I caught up with Team Garmin-Cervelo pro rider Carla Ryan last week to find out how the 2011 season had gone, what her plans were for for 2012, what could be done to strengthen women's professional cycling and her plans to ride the Amy Gillett Foundation Ride.
Carla is back in Australia now so at 8am on an October morning in the UK my first question was, naturally, 'What’s the weather like over there?’. Answer: "About 31C”. Nothing more to say about that 
I was interested in Carla’s view on the 2011 season now the dust had settled, she told us: "I rode the Trofeo Binda in March but my season didn’t really start until mid-year where I supported Emma Pooley (who finished 2nd) at the Giro d’Italia Femminile in July. I came off the back of that race with some good form but didn’t race again until the end of August in the Trofee D Or, a flat tour but it was good to get back to racing. One of the highlights of the year was International de l’Ardèche in September where again I supported Emma Pooley who won the race. Finally, I did the week long Giro della Toscana Femminile.”
Ardèche 2011 - Etape 5 from Petitesreines on Vimeo.
Ardèche 2011
Carla’s season was due to end after the Tuscany race but she had an unexpected call-up to the Australian World Championship team. She was designated co-captain of the team and was pleased with how the race went. Carla said: "It was a nice way to finish the season and the team performed well, helping Chloe Hosking to a sixth place finish.”
Carla’s spending time with her family at the moment before heading off to a training camp for Queensland Academy of Sport cyclists on the coast of Northern NSW. Then comes the Australian National Championships in January before she heads back to Europe for the season’s first training camp with her pro team. And then the 2012 season begins - when it’s put like that you suddenly realise how short the off-season is with cycling!
I asked Carla about the future of women's cycling and what might be done to help strengthen it, she told us: "There’s a few new additions to the calendar next year including a return of the women's Tour de France and races in South Africa and Russian. One thing I’d like to see is the women's races run on the same day as the men's races where possible.” We can only say we agree 100% with Carla on this one and we’re sure that when one race organiser does it, so will the rest.
Next up for Carla is the Amy Gillett Foundation Share The Ride Tour from November 16-20, which aims to raise funds to increase awareness of rider and motorist safety in Australia. The Foundation is close to Carla’s heart, she told us: "It’s through the AGF Scholarship in 2007 that helped me get to Europe and start my cycling career, so I love being able to provide my time to give something back to this great cause; I also lost an Aussie friend riding on Italian roads this year. I’ll be doing the Share the Road Tour to pay my respects to Carly Hibberd and her family”
Find out more about the Amy Gillett Foundation including How to Help.