Cycling: Event loss hurts but Shanks refocusing

On a break from dodging Amish horses and carts while spinning her wheels through the rolling countryside of Kutztown, Pennsylvania on the East Coast of the United States, Alison Shanks admits she cannot escape thoughts of an event that is no more - her event.

The individual pursuit, generally considered to be the blue riband event of track cycling, will not be contested at the 2012 London Olympics.

And it still hurts the former world champion.

"The fact I can't go back to the Olympics and rectify my fourth place in Beijing really cuts me deep, and I think it will be something that will be hard to fully put to rest," Shanks told the Otago Daily Times in an email this week.

"Winning gold in Delhi gave me closure to the individual pursuit, but I am still gunning for it at the world championships and was so close - 0.2sec, in fact - from grabbing that world rainbow jersey back."

In the meantime, Shanks will spend three months with the New Zealand women's track team, building an endurance base in preparation for the track season beginning in November.

The 2011 world championship team of Shanks, Lauren Ellis, Gemma Dudley and Kaytee Boyd has been joined abroad by Rushlee Buchanan and Jo Keisanowski.

"We have a squad now, with everyone back on a level playing field, all vying for world and then Olympic selection."

The team is leaving no stone unturned and travels with a head coach, sports scientist, nutritionist, psychologist and physical conditioner.

"There is plenty of support both on and off the bike. It really is a holistic approach." Shanks said the key to going quick as a unit was simple.

"We identified back in April during a debrief and planning meeting that we needed to spend more time together and more time on the track, following each other's wheels, going round and round in circles.

"That, coupled with getting stronger in the gym, will make us a formidable unit come London, I believe."

The team's goal is to break the United States team's record time of 3min 19.5sec - something which Shanks believes will happen before the Olympics.

"It was a shame the track conditions at this year's world championships were so heavy which meant the times weren't super fast. But with the women's team pursuit being such a new event I think we will continue to see radical improvements in times over the next 14 months."

The team will compete in the Tour of Altoona next week before heading to the Cascade Classic, in Oregon, in late July.

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