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Australia to Germany and back home
Posted: Thursday November 18, 1999 12:24 PM
In 1999 , British cyclist Jason Queally set two British records at the World Championships, finishing second in the Olympic sprint and fifth in the 1 kilometer time trial. The 29-year-old also won the Olympic sprint at the European Championships and won three World Cup events. While working as a research technician at Lancaster University, Queally began riding at the Manchester velodrome and developed an interest in cycling. In 1996 he decided to ride full-time. Check out Queally's diary every month on CNNSI.com.
November 17, 1999
Hello to all of you who surf the web and have chosen CNNSI.com. My name is Jason Queally, and I'm a professional track cyclist from Great Britain. I have been asked by CNNSI.com to share some of my personal experiences with you leading up to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney Australia. It's been a very long year of competition that began in Australia and ended in Germany. The highs were all the victories and the lows, well only one, my result in the 1 kilometer time trial at the world championships where I finished 5th. I'm currently taking it easy at the moment riding my bike every other day for an hour or so and doing some weight training two times a week. It's been a while since I did any weight training so my legs are very sore. Trying to sort out a new bike for next season (2000 compliant) as the updated rules and regulations of the UCI (the governing body for bike racing) state that my current bike is illegal. I'm hoping that either the current LOOK track bike (French Bike Company) or their new 2000 compliant bike will be the one for me. I'll hopefully be visiting their factory in Nevers, France and testing one of these bikes out in the near future. There are also problems with our current team issue road bikes. These are bikes that are given to us by our cycling federation (world class performance plan (WCPP)) to use to train and in some case race on throughout the year. Although I do not actually have one (they did not have one to fit me), the rest of the squad have had their bikes taken from them to cover a financial short fall incurred by the WCPP. However it must be said that the reason for this short fall was not the direct responsibility of the WCPP and more to do with a change in sponsorship policy via the government. It still means however numerous riders will have to either buy or borrow a bike from somebody! Over the next few weeks I'll be going to the British Cycling Federation's (BCF) annual dinner, getting my knee checked out (I've got a weak knee which I picked up during my swimming days) and meeting some children who have been invited along to the National Cycling Centre (Manchester Velodrome) because of their cycling success throughout the year. I've also been asked by Adidas (sports wear company) to model, along with many other athletes from many sports, some of their Olympic kit for the 2000 games. Not sure why they picked me as I am no Tom Cruise? More a Cyrano de Berjerac. My next race will be in Australia, at the newly built Olympic velodrome, in March where I will be competing in the Australian National Track Championships. I'll hopefully be competing against Shane Kelly, three times World Kilometer Champion and current World Record Holder. I hope to be a bit more competitive against him this time as he recently beat me well and truly at the World Championships in Berlin. Shane was second and very close to the French man Arnaud Tournant where as I was fifth a whole second slower than Tournant. My next instalment will come from Orlando, Florida where I'll be visiting all the usual theme parks and doing as little training as possible. I'll give you the rough guide on all the local attractions and let you know what all my teammates and me have been up to. So be happy and stay fat. Or is it fit? I can't remember. -- Jason
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