Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th February saw the conclusion of the Paracycling Track Worlds and for me it was a mixture of defending my Individual Pursuit title for the 5th successive time and debuting in the Team Sprint event.

With no racing for me on the second day of competition it was time to turn myself into team cheerleader as all the other 13 riders on the team had either Individual Pursuit or Kilometre Time Trial titles to contest.

Having flown into Los Angeles five days ago, the start of competition soon came round and after 3 track sessions to warm up the legs and work out strategies for each of the races, it was time to get the show on the road on Thursday 9th February.

It has been a couple of months since my last blog and that has largely been down to the fact everything has been full on with training and the preparation for the Track World Championships being held in Los Angeles from 8-12^th February. Sarah and I are also having some work done on our house and since my previous working life was in the building industry, I have been leading the project which has been brilliant to get my brain active in the area I used to work in everyday prior to becoming a full time cyclist.

With just over two weeks to go before the start of competition at the 2012 Para-cycling Track World Championships, the final selections for the GB team were made this week after Trials for the Team Sprint team.

Having spent much of the end of 2011 out of the country, it meant I couldn’t get down to the Children’s Adventure Farm to visit the Christmas Party season and was also unable to see some of the activities happening with Boot Out Breast Cancer.

After returning from gold at the Columbia World Cup and the change of direction for me with my training and racing after the Team Pursuit was removed from my schedule, it was time to make a quick and decisive change to the plan that would lead me into the Para-Cycling World Championships in February 2012.

Shortly after returning to Manchester from her second appearance for the Women's Team Pursuit squad in a World Cup, Sarah Storey was informed her association with the squad would no longer be continuing and she would now not be considered for the London World Cup in February, the Track World Championships in Melbourne in April and ultimately the Olympic Games next summer.

After a brief visit to London, the Team Pursuit girls headed to the airport to fly via Madrid to Cali, Columbia for Round 2 of this Olympic season’s World Cup Classics. Our flight had riders from France, USA and Ireland on it but the majority of the passengers were Columbian and you could have been mistaken for thinking that everyone on the plane knew each other! There was a great deal of singing going on at various times and then a huge round of applause as the pilot landed the plane on their home turf.

I've been on the Great Britain Cycling team as a full time athlete for 10 years and always feel privileged to be in this position. The last 10 years has really given me different challenges to deal with and one of these challenges is operating within British sport with diabetes. It is something I have never let get in the way of my performances.

Following a short break after the National Track Champs it was time to get back into training. With the Paracycling World Track Champs in February it was time to review the training carried out before the National Track Champs and come up with the new plan, that would take us to the Worlds. Planning these changes and identifying them can be tricky, but with a few years experience on the tandems we knew what needed tweaking and what we should repeat for the new phase. Our GB Paracycling coach Chris Furber is always a help when planning the new phases, as you can rely on him for honest feedback and helpful suggestions. It never gets away from the fact that you have to work on your weaknesses! Plus with my very own Sports Science genius (the wife!) I was able to come up with a good new phase to the training! Its also important to look at the main goal which is the Paralympic Games 2012, to ensure any changes are also considering the peak of big training cycle.

It has been quiet few weeks for me on the blog front, but that is not because there has been a lack action or cycling!

National Track Championships provided some exciting results, a couple of PB’s and also a successful defence of the Team Pursuit title. It was a good finish in my last race for the Horizon Fitness Prendas team, and since then I have been looking at the final build up to the London Games next year and looking at the various options I have in preparing for what will be a double road and track summer in 2012.

The National Track Championships in Manchester have just finished and I'm sure most people would agree it was a fantastic championships with some excellent racing, with some new faces coming through plus the more established riders again producing fast times.

Barney and Sarah Storey completed their 14^th and 7^th British Track Nationals respectively with more gold and more great performances after a superb week of racing in which the UK had been basking in some incredible temperatures for the start of autumn.

Just two and half weeks after returning from the World Road Championships we were back to racing again but this time on the track and contesting National titles in the biggest fields I have seen for women’s events at these Championships.

 

Post Road Worlds was a heady mix of chill out time, some work with some of the Olympic and Paralympic sponsors as well as that all important first chance to ride the London Velodrome.

Watching Sarah compete in the world Championships in Denmark has been an extremely satisfying and proud occasion. It certainly brings together the teamwork we have put together over the year of racing on the road. As many of you may have seen, I have been at most of Sarah's races this year to offer my technical support and mechanical support wherever I can, so to see her standing on the podium twice with her rainbow jersey makes me very proud. I certainly can understand what nerves my parents go through watching me race, when I watch Sarah competing. I can assure you all, competing is far easier than watching your wife! My nerves are always very active at this point!

Back in 2009 in Bogogno, Italy, I won my first Road World title in the Road Time Trial and then 2 days later, after a 40km solo breakaway, came across the finish line arms aloft to win my first ever World Road Race Gold. It was an amazing feeling to do the double at the Road Worlds and not something I ever expected would go my way a second time, let alone a third!

Just over 12 hours after finishing the British Time Trial Championships I was heading out to Denmark to join up with the Paracycling team ahead of the Road World Championships which started today near the centre of this historic city.

My final preparation event for the Paracycling Road Worlds was at the British Time Trial Championships and in conditions that were more like those I had been used to in the swimming!