"Since arriving in Germany almost 2 weeks ago time has flown by. Dan and I have settled into our home for the next 6 months in Germany, almost finished the process of purchasing a car and raced the opening round of the Swiss BMC Racing Cup in Buchs.

Arriving into Buch’s we were amazed by the beautiful scenery. There were huge mountains completely surrounding the place, most covered in snow! We kitted up and set out for some practice laps. The course was more challenging than anticipated and was just one big long climb for slightly over 2 kilometres. The only thing breaking up the climb was the change in gradient. It would go from steep, to incredibly steep and then back to steep again before reaching the top. From the top you would then descend down a violently bumpy and rough fire road (hang on for your life and hope like hell you don’t get a flat!) and then into a couple of little technical sections before looping through the race village to head out for the next lap.

For my race we had 6 laps and I knew it was going to be important to ride conservatively and consistently. I started well straight out of the gun and it was nice not having to play catch up to chase the leaders. I settled into my rhythm and could already see some of the riders ahead of me starting to pop. I caught a couple of girls by the top but they descended away from me into the finish.

Unfortunately for me super fast descents are not my strength so I found myself losing a bit too much time and being forced to work a little harder on the climb.

On the second lap I caught the two girls again and this time put a few seconds into them before the top. I thought, there is no way they can catch me this time. But by halfway down the descent I was sprinting to stay in contact with them. I didn’t.

On the third lap only one of the girls was in sight now and this time I wasn’t catching up. During the race I thought that on the third lap I lost a chunk of time but my lap times were all quite consistent so the girls ahead had obviously lifted the pace.

The fourth, fifth and sixth laps were all quite similar. I held a good pace and pushed all the way to the top of the hill every time. I had a pretty good idea that I was leading the Under 23 category but was not sure where I was in Elite.

At the top of the climb for the last time I thought to myself, now just be careful not to flat or do anything stupid as that is the only way I can lose positions now before the finish. Conservative was obviously not the approach I needed to take as it was about a kilometre before the finish and I saw a rider chasing me down, I could see she was desperate and she was pushing hard. I also saw that she was another Under 23 so I was forced to sprint the last kilometre of the race, watching my back. I crossed the line just three seconds ahead of her to take 7th Elite and 1st Under 23. My first win in Europe!!!

I am really happy with how my form is progressing, I have been training hard and will be working specifically on punchy, steep climbing in preparation for the next World Cup in Houffalize, Belgium in 2 weeks time. Since the World Cup in Pietermaritzburg we have been in a training phase so it’s a good feeling to be able to have a strong race without going into it fresh.

Thanks to Dan for his support and for taking care of my training, my family for all of their ongoing support (and especially for organizing our Trek Madone’s to be shipped over), Rich and the Peil’s from Anytime Fitness, Pete Dowse for all of his work behind the scenes, Trek, Shimano and CCS Facilities Maintenance. Also a huge thankyou to Rubena tyres for getting us some new rubber in time for the race and TORQ Nutrition for all of the product which arrived today.

All of the support is much appreciated!"

This post originally appeard on Mountain Bike Australia.