Approaching One Year to Go

AIt only seems like a week ago that we had reached the 500 day countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games! With the one year countdown fast approaching on 27 July, it's incredible to think that the Test Events are going to be taking place soon at some of the Olympic venues. I visited the London Velodrome at the beginning of April and I have seen with my own eyes how amazing Olympic Park is.

So far 2011 has been a good year for me. It started with the business end of last winter's track season. I had two international events during the late winter and contested 3 different events across the two competitions. At the end of February it was the Manchester leg of the World Cup Classics and I was riding my debut in the Women's Team Pursuit event. It was an incredible experience, with a full house in the Manchester Velodrome to cheer on the British team. Winning the event and being only 0.188 seconds outside of the world record, meant that the British Women's Team Pursuit had some of the best of the crowd noise and it certainly gave me a taste of what it will be like with twice as many people in the London Velodrome next year.

After the World Cup my next event was the Paracycling Track World Championships, being held in Montichiari in Italy. I was the defending champion in the two events I was riding in, so the pressure was on to try and win the double again. To add extra pressure, the world record holder for the 500m Time Trial [a sprint event and not usually a strength of mine] was back after a year out following the Beijing 2008 Games. She is without doubt the best sprinter we have seen in paracycling, but was below par on the day and unable to get with a second of her best time and I capitalised and beat her for the first time in that event. I was also able to catch my opponent in the 3000m Individual Pursuit, the event in which I hold the world record, and was able to step on the plane home with mission accomplished!

Since then my focus is now on the road season which culminates in September with the Road World Championships in Denmark. I am defending champion in both events on the Road too, so it is all systems go to make sure I am fully prepared for this. The first half of the cycling season has so far been good, with wins in the Road World Cup in Sydney at the beginning of May just two days after winning a stage race in the UK. It was a quick turnaround after the UK race and straight onto a plane, but the experience I have from travelling around the world as a swimmer has stood me in good stead and I didn't suffer any jet lag.

Just recently a failure in the carbon of my time trial handlebars caused me to crash at 30mph in a race close to home. With no warning the bars snapped and I was sent flying over the handlebars. After rolling down the road some way I was able to scramble onto the grass verge and assess the damage. The good news was I knew there was nothing broken but the cuts to my right elbow and right hip meant that I needed stitches in hospital.

As the rest of 2011 unfolds we will start back on the track at the end of September and my attentions turn back to the events I have with both the paracycling team and the women's team pursuit squad. Next summer is a double season, with track and road sitting alongside each other, so the work I am doing now will stand me in good stead for what will be a fine balancing act across the 5 events I hope to compete in at the London 2012 Games. It will be a busy schedule if I do compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the Olympic events taking place about 4 weeks before the Paralympics start. It's an exciting prospect having 5 events to train for, but I have always been up for the challenge sport throws at me and next year will be no different.

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Sarah Storey OBE
Scottish Widows Ambassador for the London 2012 Games