No shortcuts for Cook in pursuit of 3rd title
CHAMPION endurance mountain biker Ronel Cook will make one important change when she chases a third consecutive world title in Scotland later this month — her shorts.
Last year the 43yearold was reluctant to stop during her pursuit of a second world 24hour solo mountain agegroup title.
The event is exactly what it sounds like, by the way. You start pedalling and stop 24 hours later.
It is exhausting, obviously. And, in the Italian heat, Cook suffered terrible chafing. You might say she left a lot of skin in the game.
She is not planning on making the same mistake at this month’s championships, which will be staged at Fort William, Scotland.
‘‘This time I will stop and change my shorts,’’ she laughed. ‘‘You get it in your head that you can’t stop.
‘‘The less time you stop, the more chance you have to win.’’
There are some things you have to stop for, clearly. Cook also stopped so she could eat some proper food which did not come in a squeezy container.
She also paused for a coffee as a reward but otherwise was idle for about 50 minutes during her 24hour stint on the bike. Most of us could manage that the other way around but Cook is more determined than most.
‘‘It would be pretty cool to win it three times in a row,’’ she said when asked what kept her motivated.
She enjoys the challenge but is a little nervous about pedalling through the night at Fort William.
The temperatures are expected to drop below 0degC which will certainly satisfy her zest for a challenge.
She is expecting rocky terrain and when that gives way to a softer surface — mud, and lots of it.
The loop track, which is expected to be 1217km, will include a testing 400m climb.
Cook, who is a programme coordinator at Moana Pool, leaves for Scotland on Saturday and the race gets under way the following weekend.
Champion cyclist Natasha Hansen is this week seeking more glory in Australia at the Oceania championships in Adelaide. However, it has not always been an easy ride for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games multimedallist. The netball enthusiast who took up cycling to keep herself fit spoke to sports correspondent Tony Love about her journey.
Afew short months ago, Natasha Hansen was not sure if she would ever cycle competitively again.
Now the champion sprinter is targeting a medal — or medals — at the 2020 Olympics.
Hansen burst into international prominence when she won two silver medals and a bronze at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in March, but it was far from an overnight breakthrough.
After competing with distinction for her country in the 2011 Oceania championships in Australia while working — as an air traffic controller, no less — and training in Invercargill the then 21yearold was selected for the 2012 London Olympics in the keirin and the sprint.
It was difficult for her to maintain cycling as her beall and endall, however, when her best friend died of cancer. She returned to New Zealand from training overseas for the funeral but still managed to finish 12th in the sprint and 11th in the keirin in London.
After some time off from the sport she moved to the New Zealand team’s base in Cambridge in 2015 determined again to be the best she could be.
Success on the world cup circuit followed, as did participation in the Rio Olympics, where she again competed creditably in the individual and team sprint.
Although determined to go to a new level, she suffered chronic back pain last year. Setback followed setback and there were no real answers to what was contributing to her relapses.
Hansen gives credit to a strong support team of her coach, physios and strength and conditioning trainers who pushed to get answers and had the knowledge and expertise to help her begin rebuilding her body.
She explains: ‘‘I had a minor tear in the disc that kept getting irritated, so it was a matter of developing the right training programme to eliminate any aggravation to let this mend whilst at the same time developing all the strength I had lost.
‘‘From January this year I began an intensive rehab block and by March I was starting to feel the benefits. A little too early to be going fast, so the world champs weren’t the greatest.’’
And yet after six weeks of consistent training again ‘‘I felt the strongest and fittest I’d been in a long time’’.
With that confidence in her body came the mental confidence she could produce results. And how.
Since her success in the Commonwealth Games she has been racing and training in
Asia — firstly, the keirin circuit in Japan, an invitationalonly professional race circuit in which they invite selected international male and female riders each year to compete against Japan’s best.
Hansen said it was a unique experience.
‘‘You are put in lockdown for a few days during racing, with no communication with the outside world and they proceed to bet on you like racehorses.
‘‘Being in Japan, it was also an opportunity to train and race on the Tokyo Olympic velodrome’’.
Following that, she trained in China with former spring coach Anthony Peden — yes, that coach — alongside the likes of Olympic champ Tianshi Zhong.
‘‘I think it has given me a great foundation to start this season well and was a good transition period before working with our new coach, Rene Wolff, which I am really looking forward to doing.’’
So now begins the buildup to Tokyo in 2020. Hansen says the way to meet her goal of a medal is to push herself to her limits to see what she can get out of herself physically over the next two years.
There is one thing that will make this Olympics easier — she won’t have to help planes land during the buildup.
‘‘Being able to have an optimal twoyear leadin is exciting (and something I haven’t given myself the opportunity to do in the past as I still worked as an air traffic controller before London and Rio) and realistic given the fact that I am still getting stronger and faster and obviously pretty mature as an athlete.’’
Hansen says at 28 she is a ‘‘fitter, stronger and mentally tougher’’ sprinter now.
‘‘I have learned so much since I first joined the team, with the most important learning being that the top cyclists win because they never look for any excuses and are willing to make more sacrifices that everyone else. I think that many young athletes with raw talent think they can cut corners, and I certainly cut a few earlier in my career.’’
As for what Hansen does outside cycling, she says she really enjoys cooking and baking, although, of course, ‘‘being pretty strict on what I cook (and bake) because maintaining a good power to weight ratio is so important as a sprint athlete.’’
And talents apart from cycling: ‘‘Shopping’’.