By Jack Bobridge.

Well, it has been a huge start to the year for me!

I moved back to Australia in November, from Girona, Spain where I had been living for 6 years racing on the pro circuit in Europe. I moved back to train and race within Australia for Budget Forklifts until the Olympics, with the goal of becoming Olympic champion in the Teams Pursuit.

I am thrilled with how my year has gone so far. Bronze in the TT at National Championships and then winning a stage and climbing jersey at Tour Down Under was great for my morale. It showed that I’m still capable on the road, and not ‘just’ a track rider. The next week I was disappointed not to break the Hour World Record on my attempt. If I decide to do it again I will pace myself a lot better and have more specific preparation. I think that I can go faster. Whether that means breaking the new record, I’m not sure, but I definitely believe I can go further than my last attempt.

I then went straight into a track camp before the World Championships in Paris, where I won two silver medals. It was a shame we had both a mechanical and a crash in the first round of the teams pursuit, but not winning gold has made us more hungry! In the end, it’s better to get any bad luck out of the way now than have it in Rio. I have to admit I felt pretty tired, both mentally and physical after a huge couple of months of racing by this point, so I was ok with my silver in the Individual 4000 pursuit. And just quietly, I was ready for a bit of down time…BUT I still had the revolution series in London and then the Bendigo Madison! I really enjoyed both of these events but after the Madison I was stoked to head home to my family in Perth who I hadn’t seen for 2.5 months. I also had 5 days off the bike!

I then did a week of training and was straight back into things at the Tour de Perth. It was a bit of a shock to the system (I finished 2^nd) but I feel better for the racing and am now preparing for the Tour of Adelaide. I am not 100% sure on my schedule after that, but I know that in May I will be heading over to America and Canada for a block of racing, which I’m really looking forward to.

I started using the Turbine just before my hour record, and I honestly feel that I am taking in more air. I felt that during my massive block of training and racing, it helped me feel and breathe better than I could without it, especially in a fatigued state. It also gives me confidence knowing that I am using something that I truly believe gives me an edge over my competitors.