Champion Australian cyclist Megan Dunn. Source: Supplied
MEGAN Dunn's road to the Rio Olympics has already taken her from atop the medal dais to an ambulance stretcher, from a job in silver and copper mines to a glamorous beachside resort town this weekend.
It's seen this former teen prodigy go from the fast track to the slow lane, from two wheels on roads, tracks and European cobblestones to driving a truck in an underground mine in central western NSW.
It's a road that has claimed plenty of skin, snapped numerous bones and almost her will to ride.
But it's a road Dunn will continue on as she amps up an extraordinary comeback she hopes will see her back racing for Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
"You never know what's round the corner," laughed the 22-year-old ahead of today's Subaru Australian Open Criterium at Noosa, her first race after two years out of the sport that delivered her Commonwealth Games gold medals and the prospect of a glittering career in cycling all before her 20th birthday.
The 40-minute circuit race at Noosa for top female cyclists from Australia and overseas will mark the restart of this former multiple junior world champion's career after a series of setbacks that included glandular fever, a hit and run and a high speed training crash.
"I hit a pothole doing around 80km/h and just went flying," Dunn said of a life-threatening accident in 2011 near her home in Dubbo, which left her with multiple breaks and fractures and provoked her decision to leave the sport for a job in the Cobar mines.
"I broke a lot of things but what really shook me up when I stopped sliding was seeing this semi that had been behind me just bearing down on me, coming at me. It was so, so scary. It frightened me out of my life because just a few weeks earlier I had been hit by a car.
"Dad remembers me lying on the side of the road and there was blood everywhere and I said to him I've had enough of this Dad, I've had enough' but I don't remember anything.
"I'd had a bit of a hard knock to my head as well. I wasn't in a good place."
Dunn went looking for a better one, finding a job in the mines before moving back to her home town of Dubbo for an accountancy job and to be with family and friends and a menagerie of animals including six cats, three dogs, a galah, a major Mitchell, a budgerigar and numerous other birds she had rescued while out cycling.
"I never lost my love for cycling. Life just took me off in a different direction for a while. Fortunately age has always been on my side, " said Dunn, who created headlines as a 16-year-old winner of the famous Bay Crit series held annually in Melbourne and regularly contested by the best female riders in the world.
Now Dunn is back where she feels she really belongs, riding for the Specialized Securitor team in a race at Noosa alongside old mates and news rivals.
"I was always happy when I was on a bike and it makes me happy to be back on one now," she said.
"I'll just see how this all goes and ensure I still have the love and passion for it that I think I do.
"But at this stage it feels right. It feels very right."
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MEGAN DUNN
THE HIGHLIGHTS
2008: Three world track crowns, Bay Criterium series.
2009: Young Australian Cyclist of the year. Multiple titles.
2010: Australian points race and omnium champion. World Cup winner and dual gold medallist in the points and scratch race at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
2013: Returns to the racing arena at the Subaru Australian Open Criterium in Noosa
THE LOWLIGHTS
2010: Broken wrist.
2011: Glandular fever and hit-and-run victim. A month later crashes, suffering two fractured collarbones and a broken elbow.
2011 and 2012: Stops riding.
2012: Misses Olympic Games.
02 Nov, 2013
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Source: http://www.news.com.au/sport/more-sports/cyclist-megan-dunn-targets-rio-olympics-after-leaving-the-sport-to-work-in-mining/story-fndukor0-1226751787572?from=public_rss
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