Charline Joiner |

Brief intro about self:

Hey everyone, I’m Charline Joiner, 22 years old, born and bred in Dunfermline, a large town just over the bridge from Edinburgh. I have just recently graduated from Napier University studying Sports and Exercise Science specializing in coaching. My family are all very supportive of my cycling especially my parents. I have two brothers a sister and five nieces all of whom I love and adore very much.

How I started cycling:

I come from a very sporting family with my dad being an ex GB triathlete, my brother an ex Scotland Rugby player and my sister an ex U18’s Scotland hockey player. In first year of University I was playing hockey for the University and for my home club Dunfermline Ladies. My shins and left knee began to give me bother so I went to the physiotherapist and was told to cycle instead of run for my cardio. The injuries were soon diagnosed by the podiatrist; my feet pronated inwards! Yes I have flat feet! Lovely! My left foot was the worst which is why my left knee was sore. This was soon fixed with some lovely orthotics. However I really found a love for cycling during my rehab period, my dad was giving me some sessions to do on the turbo and I just loved how much I could push myself and always wanted to do better each time I did a session. The self satisfaction level for me was much greater in cycling than it was in hockey. I even decided to do my first year project on cycling, testing myself and observing the improvements from my training over a period of time. I’d always watched the track cycling on TV and thought ‘that looks totally crazy, fun, difficult, fast, would give you such an adrenaline rush and buzz. I just would love to do that’, so when I found out there was a track in Edinburgh I rushed down and gave it a shot. Alister Watson basically just pushed me up and said ‘pedal pedal pedal’ amongst other things, and I’m still pedalling now It was in 3^rd year of University that I decided to stop the hockey and concentrate on cycling. By this time I had decided I was a sprinter after having taken some tests on the stationary bike for my Vo2 max, leg speed and power output.

My goals & ambitions:

My goal is to be able to compete at the highest level in my sport of track cycling at the Olympic and commonwealth games, World and European Championships. Over the past 2 years I have committed myself to following vigorous training programmes with limited facilities, funding, coaching and equipment that has shown my dedication to the sport.

My career highlight/proudest moment:

The proudest moment in my cycling career to date has to be standing on the podium watching the Scotland flag go up when Jenny and I won Silver at the Commonwealth for the team sprint. The Australian national anthem was playing but secretly I was singing the Scottish national anthem in my head An absolutely surreal moment of my life!

The toughest point in my career to date:

Up until recently this question would have been very difficult to answer but now there is one point that stands out to me. Recently I have decided to choose a different path in cycling – endurance! Focusing on the omnium and team pursuit. This choice had been in my mind for the past season and I came to my decision by discussing all the options with my dad, Graeme Herd the Scotland endurance coach and Brian Smith who is involved with the Braveheart fund. Having made this choice, I was invited to the 6 day race in Rotterdam in early January. This gave me only 2 and a half months to train and with the weather the way it was before Christmas I was unable to train on the road so my training consisted of wattbike sessions, rollers sessions, cross training and gym work. When I arrived in Rotterdam on my own I was very nervous as I had never ridden an endurance race at this level before. I finished the 6 days totally drained, physically as well as emotionally. I was out of my depth there but it gave me a feel of the type of speed I need to be racing at. I was happy to have finished 10^th out of 15 riders being the only sprinter there with only a couple of months endurance training under my belt. Well ‘ex-sprinter’ now!

Image by Edmond Hood

The best thing about cycling:

I have to say the best thing about cycling is sitting on a saddle for hours at a time…NOT!! On a serious note, I just love the personal satisfaction it gives me, I can push on and on and usually see noticeable improvements. Oh and I love to go fast this is why I love to sprint, also on the road if I ride up a really tough climb, love the fact that most of the time a downhill follows! There a lot of travelling involved in cycling too which I love, it’s like a big adventure, seeing new places and experiencing different climates and lifestyles.

Favourite place to ride my bike:

My favourite place to ride my bike so far has to be Turkey. I have flown out twice for some warm weather training to my parent’s apartment which has also mountainbikes. The climbs are definitely worth the view and to be in the warmth just makes cycling even more enjoyable.

Prized cycling possession/piece of cycling memorabilia:

My prized cycling possession has to be my Commonwealth games Silver medal. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I slept with it under my pillow the night after I won it

Palmares/notable results:

Key Achievements 2009:

Invited to attend training camp with British Squad in Germany – Cottbus GP, 2^nd International Race, appearing with GB squad 09.
Edinburgh GP, Winner of Woman’s Omnium 09
Edinburgh GP, New Scottish Record for 500m TT – 37.73sec 09
Scottish 500m TT Champ, Scottish Keiren track champ 09
British Nationals – 5^th in 500m TT, match sprint and 4^th in Keiren, Silver in team sprint. 08

Key Achievements 2010:

Invited to train with the French national team in Paris INSEP for 2 months.
Invited to train with the Spanish team for 1 week in Palma Mallorca
Scottish keiren champ, Scottish silver in the 500m TT
British Nationals – 5^th in 500m TT, match sprint and 4^th in Keiren, Silver in team sprint. 08
Delhi Commonwealth games – Silver at the Team Sprint, 8th at 500m TT 6th at in the sprint.
Braveheart Fund Cyclist of the year.

Best way to relax at races and Pre-race rituals – to get me: motivated, in the zone & with my race face on:

Ok so I always take my Ipod with me to races. I have a relaxing play list which I named ‘chillin oot ones’ this contains songs like enya – gladiator or the breaveheart theme tune. I listen to these as I travel to the venue and prepare my bike, you know, the waiting period. When I jump on the rollers to warm up I get the ‘warm up tunes’ on and blast them through my head. This will consist of artists like Basshunter, the Prodigy, Paramore but mostly R&B and very happy motivational tunes.

Favourite/inspiring cyclist(s):

I have many Idols, first are my dad and big brother. Ever since I was a little girl I was so proud and excited to watch my big brother play rugby for Scotland, he was my hero! My dad having represented GB for triathlon was always a great lifetime achievement as well as having a full time job was so inspiring, then going onto Iron Men was just a whole different ball game, he just loved to totally push himself to his limits and this for me has always been so motivation. When I have to dig deep in training, sometimes I think of the kind of training he had to do and it gives me some extra driving force. Other than my family I would have to say Lance Armstrong has to be an inspiration and of course Sir Chris Hoy, a fellow Scott having achieved what he has is truly inspirational.

Favourite coffee:

I have to say I’m not a big coffee drinker. I know it’s kind of weird seeing as my mum is French and dad is half Italian. Both of which are well-known coffee drinking nations. It’s just not my thing though. I think I’ve had maybe four coffees, two were actually at Meadowbank track when we were waiting for the rain to go off before the Grand Prix. This didn’t happen, however I did enjoy the coffee as I was very cold and warmed up my hands Hmmm I think I had two lattes before, one at Costa Coffee and the other at Starbucks. Not sure which one was better but I did enjoy them both!

Favourite cake:

I don’t eat cake I’m an athlete! Ha! Only joking – who am I kidding… every1 has to treat themselves every once in a while right? I do have a bit of a sweet tooth which is genetic and past down to me from my dad. So really it’s not my fault I do love sticky toffee pudding or apple pie with ice cream! They are my personal favourites when I do decide I deserve a treat Just remember you have to reward yourself sometimes for all the hard work.