Up-and-coming Australian mountain biker Caroline Buchanan is to fund her own way round the World Cup circuit after being unable to find a team for this season.
Buchanan, who won her first World Cup 4X race in August last year, hopes to attend the races in Andorra, Scotland and Slovenia, as well as the World Championships in Canberra, Australia – where she claimed her maiden World Cup win.
She said: “I've had many dramas and struggles trying to pick up a ride for 2009. I'm riding as a privateer, you could say. Mum and Dad – my biggest sponsors – are going to scrape the bank and hopefully get me to some of the World Cups, but I won't be able to get to all of them this year because it’s just too expensive. This is pretty disappointing for me as doing the whole World Cup MTB series was one of my goals for 2009."
Buchanan has joined the Australian BMX Elite Development Squad and is training for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She will take part in this year's UCI BMX World Championships in Adelaide, Australia.
“I'm very lucky this year to have two world championships in Australia and I’m definitely going to make the most of it,” she said.