Cycling: Time to take the training wheels off

Ali Shanks trains in the hills above Christchurch this week. Picture / Simon Baker

Ali Shanks is hoping to catch the field in next month's Commonwealth Games road time trial by surprise.

She certainly has every chance of doing that just as she has stunned the cycling fraternity with the explosive way she burst into their sport.

Good enough to play netball for New Zealand under-21 and New Zealand A and with five years in the Otago Rebels squad, Shanks, apart from a now-ended two-year relationship with world champion Greg Henderson, was unknown in cycling.

No longer.

The 23-year-old will contest the 3000m individual pursuit on the track and the 28.5km road time trial in Melbourne.

"She is green as grass," said Bike NZ head track coach Terry Gyde. "Technically, she is very much a novice, but we are convinced from the physiological side of things she has what it takes.

"We will worry about that in the next 18 months. We don't have huge expectations at this stage, but given what she has done already, nothing would surprise me."

After turning her back on netball - she reckons she had less than 10 per cent court time in her years with the Rebels - Shanks was looking elsewhere. Initially, with new boyfriend Craig Palmer, a respected sporting coach, she planned on turning to running and duathlons.

Cycling was in the background but there was enough to convince Palmer and Gyde that she might have the right stuff.

"I have always been competitive, and I had ridden my bike during the summer in the past," said Shanks, who answers to Ali to everyone but her mother, who prefers Alison.

"My first race was in the masters C grade over 40km in Dunedin, where I was up against a 60-year-old. It has just gone from there."

Her switch from the bench at the netball stadium to the saddle was dramatic.

Gyde threw her in at the deepest end, suggesting she ride the 3000m individual pursuit at the Oceania Championships in late November-early December.

"I had to borrow a bike and had only two days' training," said Shanks of her preparation for the testing 12-lap challenge on the Wanganui velodrome. "The first four laps were not too bad, and I got through the next four okay. The last four laps were the killer."

Shanks pushed herself all the way to make the final, where she finished second to Auckland's Paddy Walker.

They repeated the same one-two finish in last month's nationals with Shanks recording 3m 57.35s - just over a second back from Walker's 3m 56.11s.

To win a medal in Melbourne, and she is certainly not counting on that, Shanks knows she will need to go "low 40s or high 30s".

Even allowing for the 5s advantage she can gain riding indoors, it will be a tall order.

Her better chance, she reckons, might be on the road where she will be the back-up for Olympic and World Champion Sarah Ulmer and Melissa Holt.

As a "Norma Nobody", she will be well down the list and given an early starting slot. Gyde sees that as an advantage.

"She will have ridden the pursuit before that as a chance to settle any nerves. Being away early in the time trial should give her the best of the conditions as the wind is likely to get up later."

Riding solo suits Shanks.

"So far I have had no major spills although I did fall onto a bridge in a club race. Fear? Yes, I have a little."

What changes has she noticed since switching sports?

"My thighs have grown; my jeans don't fit any more," she said with a laugh. "My upper body has got smaller and my weight has dropped slightly, but I try to keep it around 62kg."

Shanks is now the proud owner of a Scott Plasma time trial bike. At $10,000 it didn't come cheap.

She also has a Scott road bike, worth about $6000, and a new track bike - a far cry from just the shoes she needed when pounding the netball court.

Shanks is well-prepared as she rounds off her Games preparation.

"I'm not letting anything worry me.

"I will ride to a specific power rather than a time schedule or against my opponent and see how it goes."

She certainly has nothing to lose.


Ali [Alison] Shanks


Born: Dunedin, December 13, 1982


Education: Andersons Bay Primary, Queens High School


Qualifications: BSc in human nutrition and B Com (hons) in marketing from Otago University


Represented NZ: Netball, under-21 2003, NZ A 2004-2005. Cycling, 2005 Oceania champs.