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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Athens, Tuesday, August 17

Close call

The day passed in what seemed like minutes. Rolled out on the road bike to come back for efforts on the indoor trainer. Feels like I have some good form - the efforts were hard, but I got through them comfortably.

After lunch, we headed out on the mountain bike. Heading off the road, I came round a blind corner, to be met by a near vertical bank, it was that steep the tyres just slid down, full lock. Had it under control until the bottom, where there was a shrub in the middle of the track, or the choice of a three-foot rut full of rock. The bush became a stopping pad for the bike and I stepped off over the bars, running to the bottom. Looking back at Josh, he took the dismount option, only to slide down with his bike next to him - close call.

The tracks just got better from there. We climbed up a fire-trail for 30 minutes to come across a single track downhill. It was great fun, being tight and technical with some good views off the side; half an hour later we came out on the road! It's got to be the first time I have spent as much time descending as climbing, it was awesome. Tomorrow is a rest day.