Recovering from Deep Vein Thrombosis Well, I have been back in Australia for a month now but it hasn’t been the off-season I was hoping for. Sadly, there hasn’t been any red wine and late nights. I felt really sick after I arrived home and my “self diagnosed” calf strain was getting sorer each day. I did a lot of […]

Road World Championships – Salzburg, 2006 From left to right, the Aussie team: Olivia Gollan, Nat Bates, Kate Bates, Emma Rickards, Helen Kelly and Oenone Wood. Race Day On race morning, I woke up feeling “a little off” but put it down to pre-race nerves. After breakfast, I spent an hour stretching and then headed downstairs to our final pre […]

Tour de Berne World Cup, Switzerland 23 April 2006 – 120km (6 laps x 20km) The Tour de Berne world cup course consisted of a 20km circuit that we did 6 times. The only major climb was 5km from the start so I did a few fast intervals to make sure my legs were ready to go hard from the […]

Wellington Tour and World Cup, 2006 I joined the Italian based Safi Pasta team, as a guest rider, for the Wellington Tour and World Cup. It was a tough week of racing and here is what happened. Stage 1 – Lower Hutt Criterium – 40km The criterium commenced at 6pm with a large crowd of kiwi supporters watching us battle […]

Geelong Tour and World Cup, 2006 I was very excited to be racing with an Austrian Team, Elk Haus No, until I heard that my inclusion in the team, as a guest rider, would prevent the team from earning team UCI points, so instead I joined a mixed team with Susanne Ljunskog (former Road World Champion). Susanne and her partner […]

Australian Time Trial Championships, 2006 Perfect Preparation In early November 2005, I sat down with my coach, John Beasley and talked about my goals for 2006. The Australian time trial was being used to select the Commonwealth Games team, and wanting more than anything to represent Australia, we planned out a 10 week time trial program.  The main focus was […]

GP Cham – Hagendorn Road Race, Switzerland 20 May 2006 Today is my first ever win in Europe! I won a Swiss national road race held in Cham, north of Luzern, called the GP Cham-Hagendorn,  Here is what happened: Yesterday, my two Elk Haus NÖ team mates, (Annette Beutler, Patricia Schwager) and I, decided to attend this race as good […]

Tour of Geelong I was very excited to be racing with an Austrian Team, Elk Haus No, until I heard that my inclusion in the team, as a guest rider, would prevent the team from earning team UCI points, so instead I joined a mixed team with Susanne Ljunskog (former Road World Champion). Susanne and her partner Klas, together with […]

Gidday Everyone, I arrived in Holland last week and spent 5 days training with a friend, Oenone Wood, who was staying close by.  I have officially signed with a UCI trade team, Elk Haus No, which is based in Austria.  The team language is German so I am doing my best to learn the basics but luckily everyone speaks English […]

Cooke moves into the World Cup lead By Kristy Scrymgeour Zoulfia Zabirova (Team Bigla) celebrates another successful last-minute attack. Photo ©: CJ Farquharson Zoulfia Zabirova (Team Bigla) did her thing today with a move that can pretty much be named after her in the women’s peloton: the last minute attack. She has the ability to time it perfectly and she […]