Elinor Barker's Road to Rio Olympics 2016: Only the gold car wash is good enough now

In action: Elinor Barker
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Elinor Barker1 July 2016

The news I was heading to Rio came via a missed call. Our head coach, Iain Dyer, left me a message saying “we’re delighted to inform you that you’re going to the Olympics”.

I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve listened to it a few times and it’s nice to keep it for posterity’s sake but I don’t consider myself an Olympian… not yet. Not until I’m on the start line for the team pursuit qualifying will I finally consider myself to be one. There’s still a lot of weeks to get to that point.

So there’s no reason to celebrate, well, bar getting my car washed. I’d ordinarily get the bronze car wash but, being as it was the day I’d been picked for the team, I worried that’d be a bad omen so I upgraded myself to gold!

Obviously, that’s exactly what we’re hoping to achieve on the track in Rio.

Team GB Rio Oympics 2016 Kit designed by Stella McCartney

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The selection news became public last Friday but those of us fortunate enough to be going have known for two weeks now. We were officially told officially told to tell nobody but I let the news slip to my parents and they very sweetly sent a package of cards and presents in celebration.

It’s not arrogant to admit the news was not an enormous surprise. There are five of us girls that train for the team pursuit and there are five places available in the squad for the event but to hear it officially is a fantastic buzz.

I can’t pretend that at London 2012, I’d dreamed of riding the track in an Olympiad’s time. Back then, I was sure about whether to focus on the road or track or my education.

But it has become my dream and someone told me, at 21, I’m the youngest member of our team. I don’t honestly feel it as I’ve ridden pretty much every event since London 2012. So far, the Olympics is the only one to have evaded me.

I’m on a training camp in Valencia right now, then it’s back home to pick up my Olympic kit in Birmingham before a final training camp in Newport, Wales, before heading off to Rio.

So there’s new kit and new bikes too which we’ve been slowly transitioning to, and stuff like that gives us an additional boost.

Everything’s geared towards the gold but it’s not ours to lose any more as it was in the past. That’s a refreshing place to be and in some ways that takes the pressure off.

Ours is potentially going to be one of the tightest events on the track at the Games and it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. The Americans, the world champions, have changed their bikes to have the drive train on the right rather than the left in a bid to make aerodynamic gains. Only time will tell what effect that has.

We know where we are as a team but we won’t know the truer picture until we get to Rio. It should make for an exciting next few weeks.

Elinor Barker and British Cycling are proudly supported by Fiat

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