Nicole Cooke Busy Preparing for Season Ahead
Story posted December 8
By Larry Hickmott
The big one -- Olympic champion and that victory has led to many other awards and honours. Photo: Phil O'Connor.
After a momentous year for the Welsh queen of the road, Nicole Cooke, comes the announcement this week that more awards have come her way. Nicole, along with many in the Great Britain Cycling team was awarded an MBE in recognition of her Olympic Gold and then Nicole learnt she had also been named Transworld Sport Female Athlete of the Year by the sports TV programme.
British Cycling spoke to Nicole, based in Switzerland, who said of the royal gong, “it is a really special honour, especially to get it in the year I was Olympic champion. It is a real bonus on top of everything else that has happened this year.”
Nicole also admitted to being surprised and really pleased at being named Female Athlete of the Year by Transworld Sport. “I think winning an award outside of the sport of cycling that compares people across different sports is very special and that was a big surprise when I found out. I was really proud to have that award, especially alongside some one like Usain Bolt.
After such an amazing year, Nicole, who has been by far the best British female road cyclist for over a decade, is back in training at her home in Switzerland and enjoying this festive time of the year. She told us “during this part of the year, you appreciate the time off and the break from racing where I’m able to maintain a balance between going out on the bike and enjoying the festivities.”
Unlike the conditions in Britain which make training on the roads tricky, Nicole told us the weather in Switzerland has been very nice and not stopped her from preparing for the season ahead by using quiet hilly roads to do her intervals.
The double World and Olympic Champion -- a really historic achievement for the Welsh rider.
She admits as well, that unlike some riders in Australia right now who are already well into the road season, she is able to relax and not worry about the racing just yet. Before the spring races will come a training camp in February where her team, Vision 1 Racing, will commence their training as a unit for the coming races in 2009.
In the meantime, Nicole is busy raising the pace of her training. “This time of the year is when the intervals start to come into my training and the intensity is higher. It was nice to get back into training harder as well because there is a part of me that always likes to push myself and do challenging rides. It's certainly good to be back into the swing of things.”
Her training is geared towards doing efforts specific to her racing and Nicole admits that over the years, hard lessons have been learnt and her training has changed to meet the demands of her sport. “I’m in a good place now with my training and have the confidence to put plans into place I know work” she explained.
Looking ahead to the 2009 season, Nicole says that the team have a schedule in place for the major events that they intend racing in 2009 but that the over whelming target is the World Road Race championships near her home in Switzerland. That race and some spring classics too.
“The Worlds is the big target and I would also like to have a good spring campaign but the other targets will depend on the team and the programme we have for the other riders and what their objectives are”.
Asked how she felt with the Worlds being local to her this year, even more local than they were last year, Nicole replied “Yes, having them here will be good for me. I’m really looking forward to them being so close as it’s great for the local community and they can relate to what I am doing. So it's going to be very special on both a personal and sporting level. Closer to the time, I’ll be able to go out to the course and prepare the best I can and that will for sure, help me during the final build up to defending my title”.
Nicole early last year surrounded by younger riders. This year, Katie Curtis (on her left) will return to race with Nicole with Vision 1.
It isn’t just the Road Worlds that Nicole has on her mind either because unlike previous seasons, this year Nicole is in the process of helping develop her own team, one which she hopes will help her prepare well over the next four years for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
“Creating this team keeps things exciting for me and has given me a new creative challenge which is very rewarding. Last year I enjoyed being around the younger girls in the Halfords team and I’m trying to keep that link with younger riders going in Vision 1.”
So, with the challenge of creating her own team along with preparing for a season racing in the rainbow jersey, Nicole is certainly keeping busy and if that wasn’t enough, she has also started writing a column for a magazine, Women’s Fitness. Talking about this new undertaking, Nicole says “this is an opportunity for me to talk about different things that are important to me and is really something I’m looking forward to doing.”
Nicole finished by saying the first column has already been written where she explains to the readers how she got started in the sport and much more. Our thanks to Nicole for speaking to us and we wish her, and the team, lots of luck during 2009 and wish them all a very happy new year!
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