I thought I’d give you all a quick update on what I’m up to.

I haven’t done any training since my disappointing Track nationals in early Feb, and have enjoyed just riding and racing if I feel like it. I’ve actually started racing at DISC each Thursday night and really love the scratch and points racing. I wished I’d tried it years ago.

On the weekend, I raced the Tour de Flavours criterium, in Mansfield. I only raced because I received a call from the mayor of the town (my Dad!!!!) who suggested I should come and support the local community. I have never raced in my home town before and it was pretty cool to see so many local people I knew. I am glad the Mayor convinced me to show up. It was a Saturday evening race as part of a food and wine weekend festival.

It was a small women’s field but the course was great, as was the extremely generous prize money. I attacked on the 3rd lap and was soon joined by Lisa Jacobs (CCCC). Lisa had raced the Mt Buller hill climb in the morning which certainly would have taken the edge off. I had spend a few hours riding on the track that morning with our junior athletes, who are preparing for Junior Track Nationals.

The two intermediate sprints were hotly contested by Lisa and I, with me taking out the first in a photo finish and Lisa taking the second one. In the final lap, I forced Lisa to the front and then surprised her by starting my sprint early then she thought, and taking the win. Clare Dallat (CCCC) rode well to finish 3rd.

Lisa told me after the race, she is heading to Europe later in the year with the AIS crew to ride for a few months, including the women’s Giro. I warned her against drinking Italian water which unfortunately made me ‘extremely light’ when I raced the Giro.

By the way, I thought the presentations afterwards were somewhat amusing, as they used hay bales for the podium – definitely country style.

Enjoy the last month of daylight savings and the great autumn weather,

Cheers