Diary 2000

Entry 1 - August 15: Leadup
This is my typical week leading up to the Games...Wednesday morning, a 50km spin with two elite riders who live nearby. At the moment, I've opted to train and race with the men in Brittany because there are a lot of races and racers in the region...so I started last Saturday with regional level men after having spent 4 weeks on the track. The first races with them went well so I rode the next races with the national level men.
Wednsday evening we raced up and down the same avenue on a 1.6 km stretch with a 180 at each end. Great training for my pursuit starts. There were over 100 at the start and it went off fast. Hung in the front for the first 10 laps and then slid toward the back. Awesome workout! Thursday was more of the same - finished in the bunch and Friday we showed up as they were saying "on your marks..."

October 10
This has been one of those days that I'm sure every bike rider has lived and or survived at some point in their lives. Had a high fever on Friday so took the day off, and my doctor put me under a horses dose of clamoxyl, an antibiotic which has had me glued to my bed every morning, although it could be jetlag as well.
In any case I finally got my arse in gear around 9 and only because the driver of the moto I'm supposed to ride behind wanted to know if I'd be riding in the morning or the afternoon. I told him the afternoon as I couldnt see myself hopping into my chammies straight away.

Moscow, Russia, May 19-21, 2000

Got in to Moscow late Thursday. It was strange landing because I was expecting to see some pretty desolate landscape and to my surprise there were pine trees everywhere! Seemed like we were landing in the northwest of the US. We recovered our umpteen, bikes, bags, wheels, etc. and headed on out to the track. 333 meters, seemed huge after the 250 meters I had seen last in Berlin last October. I was looking forward to checking it out, as well as my new pursuit bike, made by Look, a bit smaller than last year and a tad lighter as well.

March 18
A large field of 138 riders lined up for the second round of the women's World Cup, La Primavera Rosa in Varazze, Italy. Most of the European teams were there, and for many it was their first serious race of the year.
There was bad luck for Lucie Ruscakova (Cze) and Bridget Evans (Aus, Master Team Carpe Diem) who crashed after only two kilometres, forcing them to retire. The first hour of the race is quite fast, at 39.4 km/h, with the Dutch doing the driving, with no-one allowed to escape.
After 96 kilometers, the Cipressa climb sees Finland's Pia Sunstedt lead Daniela Veronesi (Smr, Alfa Lum) and Lithuanian Edita Pucinskaite (Acca Due O - Lorena Camicie) over the top. However they can't maintain their advantage for long and were reeled in on the descent.
The bunch remained intact until the start of the Poggio, which saw attacks by Mirjam Melchers (Ned) and Pia Sunstedt again. They manage a 10 second gap by the top, but are caught with 2 kilometers to go.