The Start.......

Start of a new year, new beginnings, new opportunities........ 2013 I’m coming to get you! New year’s resolutions, I have never made one, until this year! Now, I looked back on the amount of blogs I wrote last year, and to be honest it was pretty poor! I mean, it’s not like it’s hard or anything, to sit behind the laptop, scribble a few words down, then hey presto, bob’s your uncle! So, my promise to you is at least one blog a month. Could be two, maybe three, but I’m not going to bore you with endless wittering on. There’s nothing worse than reading a blow by blow account of a race, or a hard training session. Oh no, never fear, only the good and classic stories will make my entries, so I hope my team mates are up to the job in hand, because I never do anything stupid........!

So, first things first, Happy New Year to every single one of you. I’m sitting here writing this and thinking about all them poor people who hate the number 13. How are they going to survive a whole 365 days? I reckon they have been dreading this year for a long time and secretly hoped the world did end on the 22nd December! Could take the cycling approach to things however, and everything time you have to write the date turn the 13 up the wrong way! But enough of that........

2013 for me, same team, slight name change! Dolmans Boels Cycling Team has become Boels Dolmans Cycling Team. Now for those of you out there who are wondering why, it’s quite simple really, Boels are putting in more money so they are becoming our main title sponsor. It’s exciting, as well as being our title sponsor for this year they have committed for four years until the Rio Olympics, great news for women’s cycling. But, as well as sponsoring our team, they sponsor a number of races in Holland, all women. They are committed to making women’s cycling bigger and better. The more companies that follow not just Boels but Dolmans also, because they are great sponsors, women’s cycling can only go in the right direction. 

This year, I’m not going to lie, I want to do what I did in the year of 2010. Win races, help my team mates win races, but also have a bloody good time doing it. The winters been great for me, I’ve trained, not just ridden my bike, aimlessly, and yes there is a difference between riding and training! I’ve worked hard, physically I’m better, mentally I’ve never been stronger. 

2013 is the year I turn things back round completely, to show you don’t lose talent, to prove I am still that rider that did indeed beat the greatest female, wait, greatest ever bike rider of all time Marianne Vos. 

With the support of my cycling team Boels Dolmans, CTT providing me with a scholarship, Sponser providing me with everything to do with my nutritional needs, Cycle Fit making sure my bike position is 100%, as well as providing me with shoes and inner shoes, Auriel Forrester of SRM UK providing me with an SRM, my family as they are the biggest influence on me and of course my boyfriend Marco, who’s support and constant pushing in training, not only means the world to me but always keeps a smile on my face!

2013 is going to be good, but not because of luck, because I have worked hard and now I’m ready to make my own luck, I’m ready to make it happen.