During three busy and intense days of press conferences here on Majorca, the constant question has been: Will I be coming back again? Yes, of course I will – a simple and straight forward answer which provides the basis for all of Kenneth’s and my activities.

So that shouldn’t leave any room for doubt as to how we’ll be thinking and planning during the coming months. It’s slightly more difficult to be absolutely clear on when we’ll be competing with the world elite again. We’ve intentionally avoided formulating concrete goals for the season of 2008, and won’t be doing so before the end of May. So all competitions I take part in during March, April and May will be regarded as pure training without a focus on winning. Then we’ll compile a thorough summary at the end of May and, based on that, formulate our goals for the World Championships in June, followed by the Olympics in Beijing.

We’re proud to be able to present a brand new home page, where you can follow us closely in the run-up towards the Olympic season. The new layout is designed by Luca Cereghetti who lives in Lugano, and who I got to know when visiting with Merida Switzerland in November. Luca is a complete bicycle enthusiast, and when he offered us his expertise, we naturally accepted. He is also responsible for the translations into Italian, so now we can also accommodate all our cycling fans in Italy too. In other words, we have two great guys, Marton and Luca, helping us with our wonderful home page.

TOP NOTCH PRESS CAMP

The press camp here on Majorca was done in style. It was a well organized séance with varied and exciting content, spread over three days. We were all busy, especially the team riders, when close to 70 photographers and journalists made their way to Majorca. Kenneth and I travelled down a few days early so we’d be well rested, in the hopes that I wouldn’t get sick this time, but it didn’t make any difference. For five years running, I’ve always been sick during the press camp on Majorca, and this time it all started the day before the invited guests arrived at the hotel.

So despite all our extra efforts and especial focus on rules for avoiding sickness, I ended up “in the doldrums” once again. I didn’t really have time to be sick, considering our demanding program of late, so I ended up being sick for longer than if I had rather taken it easy and stayed in bed. Today I’ve been back on my bike again, a relaxing ride for one and a half hours, so we’re on the go again. I naturally have to take it easy for a few more days before we take longer rides and gradually increase the intensity. 

HIGHLY MOTIVATED BIRTHDAY CHILD 

As has been the case for years now, my birthday was celebrated together with media from the whole world, and I still claim to be 22 years old. It certainly seems that way, when I feel the motivation and eagerness bubbling in my body, giving me loads of excess energy to continue competing on my mountain-bike. There’s no doubt that there are a lot of sceptics around the place, who doubt whether I’ll ever be able to return to the elite – at least as many as there were back in the spring of 2002 after two extremely bad season for me. And the sceptics will always exist. I don’t really need to prove anything or convince anybody. The only thing I’m absolutely sure about is that I’m on my way back to the world elite in the season of 2008. It’s going to be wonderful to fly on my bike again.

I need some time to rebuild the “machinery” again. Kenneth and I both know how much effort lies behind the results we’ve had through the past seasons. With all possible respect for the girls who work hard every day in order to compete at the top of our sport, we’re painfully aware of how far we have to go before we can fight amongst the best again.

IN THE NEWS BACK HOME 

These days the Olympics in Beijing is being written about and spoken about in every imaginable context. Therefore I’d like to refer to a test which was done to measure the level of politeness amongst the inhabitants of the Olympic city, Beijing. One of the points was jumping in line, and the latest update shows that queue-jumping has been vastly reduced. Based on our own experiences from Beijing in the past three years, there is no queue-jumping in this city what-so-ever. Actually, the word queue, in the sense we’re used to, doesn’t really exist, and that can lead to a few surprises for those visiting Beijing for the first time this coming summer! 

I’ve watched and tried to follow the debates going on in Norway during the past weeks, about the Norwegian national chief of sports, Jarle Aambø. I feel he’s been unduly criticized, and the debate hasn’t brought out the fact that he really cares about us elite athletes. I’ve met a variety of “careerist” chiefs through my time as an athlete, and there are only a very few who can be compared with Jarle when it comes to involvement, enthusiasm and approachability as a real person. There are far too many so-called “careerists” who occupy these kinds of positions, who only bother to deal with us athletes when it looks like we might be going to win a medal, or already have one hanging around our necks. Criticism, both positive and negative, is important and necessary in all sorts of work and involvements, but I feel this case has developed into more of a tasteless «dirt throwing campaign» rather than constructive criticism of our national chief of sports. Keep it up Jarle! You’re doing a fantastic job for sporting Norway J

We have another two weeks left on Majorca, filled with completely other things than lying on our backs on the beach in the sun. I’ve noticed, from the countless pictures which have been taken of me during the past days, that I probably should have invested a little more time in the sun without my trousers on, but there’s nothing to do about that. I’ll just have to be patient with the “light blue” colour of my body, reminiscent of skimmed milk, and wait for better times when the competitions start up. I wish you all good days of training and exercise, and that you will see the possibilities in what you have right now J

Cyclist’s greetings from Gunn-Rita and Kenneth

Multivan Merida Biking Team

Many new pictures from Majorca at www.gunnrita.com