Alison Shanks is keeping her feet on the ground. She wants a podium finish at Beijing but is just taking one step at a time. What are her expectations?
"The pursuit is very controllable. You don't have to worry about the opposition at all," Shanks said.
"I just focus on what I have to do."
Her first goal is to ride a personal best time to get to the second round.
"If that gets me to the medal rounds that's even better," Shanks told the Otago Daily Times.
There are 12 women in the pursuit.
To reach the second round, Shanks must finish in the top eight. She is ranked seventh.
The medals are distributed among the four who make the medal round.
"Once you get into the second round anything can happen," Shanks said.
There is little time between the top women in the 3000m individual pursuit.
It comes down to fractions of a second.
"Anything can happen on the day. You have your good days and bad days. Hopefully it all comes together perfectly on the day. But who knows, anything can happen."
Most competitors at the Olympics had done the hard training.
The medallists would be those who were mentally tough enough to take the pressure and ignore the hype.
"I get nervous on the day. It helps me to perform better and brings me up for the big event.
"I look on it as just another race. It is easier to think of it like that. It's raced on a 250m track that I've raced and trained on for months and months."
Shanks raced in a World Cup event at Beijing last December and knows what it feels like.
"I will just be putting everything I have done in training into practice on the day," she said.
"The other girls are going through the same thing.
"I can't worry about the other girls. I can't control what they do on race day. All I can do is focus on myself."
Shanks writes down her race plan and highlights key words that she thinks about on the start line.
"I make sure they are in the forefront of my mind," she said. "I am counting down in my head and once I am out of the blocks I have to power through the first half-lap really hard.
"Once I sit down on the bike I settle into a relaxed rhythm of breathing. When you are crunched over in the pursuit position your lungs are restricted and you need the air.
"I try and be relaxed through the shoulders and through the jaw. It allows me to breathe easier.
"I get the lap calls from Craig [coach Craig Palmer]. That's an indication if I'm on or off schedule and I adjust my pace accordingly.
"I ride a different way on the first few laps than I do in the last few laps. I want a controlled race."
The rapid progress of Shanks through the ranks has been helped by Palmer who uses technology to assess her progress and adjust her training if required.
"We make adaptations on a weekly, or even a daily basis. It depends on what we feel is the optimum training regime."
Palmer also also gets Shanks' input.
"I listen to my body. Sometimes I need more rest and at other times I need to toughen up and guts it out," she said.
Shanks adds weight training when she is in Dunedin.
"A lot of it is ab [abdominal] work for core stability rather than heavy loading on the legs. Most of my strength work is done on the bike."
Shanks is supported by Sparc, BikeNZ and the Skeggs Foundation and has been training full-time for a year.
Her progress is remarkable because she has been cycling seriously for only a short time.
It has been a three-year ride for Shanks from novice to Olympian.
"I didn't have any ex-pectations when I started. The Olympics weren't even in the picture.
"I have gone forward in small steps. When I first started I just thought of going to nationals."
Shanks' expectations rose when she competed at the Oceania and world championships.
From there it was just little steps to the Olympics.
Her first major event was the Commonwealth Games at Melbourne in 2006 when she finished fourth.
"It was a great learning experience.
I was new to the sport then and and had not done many pursuits at all," she said.
"It was a valuable experience in a big competition. I performed above expectations."
Shanks praised the Dunedin-based South Island Academy.
"I have close medical support. Any niggles have been nullified quickly and I've been able to use the Academy gymnasium. Things are easily accessible in Dunedin."
Shanks file
At a glance
Name: Alison Shanks (25).
Occupation: Professional cyclist.
Event: 3000m individual pursuit.
Race schedule: August 15, qualifying round (10pm); August 16, first round (9.05pm); August 17, ride-off for bronze medal (9.05pm); ride-off for gold and silver (9.10 pm).
Best time: 3min 35.2sec (world championships, Manchester, April 2008).
