June 29, Cycling
Canada revealed the 19 athletes (across all cycling disciplines) set to attend the Rio Olympic Games, but they
didn’t mention the athletes names as team alternates – one of whom is me!
Canada earned 3 women’s
road spots and 2 women’s time trial spots for Rio (announced June 2) which allows
a maximum team of 4: 3 racers + 1 alternate.
Mid June, I got an email from CC titled Rio 2016 and was both extremely
thrilled to be nominated to the team and also disappointed to be so close yet
staying at home. The alternate is a
non-travelling alternate that will step in if one of the named team members
cannot accept the spot (injury, sickness or maybe someone just doesn’t want to
go?). I truly wish all the very best to
Karol-Ann Canuel, Leah Kirchman, and Tara Whitten, who I am confident will
prepare themselves in the very best way to represent Canada at their Rio
events.
It is truly such an
honour to have been a part of the #roadtoRio as one of Canada’s top riders in
contention for an Olympic spot. It’s
been just a-year-and-a-half since I committed to cycling as a career. I have learned so much in the environment of Team
Twenty16 Ridebiker. The team has given
me opportunity when they saw ability and instruction when I didn’t know any
better. We organized an important trip
to race in the new Women’s World Tour events in Europe so that I could
fast-track some needed experience in order to prepare for a shot at the Olympic
Games. We put a lot of pressure on me to
prepare well and perform well – a similar pressure likely to be felt at events
like the Olympics and World Championships.
This year I learned how to handle crashing and recovering, leading a
team to overall victory and keeping our winner calm and strong.
I have many thanks to
give to those of you who have been very interested and encouraging to me on my
athletic journey. Thanks for checking in
after hearing of Canada’s Olympic selection.
There are still many more races in this year that need to be won. I am really looking forward to preparing for
the October World Championships in Qatar with my Twenty16 RideBiker team for
the TTT and again aiming for a spot on Canada’s Road World Championship team.
