Reade geared up for success

Published on Saturday 30 May 2009 20:55

IT CAN'T be that hard, the girl who usually wins struggles in BMX," said Shanaze Reade of her quest to win her inaugural mountain bike competition, in Fort William next weekend. Disparaging cockiness or an honest analysis? In print, it could read as the former but in actual fact the statement is simply another example of the kind of self-belief inherent among British cyclists these days.

When she uttered those words a couple of months ago, the 20-year-old Olympian hadn't even tried competitive mountain biking and was still awaiting the delivery of the bike she will use when she attempts to justify her confidence at next weekend's 2009 Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup but history suggests she is a quick learner.

An exponent of the BMX art since she was 10, she took up track cycling in February 2007 and after less than six weeks of training and in only her second competition, she won the team sprint at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships along with Victoria Pendleton, in the process becoming the first woman to win a gold in her rookie year.

She believes history can now repeat itself. New discipline, different venue but same incredible feat. The bike has now been delivered and whether or not it emulates the paintwork of her latest BMX which is "black and white, with a bit of gold" that colour scheme will be reflected in her mentality.

There is certainly little tolerance for grey areas in her thought process. In Beijing she was the outstanding favourite for gold in the BMX event. A combative environment, she was already battered and bruised from the earlier rounds and lined up for the final with a torn hamstring hoping the combination of adrenaline and undisguised determination would be enough. It wasn't. Not quite. Going into the final bend she was trailing France's Anne-Caroline Chausson and while others may have settled for silver, Reade made an all or nothing lunge for the lead. It didn't pay off. Rather than a place on the podium, she ended up in the dirt, with only another batch of injuries to show for her bravery.

Some thought she should have taken the safer option, arguing second best would still have given her a medal, others, including the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, applauded her attitude. She wasn't another plucky loser but a determined competitor who describes herself as hard as nails.

"Winning silver would have been much worse than what happened," she has stated. Worse than the hamstring injury, the bruising from hip to toe and more painful and debilitating than the nerve-damaged hand that took months to heal. "I couldn't look at a silver medal and know that I only won it because I didn't have the guts to go for gold. I'd been working towards it since I was 12 and I'd put my heart and soul into it. I wasn't going to sit and watch others fight for the gold medal I'd dreamed of without at least giving it a shot. If I find myself in the same situation again, I'll do exactly the same thing." London 2012 is the next big target and, who knows, beyond that could be another one or even two Olympic opportunities for redemption.

New challenges appeal more than wallowing in self-pity. She has admitted that her love of sport verges on an obsessive compulsive disorder. First it was track and field athletics, with the sprints and shot put the focus of her energies, but that was only until she really discovered bikes. She has mixed things up by trying new events, swapping between BMX tracks and the velodrome and now she is about to tackle the gruelling and pugilistic world of 4X mountain biking. The only constants are her desperate need to win and her two-wheeled companion. "If I really want to do something, I normally will," she says.

It is a psychology which aligns itself perfectly with the winning ways of British Cycling and also segues seamlessly with the event she is tackling in Fort William.

Gladitorial in format, the 4X event takes place over a 400m-long custom-built course littered with beams, jumps, step-ups and other tough obstacles before turning down into the main finish arena. In the past it has been likened to BMX but courses are becoming more technically challenging to retain the mountain biking element.

"I've always loved mountain biking but this will be my first test competitively," she said. "I've heard great things about the course at Fort William and I expect it will be brilliant fun but a major challenge too. Bring it on!"

Given that only two of the four riders progress from each contest, delivering great battles in a series of knock-out stages, those hoping to succeed require bursts of speed at the start and in the straight line sprints, as well as fearless commitment in the jumps. Which bodes well for Reade. The lead off lady in the track team sprint, she has power in the legs, while the BMX experience means that jumps, tough obstacles, dirt courses and do-or-die head to heads are nothing to be feared.

The main competition includes world champion Melissa Buhl of the USA, and Holland's Anneke Beerten, who took the World Cup title. But reputations are there to be undermined rather than bowed down to as far as the debutant Crewe rider is concerned. Asked in one interview what she regarded as the greatest achievement to date and she talks of winning the BMX Elite Worlds for the first time and asserts that will always be a favourite, "but then also winning a world title on the track in a world record time just six weeks after I first sat on a track bike is pretty cool", she adds. Going all out for victory may backfire at times but more often than not it has proved a recipe for success for Reade. For now it's the mountain-bike world who will have to watch out, but by 2012, it will be the world.