Cycling: Shanks hungry to reach the top

Former Otago netballer, but now passionate cyclist, Alison Shanks, reckons she has what it takes to get to the top of her new sport.

Shanks, 22, took up serious cycling only a few months ago and will don New Zealand colours in the Oceania championships which begin in Wanganui tomorrow.

With just one month of intensive training she finished third in the time trial and seventh in the road race in October's national championships in Ashhurst, near Palmerston North, and was fast tracked into the national team.

She will race the same events in Wanganui.

While all eyes will be on the progress of Sarah Ulmer in the time trial, Shanks' performance will also be under scrutiny after her stunning effort at the road nationals.

"I think I have the fighting sprit and aggression that (New Zealand team manager) Michael Flynn is calling for," Shanks told NZPA.

"When he says aggression, (he is talking about) the ability to back yourself when there are riders up the road and to go out and attack them -- I think I've got that attitude."

Shanks, who ended her five-year association with the Otago Rebels netball franchise earlier this year, said never in her wildest dreams did she think she would make the national cycling team so quickly.

"It has all happened rather quickly but it is all exciting.

"A newspaper reporter broke the news of my selection to me and there was a bit of a celebration with the family, which was good."

Since then, Shanks has been hard at work with coach Craig Palmer honing her technique, which she admitted "wasn't flash" at the nationals.

"I've been putting in the miles over the past three weeks and attended a training camp in Wanaka the other weekend.

"Obviously my technique wasn't hot over at the nationals and Craig and I have been working together on that over the last three or four weeks."

This has involved a change in the size of her bike's gears.

"We've been looking to spin a bit more and stop pushing such a big gear which makes it a bit easier on the legs.

'Theoretically, you should be able to go for a whole lot longer."

Shanks said she was hoping for another good performance.

"Selection has broadened my ambitions. I think it has made me even more hungry and realise that things are possible and one day, obviously, I want to get to the top."

For another road racer, a grizzled veteran compared with the novice Shanks, the Oceania championships offers a chance to cap a memorable year.

Gordon McCauley became just the third rider to win the national road title for the fourth time and early this month won his second Tour of Southland title in his 10th appearance at the event. He makes his return to the national team after last representing the country at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002.

"Two of my objectives this year were to win the nationals and the Southland Tour," he said.

"I wasn't doing that much overseas this year so I had to target the two biggest races in New Zealand if I wanted to have any shot at riding the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next year.

"The Oceania championships wasn't on my list of targets at all -- I hadn't even counted it but it's a race and if I put a number on, I want to win," the 33-year-old Counties-Manukau rider said.

"It's just good that the selectors are showing some faith in me, that's what feels best about it."

McCauley said he was probably not going as good at the moment as he was in the nationals and Southland Tour.

"You can't hold onto your peak forever, so for me this event is going to be good to prove that I can be a good teammate.

"But if the opportunity arises to try and win the race, of course, I'll take it but I see it as a good opportunity to show that I'm a team player and I can help Robin Reid or Fraser MacMaster or whoever it is go for the win."

McCauley said he now planned to ride another year in the United States as a professional.

"I love wearing the national champion's jersey purely because I have won the jersey, I am going to race another year as a professional in America

"I am proud to wear the national champion's jersey so I want to go back overseas and wear it for another year -- make the Americans chase me for a season."

- NZPA