December 24th 2013: Meri Kirihimete

I felt like I was on a first date when I opened the gate and made my way to the door of her parent's house in Anderson's Bay. I was nervous, but mustered the courage to knock on the door. I heard footsteps and the door swung open to a woman clad in lycra with a huge smile on her face.

Photographing sport's stars is one of the best parts of my job, but I'm always nervous to meet them – daunted by their incredible will power, physical resilience and the fact they've risen above nearly everyone on the planet in their chosen discipline. For Olympian Alison Shanks that's two World Championships in Individual Pursuit Track racing – 12 laps of "strength, grit and fighting the pain barrier" on a velodrome.

She's a true Dunedin girl – completely relaxed and laid back. She hands me a Powerade, grabs her road bike and we head off to find some of her favourite stretches of road on Otago Peninsula – her training ground since she switched from a successful netball career to instant success in cycling.

Her eyes light up as she talks about her favourite views from the high road and her sneaky little extra out and back training jaunts. Just up the peninsula at Harrington Point she tells me of her family's holiday escape.

"People probably think it a bit odd – it's just a 20-minute drive from home, but it's a world away for our family," she laughs. Yep, Dunedin can be a bit like that.

Our photographic journey is made a little more nostalgic by the fact Ali is moving to Cambridge after Christmas with her husband Craig to be closer to the National Cycling Centre of Excellence and the new velodrome based there as she prepares for her 2014 season.

"We're going to miss home, but this is a new adventure for us," she smiles.

A few days after our shoot with Ali we headed into the hills above Queenstown to shoot the new mountain biking campaign for Skyline and got to meet another sports hero: Kelly McGarry. You may remember him from this amazing feat at the Red Bull Rampage. Like Ali, he's also a really cool, down-to-earth character. More on him in a future edition.

Christmas eve today ... hope you get a barrel from Santa tomorrow (check the reports here).

Derek