it has been the "baby steps" that have taken me forward.

I do however have certain expectations of myself and those too come in baby steps.  But so far so good!



Beautiful views from the road

 I headed down to Tasmania last weekend, it was supposed to be to race but unfortunately the racing was cancelled due to lack of entries.  But instead of focusing on what I couldn't control I decided that I would go anyhow and train on the roads I was supposed to race.  By accepting that there was nothing that could be done about the racing my training on the weekend was fabulous!  I had perfect weather and fantastic roads to ride.  Yes I was on my own during those long training rides but it gave me a lot of time to reflect on where I have been during the last year and ultimately where I want to be later this year.  That gave me the drive to push myself up those hills in Tasmania and believe me there are some hills!

It was a fabulous weekend that I was able to share with my "Aussie mum", Margo and we had a great weekend spending some quality time together.  But it was also fabulous because I realized that all those baby steps I have been taking are starting to show, with faster average speeds and better handling skills.

I did have my first major crash right after Christmas with not too much damage to my body or the trike (what damage can be done to a 22kilo steel frame?!)  And that was a slight set back, but I knew exactly how to recover from that and was back on the trike taking that next step forward.

I'm now eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new trike.  I am really looking forward to savouring that big step!

It feels great to feel like I am moving forward and I will savour each milestone as I reach it.

Cycling Central's 2011 Women's Cycling Season in Review

An exciting year has gone by with an even more exciting year ahead of us!  It's Olympic and Paralympic year!!http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/video/2181819812/women-s-cycling-season-in-review

Next Step - London 2012

As I am getting closer to the end of the year I have been reflecting on what has been probably one of the most exciting years for me yet!  12 months ago I would have never thought that I would be fighting for a spot at the London Paralympics in Cycling!   Rowing maybe, but not cycling, my, how things change in just one year.

I have a lot to be grateful for this year and a lot of people who have been helping me to attain my goals.  My husband Russ, my coaches Helen and Bob Kelly, the staff at the Victorian Institute of Sport (especially Crooksy in the gym, Arnaud on the massage table and Wendy in physio), the coaches, staff and other cyclists from the Para-cycling arm of Cycling Australia, my sponsors Morey Wickham Chartered Accountants, the kids that I race each Sunday (I learn heaps from them!) and all my friends and family – they have all been great support!  They all helped me win my two silver medals at the World Championships in September.

I have been working really hard since the Worlds in September, but it is about to get even harder!  We are heading to the pointy end of making the team and there is still a lot of work to be done.  I am very pleased with how things have been going.  I get my new trike at the end of January (fingers crossed!), I’ve dropped 7.5 kilos (with 2.5 to go), my leg strength has increased and my average cycling speed has also gone up.  Every small detail is being taken into account and I am learning more and more about how to train smart and race fast.

Even the really hard training sessions I try to enjoy, because little by little, day by day, I can constantly see the improvements.  Even when I am tired and I think that times are tough, I try to use my frustration as a catalyst for making improvements because everything is important.  I make myself persist and I know that the small actions will lead to big results.

I’ve also learned to acknowledge my strengths…this has given me an inner confidence, instead of constantly thinking about my weaknesses and I honestly believe that this has helped me during my hard weeks of training.  Harry Truman once said “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”  So I will continue to improve my habits and look forward towards improving every aspect of my cycling.

So as I say goodbye to 2011, I look forward to 2012 and the rewards that it may bring.  Thank you to all those people who have been a part of my life this year.  I hope you all realize that beautiful moments and possibilities are calling.  Now is the moment to focus your life on and to allow what really matters to happen.

See you in 2012!

It's All About the Details

Well my rowing season has come to an end and the focus is strictly on riding now.  Unfortunately I was unable to finish the rowing the way I wanted.  We did have a win in the 4 at the Melbourne Head Regatta but the one we have been training for since June, The Head of the Yarra, unfortunately didn’t happen for our crew.  The weather was really bad with major rain which causes the drains in the Yarra River to become treacherous.  So the organisers decided to scratch 118 boats and that included ours.  It was extremely disappointing and everyone has their own thoughts on the decision, so I won’t go into that!

So the riding has taken over and I have had some really great rides lately.  Today I got a taste of racing again when I headed to the Criterium run at Glenvale.  Now normally 3 wheels don’t ride with 2 wheels but they make an allowance for me.  I get to ride with the E grade riders who are learning to ride a Criterium.  The interesting thing is that I am probably almost old enough to be their grandparent!!!  And they usually kick my ass!  But today I got the chance to “blow out the cobwebs” by racing!  For the first time I was able to hang on to the main pack right until the end where they took off, cranking up the speed for the last couple of laps.

Now today was a day about details and for me right now details are a really good learning tool.  I am so new to riding that I need those details.  Some people think those details are tedious at times, but those details are what give substance to the dream you are chasing.  Today’s details helped me do the best I have ever done at the Criterium.  Even when I got dropped off the pack, I had a young guy (probably about 11 years old) riding with me and I told him to jump on my back wheels.  (I am a bigger wind break then he will ever experience!) I was able to impart some details to him during our ride together and at the end he was able to give it his all and sprint to the finish line (yes he did pass me and take off!).  Upon cooling down he waited for me and thanked me!  He was a lovely kid and even asked me lots of questions about my trike.

No detail is beneath you or unimportant, because all those details combined together, bring your dream to life.  I have a lot more details to work on but I am looking forward to it!

Consequences

The other day I had the privilege of heading up to Castlemaine, to H.M. Prison Loddon.  Now you might ask why it was a privilege and hopefully through this posting you will understand why.

I headed up there to do a talk to some of the inmates, through the Street Soccer Program run by “The Big Issue”.  For those of you who don’t know “The Big Issue”, it is a magazine which is sold on the streets by those who aren’t as fortunate as the rest of us.  Some of them are homeless, some are struggling with addiction and some have physical or intellectual disabilities, but it gives them a job and a purpose. (see www.bigissue.org.au)

So I went to the prison on the day that the Street Soccer program is run to talk to them about setting goals and believing in themselves.  The soccer program is amazing and I guess the best way to describe it is in the words of Craig Foster “Street Soccer is one of the most inspirational examples of social transformation in Australia”.  It gives the players the support and motivation they need to change their lives.

At Loddon Prison they have about 20 intellectual disabled inmates and each is paired with a mentor.  Loddon is a medium security prison so houses men who have committed white collar crimes, serious driving offences or men finishing their sentence for a more serious crime and are coming to the time when they will be released.  The mentors assist the others with things such as learning to budget money for food, how to prepare a menu for the week and also how to cook.  There are numerous classes at the prison to make sure they are ready to live in the real world.

So here I was to talk about my life, facing my diagnosis and my fears about that, then how I set goals for myself.  I talked about the knock backs from different areas but how I refused to let that stop me.  As I said to them “when one door closes, another one will open, you just have to look for it.”  I certainly didn’t refuse to acknowledge that they had done something wrong so were doing the time for that, but that they had to have dreams and goals for when they left the confines of the prison.

I was extremely surprised at the end of speaking how many questions came my way.  It was the most inquisitive group I have ever spoken to.  Some of the questions were about my MS diagnosis, some about MS itself and a lot about my sporting careers.  We had a lot of laughs during the afternoon!  We then went outside so that some of them could show off their soccer skills and I must say there are a couple of the guys I can see being on the national Street Soccer Team!  I was even treated to the best coffee I have ever had and a piece of amazing cake, just taken out of the oven!

But this visit made me realize that we all have choices in life and because of those choices and actions we create consequences in our lives.  There are some actions that empower and enrich your life. But then there are other choices and actions that lead only to regret and disappointment.  These men I met on this afternoon had made choices that seriously compromised their future and are now paying the consequences.

As I said at the beginning that it was a privilege to speak to them that day and I think that it was because of the old saying “But for the grace of God go I”.  We have all done things in our past that could have led to serious consequences, we have just been lucky that nothing ever bad happened.

So if there is anything that you take out of this post I want everyone to remember that in every moment, with each thought and action you take, you are choosing your consequences.  Take advantage of each opportunity to choose the very best!

Star Struck

When I headed to the Sunshine Coast in April this year for the Australian Para-cycling Championships never in my wildest dreams did I think that a short 7 months later I would receive an invitation to the Jayco Australian Cyclist of the Year Awards.  So when I received an invite back in October I was a bit taken back!  I decided not to go because I had been cycling for such a short time and to be honest probably thought I didn’t deserve to be there.

Then one week before the awards, the list of nominations for all the awards came out and bugger me…I had been nominated in the Female Para-cyclist of the Year category.  However I was up against Sue Powell, 3 time World Champion this year and a Tandem pair who were also World Champions on the track.  I knew that Sue would win the award with 3 World Titles and a world record, she really was unbeatable!  But all of a sudden I wanted to be there!  A quick email to Cycling Australia told me that there was not a seat to be had, but that they would put me on a wait list.

Well Monday night I got the email that there was a seat available and they had to know right away. First thing I needed to do was book a flight…that done I let them know I would be there.

I am so glad that I went, what a fantastic night!  I felt very privileged to be in the company of some of the world’s best cyclists and all of them Australians.  I had mentioned to the people I was sitting with that I had to get a photo with Cadel Evans.  Well one of the para-cycling coaches Sian Mulholland, without telling me, approached Cadel and asked him to come over to the table.  She introduced me as a dual silver medallist from the World Championships at which time Cadel put his hands on my shoulders and said “I know what it is like to win silver.”  I told him it was the wrong colour and that next year would be different.  He then posed with me for photos! WOW I wanted a photo but this was amazing!

I was lucky in that I also had pictures taken with Anna Meares, Australia’s and the world’s best track cyclist!

In the end Sue Powell did win Female Para-cyclist of the Year and very well deserved!  And I am happy that I did attend, it was an amazing night. 

Australia has amazing athletes who don’t forget their origins.  They may live all over the world and be world class names but they appreciate the accolades of their home nation and proved to me that they are willing to chat and have photos taken with newcomers to the sport like me!



Me with Anna Meares





Cadel mentioning knowing about winning Silver