After track nationals there was 3 weeks before the Te Awamutu junior tour which was the selection race for the New Zealand team to go to Tour of Canberra. I changed coaches after track nationals and although time was a bit short to really get going, I wasn’t doing too badly. I came out of the Te A tour with an 8th place, just enough to get me into the NZ development team but not to Canberra. Because of this I was able to attend the pre Canberra training camp in Christchurch during the tour of Canterbury. A couple of days before the tour I got a phone call from Martyns Cycles and Mowers, a shop that had recently started sponsoring me, to say that my new SUB Zero Pro had just arrived - talk about timing! Soon after setting it up and having a few rides on it I found myself at the first stage of the tour of Canterbury. The tour went very well for me. I won my first sprint ace jersey and got 2nd overall. We had been split into two teams and my team came out with the yellow jersey.
A week after the tour I got an email saying that a rider had pulled out of the Canberra team and BikeNZ wanted me to go instead. A month later I was in Australia wearing a New Zealand jersey.
Unfortunately I crashed in the first stage of the tour, and was unable to complete it. Greatly disappointed, I was out of medal contention. The organisers let me continue the other stages provided I didn’t attack, help my team members or sprint for the finish. It was a terrific experience and a first taste of international competition for me. It really fuelled my love of cycle racing further.
In October of last year I had my first major win. Pegasus cycling in Christchurch sent a team of about 50 riders up to Karaka to compete in the national road cycling champs. I had a surprising ride in the time trial on the first day picking up a silver medal and the second day didn’t let me down either.
We weren’t racing until the afternoon so by the time the race came I was really nervous. The race was two laps of an undulating 26km circuit. During the first lap there were two crashes about 200 metres apart so the bunch broke up quite a bit. For the rest of that lap and most of the second I was in the lead bunch with about ten other riders. I knew that if I didn’t get away from the bunch there was no way that I would be able to win the race because I’m not much of a sprinter. So at 4 kms to go I decided to attack. I was at the front going down into a corner and then it was uphill out of the corner. I can hill climb reasonably well so I went for it. About five others went with me but then another rider attacked and only me and one other rider managed to hang on. We stayed away from the bunch for the final 3kms and, after a very drawn out sprint, I went over the finish line first gaining my first national title - U17 Womens Road Champion 2007.
I love cycling. I love channeling my energy into achieving my goals. I love my SUB Zero pro bike, I love the way it handles when I’m racing at my hardest.
Bring on my next challenge of making it into the New Zealand Team for the Junior worlds! And thank you Sarah for your support and inspiration.
Harriet
