Roads that don't exist

Today Brandie and I went out for a short ride in the countryside around Montichiari. I studied the local maps, checked on google maps and wrote up directions for a ride of the appropriate length at this stage of preparation for the Championships. Well, let me tell you, don't trust local maps! Half of the roads that I'd selected for us to ride on simply didn't exist or were little more than goat tracks. Fortunately we didn't go any further than a few kilometres away from town in any direction so there were no real dramas but it was quite a funny experience.

Anyway, rather than telling you how nice the weather is (beautiful sunny day if a little chilly!) or that we had another successful day at the track in spite of there being three or four teams on there at once all trying to do their own thing, I decided over the next few days to introduce you to the team. We'll start with the tandems.

Here's Kieran Modra (L) and Scott McPhee (R). At 19, Scott's the

youngster of the team, but is very capable in his role as pilot of the "Modra Express". He was plucked out of a blossoming road career to return to the track on the tandem and so far its proven to be a successful combination.

Kieran is a Paralympic veteran, having represented Australia at four Games in cycling, one in swimming and one in track and field. He's been trying to retire from cycling for the last 10 years, but the lure of competition somehow keeps him going. He's the cameraman of the team, taking his video camera on the bike with him whenever possible to record the experience.

Our other men's tandem team is Bryce Lindores (L) and Sean Finning (R).

Sean is an accomplished cyclist in his own right and at last month's Australian Track Championships stepped off the front of the tandem and into the elite men's points race, where he caused a lot of anxious moments for many of his fresher opponents.

Bryce is the Karaoke King of the team and can always be relied upon for a bit of musical entertainment with his stirring renditions of 80s favourites. He wants to drive the bus around for us, but we're not sure how he'd go driving on the 'wrong' side of the road!

And finally tonight, one of the women's tandems, piloted by Stephanie Morton (L) with Felicity Johnson (R) in the engine room.

Steph is also an elite rider in her spare time away from the tandem and placed second in the 2011 Australian 500m Time Trial Championship. She's very pleased to have Scott in the team or she'd be the youngest!

Felicity, or "Flick" as she's known to her friends, is the quiet achiever of the team. She might not look like a sprinter and I'm not sure that the nickname has anything to do with how she rides the bike, but make no mistake about her contribution to the tandem's speed as the team's stoker. Look out for this pair when the results come in for the women's tandem 1000m time trial because they're motoring!

That's all the introductions I can manage this time around, but keep watching as I help you get to know the rest of the Aussie team for 2011.