Blogs by Professional Cyclists - Professional Cycling Unplugged™

Since my maiden blog posting back in December (oops), I have enjoyed a decent off season, a great pre season and a sensational summer ‘Down Under’! The concept of snow at this time of the year is rather foreign to me being an Aussie who spends the majority of this time being based at the beach.

Beach from the ferry

I decided to approach things a little differently for 2009 and took a longer, much needed break after last season. The cycling year seems to keep getting longer gradually reducing the time off before starting the process all over again. What also makes things rather difficult for us in the southern hemisphere is that while the northern hemisphere has a true winter and professionals can actually have an ‘off’ season, we have to get our head around racing our National Road Championships at the beginning of January.  I find that you are caught between a rock and a hard place as an Aussie professional. On one hand you want to promote and support women’s cycling or cycling in general for that matter, race in your home country as you don’t get many opportunities for this and allow the domestic riders who are aspiring to reach the professional level an opportunity to race against their peers that are pro’s but on the other hand you have spent February to October racing consistently and require sufficient time to come down from the season you have just had and prepare gradually and effectively for the season to come. As hard as it was, for various reasons, I did not compete at the Australian Road Nationals that were held a couple of weeks ago. Instead I have spent the past couple of months steadily preparing for the season ahead which will kick off at the end of next week when I head over to race the Tour of Qatar.

Training along the coast

I have been recently enjoying quality time with my family…Mum, Dad, my brother Ant, his wife Anna and my sister Kate, especially the couple of weeks over the Christmas/New Year period. My family owns a beach house in a small coastal town called Blairgowrie, situated on the Mornington Peninsula, about 100km south of Melbourne. The house has been in my dad’s side of the family since he was 12 yrs old and we have pretty much spent the past 30 years having our family summer holidays down there. The house sleeps, when required, a maximum of 15 so there is always an array of friends that come down for a swim, some windsurfing or a BBQ and stay. We are an extremely active family from cyclists, to marathon runners, rowers, triathletes so actually those who know us well tend to refer to our family holidays as the “Rickards Family Training Camp”. As much as I joke about it, there is a fair bit of truth in it, as we all seem to be doing our various training in the mornings before the relaxation part of the day begins. I love this time of the year though and wouldn’t have it any other way.

(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

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Posted under ROAD BIKE

Where to begin?  I have sat staring at my computer screen for far too long contemplating the way in which I would begin my first blog. I am new to all of this and am excited that, thanks to Gregg, my introduction to blogging is with TwoWheelTales.com.

Seeing this is my first entry, I thought it appropriate to commence with a little introduction. My name is Emma Rickards. I have been a professional road cyclist for 5 years and came to the sport in 2000 after a wrist injury in training as a lightweight rower. Technically Melbourne, Australia is my home but it is difficult to say that these days as I tend to spend the majority of my year overseas.

I began my professional career in the USA with Victory Brewing (2004) and for the past 4 years I have been based in Switzerland riding for the Univega Pro Cycling Team (2005/2006), Raleigh Lifeforce Pro Cycling team (2007) and this year with Cervélo Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team. In fact it has been the same team for the past 4 years with the name altering due to the change in the title sponsor. Since 2006 I have ridden for two very impressive yet different team leaders, Nicole Cooke and Kristin Armstrong and during this time, racing amongst the world’s best in the European women’s peloton, my ability, knowledge and true understanding of the sport of cycling has taken shape.

2009 brings about an exciting change for me. I am heading back to the USA and have signed with Team TIBCO for the coming season. It will be an interesting move from the European to North American women’s peloton but one that I am very much looking forward to. To be involved with not only a team of incredible women but also to be a part of the continued growth and development of this sport for women is something exciting in itself.

(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)

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Posted under ROAD BIKE