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Fry goes off road to fulfil ambition
Rowena Fry believes her contract on the road with GreenEDGE-AIS will compliment her mountain bike ambitions at the Subaru 2012 Australian Mountain Bike Championships in Adelaide this week.
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It’s a really fast course. You really need to be on your game. There is nowhere you can hide on that course. It’s normally pretty hot in Adelaide, so coming from Tassie it’s pretty tough conditions.
Speaking to the Subaru Cycling Show, the Tasmanian said she knows she’ll be pushed to the limit in the cross-country event, but will do everything in her power to enhance her chances of qualifying for Australia’s team for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Fry pinpointed Jenni King as the main competition after watching her clean up in national events throughout the season.
“(She’s) been in fantastic form, the form of her career, and is dominating,” Fry said, also standing up defending champion Katherine O’Shea, from Victoria, as a big rival.
“She’s always going to be on form for nationals,” she said of O’Shea, who took Fry’s title in 2011, a year the Tasmanian described as “a shocker”.
Fry could be a surprise not only to her rivals but also herself given she’s been focusing on road racing with GreenEDGE-AIS for the past few months.
“I haven’t done much on the mountain bike for a couple of months now in terms of racing, so my form is a bit unknown for myself and the other girls so it’s going to be really exciting times,” she said.
She also expressed her gratitude to her new road team for allowing her to compete at all, a rare privilege for contracted riders on any professional outfit.
“I’m so fortunate that GreenEDGE-AIS are giving me this opportunity to follow my dreams on the mountain bike while still being contracted for the road,” she said.
“They’re permitting me to go and do all the World Cup qualifier events, which are what Olympic selection is based on, and also to do national titles. Fingers crossed I can juggle both. I wouldn’t have signed if I didn’t think I could.”
Fry, who won on this Adelaide course in 2010, is expecting some close racing and quick riding across the weekend.
“It’s a course I’m very comfortable with,” she said.
“It’s a really fast course. You really need to be on your game. There is nowhere you can hide on that course. It’s normally pretty hot in Adelaide, so coming from Tassie it’s pretty tough conditions.
“The time gaps aren’t too big, so it’s generally close racing, and I know that the other girls have had a good domestic season.”
