I know it's been ages, and I know you've probably stopped visiting, but I'm back. And so is SKINSUIT SUNDAY! Sorry it's been so long. I've been a bit distracted... there is just so much good stuff going on it's hard to keep up. I bought a couch around 6 weeks ago and I got to sit on it for the first time tonight. Hurrah!
This is just a quick update to say please don't lose hope, Ride Happy will return, and with a sense of humour. But I wanted to give a brief update on what's been going on in the past few months:
- Full time lawyering (I KNOW, just like a real person). I love it. My brain gets a better workout than I do some days, but I still love it.
- Finishing the Company Directors course: (Funny you should mention that. I should be doing my assignment right NOW, in fact. Yet somehow I am here.) I'm doing the Australian Institute of Company Directors course with the help of a Women in Sport Leadership Grant from the Australian Sports Commission. It's a great program. If you are a woman and want to be involved in sport at a leadership level, get on it here.
- Joining the Cycling Australia Athletes Commission: I've just been appointed Chair of the CA AC - the representative body for athletes within Cycling Australia. We have a renewed commission and the new kids on the block are a mix of talent and experience across almost all disciplines: Sid Taberlay, Kate Bates, Alex Carle, Tom Leaper, Carol Cooke, Stu Shaw. What an awesome crew. I am really excited - we have a lot of opportunity to make some great changes to the sport. More news on that later...
- Writing for RIDE magazine: We've been working on a match-fixing and corruption series over the past 12 months (which finished in the current issue) and next issue you can read all about other integrity issues and the Wood Review, which was the review commissioned by the federal government into Cycling Australia at the end of last year. Australia is lucky to have a cycling journal that covers heavy but important issues - the Wood Review is the kind of stuff that is going to shape your sport.
- Doing up my new place: Actually, that's only partly true. I bought a place, then got the awesome Tony the Builder to find people much better than me to fix it up. Everyone came out happy. And now I get to shop at the eye-wateringly expensive Leo's of Kew, where, as my good mate John Boy put it, you go in to buy a piece of cheese and you come out spending $80... on cheese.
- Mountain bike mountain bike mountain bike! Riding the new Apollo Arctec 9 is like eating peanut butter straight from the jar. AMAZING.
- Training... in amongst everything else! We had VIS training camp over the weekend in Western Victoria and I had forgotten how much I missed being around the crew and bleeding from my eyeballs.
OK, past my bedtime. We start the first NRS (national road series) race next weekend - Tour of Mersey Valley in Tas. It will be great to see everyone again. It's been a while since the end of the NRS season and I miss having someone else cook for me the excitement.
A shout out to the people who help me Ride Happy - particularly to Will and Flick from Neo Pro Imports who welcomed their baby son Harry last week! Will sorts me out with Swiss Eye sunnies to make me look trendy.
And a bigger shout out to my Grandma, who passed away last week and who we farewelled in Adelaide on Friday. She was a wonderful lady and rocked a power suit like no one else. I will miss you Grandma.
Ride Happy.
