Victoria Pendleton Tapering for her Medal Chase

 

Interview by British Cycling's Larry Hickmott

 

>> Back to the 2005 UCI World Track Championship Home Page

 After winning quite a few medals at World Track Cups, Great Britain's Victoria Pendleton is chasing her first World Championship medal. The young lady from Stotfold who now lives in Manchester, has come close with two fourth places in the Sprint event but a medal has so far eluded her. I caught up with Victoria at the team hotel and we sat down in the lobby to chat about how things were going for LA. On the subject of her preparations, Victoria says "its gone really well. I have managed to get into the swing of things pretty quickly."

Her training in Los Angeles is all part of a taper where by the gym work has now finished and the efforts on the track are more a hit out . Explaining her training in the final days leading up to the World Championships, Victoria says "I'm doing a bit of road recovery and hitting out by testing and choosing a gear for race day. And getting my fast wheels on! Its day on, day off basically".

Asked about how she spends her time in the hotel, Victoria admits it can be pretty dull, watching TV and having a nap but when competition time does come, she does expect to be busy in three events. When asked if there is a particular event she is targeting, Victoria says "I haven't really prepared for any one event more than the other so I'm just going to hit them all, Keirin, 500 and Sprint."

Asked if she feels the Los Angeles track is good for her, Victoria says "yes, but obviously everyone is in a different condition now" referring to what they were like when she won a World Cup in the Keirin on this track . "However" she added, "I know even when I was in bad form I got a result here and I am better now. I have a lot more speed and I only hope the others haven't improved by the same amount."

Asked if the long flight would have effected her form back at all, Victoria replies "I think the biggest thing about travelling is to be relaxed about it. You just have to chill out because the more tense you are, the more energy you waste. We spend enough time in airports to know how it works and you do get used to it. I'm just a pretty patient traveller and it doesn't bother me. As soon as we got here, we had to hit this time zone by eating in American times, and sleeping in American times. Basically it meant having a very late night. The first two days were horrible but after that it was fine."

Our best wishes to Victoria who has certainly shown she has the talent by beating many of the riders that have had medalled and with a little luck which every athlete needs, the Hertfordshire girl could soon be stepping onto the World Championship podium for the first time. Good luck Victoria!