Annaliisa posts from Oz

Gidday from Aus….the trip so far has been quite eventful especially Friday when we got here. We landed on time on Friday morning at 8:15ish, all going to plan so far. After we got through customs and out the other side we were greeted by Fiona Southorn (rider). She advised us that the rest of the team and management, coach and mechanic were still stuck in Wellington because of a broken down plane. Didn’t know when they were going to get here. Fiona and Paul Jesson then proceeded to go to the rental car counter to get our ‘van’. Paul got the keys and went and got the ‘van’ and brought it over to us…..picture this……we have got about 9 bike boxes – two of which are tandems – and all the luggage with 6 people, okay, Paul drove over in a people mover type car…..a Pereva or whatever it may be. Yeah like all that gear is going to fit. Paul and I then proceeded to go back to the car rental counter and ask if they have a transit type van and explained why. They found one that had just been returned so we said that we would take that one. The catch was we had to get hold of New Zealand and get them to book it because they were paying for it initially. Eventually Fiona got hold of Rachel and she got it organised and voila we had the keys to the van as well as the people mover. Got it loaded up and got in, put the key in the ignition and …… nothing. Couldn’t work out why. Found a guy that was shifting cars around and he had a laugh and told me to press the remote which unlocks the anti locking device – I knew that! Now, just to let you all know why I was driving the van, it is a manual which is okay if you’ve got all of your limbs. If it was automatic one of the other guys could have driven it. Finally we get the blinking thing going, Neelu (70% blind) was with me and we were to follow Paul to the hotel. Well, I didn’t get into the traffic straight away and didn’t see which way Paul went, so once I was able to get into the traffic – Neelu was trying to tell me when there was a gap – blind – I ended up going straight instead of taking the off ramp. Oh dear. I kept driving and finally managed to go the right way. We got to a huge intersection and had to go on the M5, that’s fine if you go the right way. Guess what!….we didn’t! Good job. Eventually got turned round and going the right way. We got to Bankstown which is where I thought we were meant to be but it wasn’t, so I went into the shopping centres info counter with a map book and asked them how to get to the Rydges Hotel on the Hume highway. She was very helpful and pointed me in the right direction. Finally 4 hours after landed in Sydney we get to the hotel – yay!

We then headed down to the track and had a play around on that which was really good. Very different on the tandem on the track to the single bike I must say. Came back to the hotel and one of the guys sent a text to Rachel to ask when they were landing and found out that they had been waiting in Sydney airport for an hour. Oops. They got a taxi van out to the track $$$$$$$$ and had a session down there then back to the hotel like on little happy family.

We’ve had some good training days both on the road and on the track. It’s very fast on the track. I love.

On Monday we rode the Kilo Time Trial. Neelu and I did a 1:18:908ish, the NZ girls Michelle and Jane did a 1:17:768ish and the winning time was 1:11:665ish, that was done by the World champions Great Britain. The two Aussie teams did a 1:12: something and 1:14: something. Very classy. I was quite happy really as it was Neelus’ first time at an International meet and only our third every kilo, our first official one. Nerves play a big part in it so really quite happy. Today is our 3000 mtr pursuit so hopefully all will go well for that. Yesterday afternoon we went down to the track and cheered everyone else on, even the Brits and a young Aussie girl – under 19 – who has Cerebal Palsey. She was amazing to watch. Tonight we went and watched Fiona win Silver and Paula win an amazing gold. What a pursuit! She was up at the start then was behind by .389 seconds and over the last 7 laps turned it around to win by 3.something seconds. We were screaming for her. It was such a fantastic ride.

I must say that I feel very humbled by these athletes with disabilities competing here this week. They have a lot more guts than a lot of people in this world and I really admire them for it. Being involved with the AWD is very humbling and I’m so proud to be a part of it. It’s a totally different atmosphere here with them compared to able bodied athletes. I love it.

Well, I shall sign off for now and go and get some dinner before we go down to the track and cheers on our guys again.

Will try and get an email away to you all on Thursday, oh yeah, we’ve been entered into the sprints – what a hoot that’s going to be. Will keep you posted.

Until then

C uAnnaliisa