With this weekend's "1,000 Days To Go" milestone making the headlines, some people might feel London 2012 is a long way off but, for me, 1,000 days seems incredibly close. At the same time, it still only feels like yesterday when I was competing at Beijing 2008.

Beijing was an amazing experience for me. I was only 19 and being hyped up as a gold-medal hopeful in the BMX event, which brought a huge amount of pressure. In the end, it may not have worked out as planned but it's a massive advantage that I’ll be able to carry that experience into London 2012. I know that, being a bit older, I'll be much better equipped to handle the pressure that goes hand-in-hand with competing at that level.

The girl who won gold in the BMX at Beijing was someone who had never beaten me but she was a few years older than me, and I'm sure she used that to her benefit. I've learnt that mental strength has a huge part to play in success at the Olympics and I'm lucky enough to be working on this with GB coach Steve Peters. He works with many athletes on their mental approach to aspects of their life and sport, which will be invaluable in 2012.

It's inevitable that the pressure on GB athletes will be greater due to the fact that the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will be on home soil. I feel like I matured more as an athlete overnight in Beijing than at any other point in my career. I'm now familiar with all aspects of the Olympics; I've had experience of the training regime, media requirements and even the athlete village. I know that I can take the pressure and expectation with a pinch of salt and that sets me up perfectly for London 2012. The incentive to make history by winning on home soil more than outweighs the extra pressure of being a GB athlete!

As well as training with the GB BMX squad almost every day, I also get to ride with the BMX team that I support, Team Reade, which includes six of the other top BMX riders from around the country (aged between 12 and 23). Both sets of riders are constantly talking about London 2012 and there's a huge amount of excitement around it.

That said, there's still plenty to achieve in the meantime. I've been out for a number of months this year with a shoulder injury. Picking up injuries is never ideal but this time it was a blessing in disguise. I realised that I hadn't had any proper time out since Beijing and it just allowed me to have some time off to do ‘normal’ things. I was able to reflect on everything that happened last year and, having been back in training for a month now, I feel really refreshed and keen to get back to BMX competition.


Due to the injury, I wasn't able to defend my BMX World Championship title this summer so I’ll be training hard in order to regain it at next year’s event (and then retain it in the following years). That would be the ideal scenario and would be a great run-in to compete for gold at the Velopark in East London in 2012.  

I've been lucky enough to visit the Velopark even though it's still a construction site down there. All you want as a BMX rider is a good solid track but I'm sure the facilities at the new venue will be second-to-none. It's surreal being at the site, and it’s hard to imagine what it will be like when it's finished, but it gives me goose bumps to think about competing in front of a home crowd.

The other advantage of having the Olympics in London is everything that it brings with it. We've noticed the difference that the funding has brought, even down to smaller things like just having new equipment appearing in the gym. The Olympics helps highlight such a variety of sports and, because of the attention paid to BMX in 2008, it seems that more people are interested ahead of 2012.

It's an easy sport to get involved in, with plenty of tracks around the country, a lot of which hire bikes for only a few pounds. I really believe that participation in BMX is increasing and hopefully, in the 1,000 days between now and the Olympic Games, more and more people will be tempted to try the sport. Hopefully this means there will be plenty of people supporting the GB BMX riders in 2012 and I'll be doing all I can to make sure I'm there and giving them something to cheer about. 

Shanaze Reade is a BT Ambassador.  BT is the official communications services partner for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and title sponsor of the BT Paralympic World Cup.  For more information click here.