Australian Nationals 2012

Im currently on my way home from the Aussie Nationals for 2012. It was an interesting and exciting week in Ballarat, in country Victoria. For me it was my first race in the Rabobank colours and also my first series of races for 2012. On Thursday the 5th of January, I competed in the National Crit in the main street of Ballarat, as the defending champion. The new women's Greenedge(AIS) squad of riders proved too strong for the remaining peleton and took top honors in both the Elite and U23 categories. My aim was to have a good hitout and put myself in a position for a result late in the race. I finish 6th in the race and 3rd in the U23 category. It was nice to get up on the podium in my first race with Rabo.

The Road race is the favoured event of the championships and was going to be a tough race. It was again a tough circuit of 10 laps of a 10.2k circuit around mt. Buningyong. On the 6th lap I was a little unlucky to puncture on the main hill on the circuit but rejoined after half a lap chasing. On the 7th lap the Greenedge squad of 7 riders through their cards down and the pace went ON! I basically couldn't react to this jump and quickly found my group in which I chased with until the finish. I was a litlle disappointed with the result of my race but was quite pleased with my overall form, as I've never felt so comfortable on the National's circuit and now I think I know exactly what it will take for a result in the coming years. Amanda Spratt won the race solo for her first National Title, it's exciting to see someone still quite young take the top honors!

The National ITT was my last event in the titles. I have been doing alot of strength and gym work recently in training which I hope will help with my Time Trials throughout the season, so I was hopeing for a strong ride.I finished 10th overall with a time of 40:16. I was 2nd in the U23s. I wasn't too happy with my time from the event as it was a tad slower then last year on the same circuit. I think the most challenging thing I found was the wind condtions throughout the race where as last year the condtions where quite different with torrential rain but nearly no wind. Shara Gillow completed the course in 37 minutes to take the win by over a minute.

Overall I would have liked some slightly higher results but I'm happy with where my form is at currently as it is headed in the right direction for when the season begins in Qatar on the 1st of Febuary. Plus I guess two podiums in the U23s at the Nationals isn't too bad ;). Next up I head home for 2 weeks of training and preparing for the Ladies Tour of Qatar before onwards to Europe for the next 8 months. I'm very excited to get over to Europe and see my lovely teammates again, I'm just hopeing it warms up soon!

Thanks for reading