Well it has been three weeks since departing Australia and staying here in America. We arrived in La for a 30 hour stop over. The trip started badly for me for I discovered my first... GREY HAIR! Yep, you read correct. I was as devastated as I am sure you all are reading this. Grey hair! I was in the toilet in the airplane and happened to glance in the mirror and saw what looked like a gray hair. I was so devastated I ran out to get Kerrie and Berthy to check and tell me I was wrong... but sadly I was not wrong. Yep Grey hair! ha ha ha ha!!!!! What a laugh. This became my new nick name from the team which thankfully has not stuck. Phew.

We were very fortunate to be able to train at Muscle Beach in LA and then have the after noon out in Hollywood and where else would we go....

Hollywood Boulevard! It was an eye opener. I thoroughly enjoyed my day there looking around at the sites. Now by the sites I don't just mean the buildings and signage but the people too. There were so many characters I didn't dare walk around by myself. But it was a great day. I saw stars on the walk of frame like Sylvester Stallone, Marilyn Monroe, Kenny Rodgers (I got a picture for Mum) and Arnold the Terminator! I also went to the Kodak Theatre where world premiers are held and to where the stars sign the concrete however it was so packed with people I didn't stay too long but still managed to get some great photos!

(My sister Kerrie and I in picture with Marilyn Monroe's Star of fame on the board walk)

After our stop over we flew to Newark and drove the 2 hours to Trexlertown.

We had the usual miss haps traveling like our bus which was booked for us to use when we arrived didn't turn up and we waited 4 hours at the airport for cars before it was sorted out. The boys amused themselves and us during the 4 hours by playing AFL with one of their water bottles. Strangely enough all our luggage and bikes arrived with no hassle at all. Something that doesn't happen to often when the team travels with 1 bag each and about 30-40 boxes of bikes, wheels etc.

When we first arrived it was hot and muggy. About 32 degrees and 93% humidity. It was so hot I couldn't believe it. We used ice towels after training to cool down but they didn't stay cool long. We began to weigh ourselves before and after a session to monitor dehydration only to find I was losing 1-1.5kg in one training session. Some of the boys would lose 3kg in weight. Amazing. So we were drinking like you wouldn't believe to try and retain what we were losing.

Race day came and it was a hot morning. By that evening we had had a storm and it became surprisingly cold. We didn't have enough warm clothes because we knew it was so hot so we didn't pack any. Then after Racing it heated up yet again only to have been wet and cold for the last 4 days of our stay here. The weather certainly changes very quick over here.

Racing has gone extremely well for me. I have had 3 wins from 3 races thus far. Plus a couple of extra starts as well. First was Keirin racing followed by Sprint racing and then back to Keirin racing. My biggest competition here is the American Jennie Reed and she is proving a hand full as I would expect nothing less. The last 3 races have seen Jennie, Myself and Kerrie on the podium. This Friday should be a good battle. The only miss hap we have had was a nasty crash involving one of our guys Dan Ellis. Other then skin off and being a bit stiff he is ok.

I also have had two novelty races so to speak. The first was called the Trans Tasman Gender Bender. Marv went in search of a male opponent willing to take taunts left right and centre and race me one on one in a sprint match. We had to persuade him with a little financial incentive but we found a guy from New Zealand Jonathon Lewis who was willing to take up the challenge. The whole point behind this challenge.

(Jonathon Lewis from New Zealand was the only one man enough to take me on!)

I am going to be coming up against riders faster and stronger then me on my way to Beijing. Marv wanted to get me acquainted with this type of competitor and so thought the best option was a guy who was slightly faster and stronger as well. I raced well but under the nerves I made a slight mistake which handed the advantage to my male counter part. I was beaten by about half a bike length. This was a great exercise for it was a great test to handle and get a feel for the nerves when faced with a quicker opponent and the ability to control both them and myself. I learnt a lot from this one off race... and it was good fun. The poor guy coped an absolute reaming by so many guys as we rolled around. Was kind of funny really.

The other race was called The mile record attempt. The American's wanted us to have a go at the mile record. It stood at 1 minute 55 seconds. For us to break it, it meant that we would need to ride at an average speed of 50km/h for 1 mile. 1 mile is about 1.6km. We teamed up with our American rival and seeing she was the home country girl we organized for her to win the race with our help getting her up to speed but we were short one girl if we were to pull this off as we could not withstand the distance on our own. So we enlisted the help of 2 great endurance riders from Italy. Italy did laps 1 and 2. Kerrie did lap 3 and I did lap 4 with the final lead out for Jennie on lap 5. This race was so hard I nearly wanted to spew afterwards (charming I know) but we got there. The new track record now stands at 1 minutes 50 seconds. An average of 52km/h. And each of the 5 girls involved got $100 for their troubles. I tell you I felt that race in my legs for days after. ha ha ha

Other then that all is well here in America.

Anna Meares

Well I am home early. Ten days earlier then planned.

In my final week in America I hurt my back a little in training on Wednesday after a heavy gym session the day before. I pulled out of the training session so as to not do more damage and rested up until racing on Friday morning. It was back to sprint racing and I had qualifying in the morning. I got through fine and qualified fastest with no worries physically. I qualified 200m in 11.593 seconds. Slightly quicker then last week and I was

0.2 seconds clear of my competitors. I went back to the hotel to relax before the evening session.

Upon returning to the velodrome I learnt that I was not on for about 1-2 hours and would do an off the track warm up as racing will have started by the time I needed to warm up. This involved a series of roller work, dynamic movements and plyometric jumps. After warming up for over an hour I sat down and waited 10-15 minutes before I was on. After I sat and cooled down somewhat I stood up to go race. When I did this I felt that my back was not happy. It was uncomfortable and I felt restricted in terms of movement.

Still I went and raced thinking that it would come good.

I was racing Liz Carlson in the semi final. I was leading and as the race progressed I realized that something wasn't right. Liz dived under me and I turned my head from right to left to see if she had completed the dive and as I did this I felt a sharp pain in my back. I went to get out of the seat and accelerate to cover my opponent who in the mean time had successful dived and taken the front from me, but I was surprised to realize that it was also painful to accelerate out of the seat. So I quickly sat down and raced the remainder of the race seated which was much more difficult but I was still able to come away with the win.

(Liz Carlson bottom and Anna Meares top racing off in the semi final of the Women's Sprint.)

Somewhat scared I returned to the centre of the track and warmed down on the rollers. I waited for Marv to come to the centre to talk to me after he was finished with the remainder of my team mates who had made it through to the finals. Through holding back tears and fear I said to Marv that I don't think I should race the final. Startled by my claim he asked why. I then began to explain how I was feeling about my back. Well he went white. Marv of all people knows what it was like when my back was injured in 2005/2006 and he nor I wanted a repeat. So he calmly and quickly sorted things out.

There was an incredibly large crowd at racing this night and Marv and I made the decision to conceded the final but still race and make a show for the people who had come to watch. Marv spoke to Jennie Reed, my American challenger in the finals. She was very good about the situation and agreed to a set up race she would win. She didn't make it easy though. I had to ride from the back because I could look around from the front and I had to remain in the seat for I could not accelerate out of the seat. The race was hard and fast still but I got through pain free and it was close and the crowd loved that their fellow countrywoman came out on top. Marv and I both thanked her for her doings as she could have very easily made me look silly that night and she didn't. My respect to her for that!

I took the next 3 days very easy and this included traveling to Germany with hopes my back will have settled down so I could race there. After getting on the track I realized it wasn't going to happen. After talking a lot with Marv the decision was left to me as to whether to return home or not and I made the call to return. Sad to leave but nerves as well as what was wrong.

When I got home on the Saturday I was straight into the physio that day with loads of support from the AIS. And much to my surprise I walked out pain free and with a lot more movement then what I had had before entering. It turns out I had only aggravated my old injury which resulted in swelling.

This swelling then restricted the movement of the nerves through the spine which was the pain that I was feeling. So no disc damage and once the swelling resided I was to get my pain free movement back again so that is great news. Only out for a week or so.

The AIS doctor is going to do some more scans this weekend so that they can keep updated on where my back is after the last scan was 2 years ago. The comparison between the two will be very interesting and will give us a good idea as to where we can head and how aggressively we can do it.

So although this is a sad kind of email it is also a very happy one for the fact things are getting better and better. I have since had 3 physio appointments and I am back into it. Riding pain free and I'll be heading to the gym tomorrow to test things out. Can't wait. I have been rather bored with nothing much to do.