Photo: © Mikkeli Godfree

Tassie devil: The Sid Taberlay diary 2004

24 year-old Tasmanian Sid Taberlay is a man on a mission. The current Australian and Oceania mountain bike champion, Sid is, like so many athletes this year, striving for a berth at the Athens Olympics Games. But his never-say-die attitude, down-to-earth deameanour and a desert-dry sense of humour - not forgetting a bloody big motor! - puts Sid in the best position possible to realise a life-long dream.

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Netherlands, April 29, 2004

Touchdown in Holland

I've made it to Europe. The flight went much faster than usual, probably because we spent the night in Tokyo between connections. I'm with a small team - Continental/Scott. We are staying in a newly done-up granny-flat at the back of the team manager's house. First thoughts on training here is, I need bigger gears, it is dead flat and very windy. So training efforts will not be on the hills but into the headwind. Tomorrow is our first race, a Netherlands National round. I will use it as a warm up race for the big one on Sunday. Until then, Sid.