Hi everyone!
I have finally agreed to doing a blog about my cycling ambitions and my journey chasing these dreams. For those of you who don't know, my long term goal is to be a professional cyclist and compete in the Olympic and commonwealth games. This is not an easy target for anyone; endless hours away from home, dedication to nutrition, training and recovery, you have to live and breathe cycling 24/7 - which i love to do!
I have been racing for 3 years now and am going into my last year as a junior racing cyclist. This year was my best season to date with lots of podiums at the National Champs and PB's at many TT distances. I won the Scottish Junior 25TT champs in September as well as bringing home the Scottish record at that distance for my age category capping off an incredible year. I progressed massively from 2015 where i was run down most of the year with illness as i wasn't eating enough to fuel my training, so now looking to 2017 i am even more excited and motivated as I am determined to build on my podium places and maybe take a step into the British National Champs next year and get closer to my ultimate dreams!
It is very tough to get into professional sport, particularly cycling, but even harder if you live miles away from the facilities that will help you achieve your dreams. For me i have to travel 4 and a half hours on the train to get to Glasgow so i can spend a wkd at the track for training on the Scottish Cycling Development programme or to go to a couple of races in the central belt which is way too expensive to manage myself while still at school. I have been lucky this year, as my close friends ( a friendly group of cyclists), the Moray Wheeler's, stepped in to help me fund my cycling dreams as they understand living in the north of Scotland makes it very difficult to do so on my own. So i can't thank them enough for what they're doing to help me!
One of the most difficult things in this journey is coping with the mental struggles of disappointments, for example; i am just back on the road again after 5 weeks on the turbo with a broken wrist, it is so hard to get past tough times like this and believe it will all be ok again but the words of my coach peter ettles before i took a silver medal at the National Youth TT Champs last year have stuck with me and i always try my best to keep focused: "a positive mind will beat anything!" - He is absolutely right and always knows how to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on me even though we both know i need to do well if i have any hope of fulfilling my ambitions.
My main target for next year is getting under the hour for a 25 Mile Time Trial as well as getting as many podiums as possible on both the track and road!
My new team mates for next year (watch this space) finally led me to cave into the decision to write a blog and i thought going into the new year it would be a good time to start. Will do my best to keep it updated. Wish you all the best for the new year! Thanks for reading :)
