Flora Duffy has revealed that adopting more relaxed approach to competition has reignited her passion for her sport.

Duffy's new easygoing attitude paid off at the weekend with the Bermuda Olympian winning the silver medal at the Caribbean Cycling Championships in Barbados.

Her podium finish in the women's road race was the first time she has represented the Island since she competed in the triathlon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

A tearful Duffy failed to finish on that disappointing occasion and so last Sunday's encouraging performance in her country's colours came as a welcome fillip for the talented 22-year-old.

"I've never raced down in the Caribbean before so I went into it with an open mind," said Duffy, who finished in a time of 2:29:58 behind Puerto Rico's Maria Rosada.

"I knew I was in pretty good shape and that I was capable of pulling out a good performance.

"There's so much tactics involved in cycling anything can really happen, so for me take the silver in sprint finish was very pleasing."

Pembroke-born Duffy has endured a turbulent past few seasons due to loss of form and fatigue problems, but she is now adamant those dark days are firmly behind her as she sets her sights on her ultimate goal - the triathlon at the 2012 London Olympics.

"London is still my main goal. I don't quite have the same dedication to my schooling as I do my sport. I wish I did, but I don't.

"There's a rough plan for next year but obviously that depends on how this winter's training goes as to what I do. The plan is to start competing in some bigger races and build towards London 2012.

"I'm at university now, so I don't have as much time to train and rest as I used to when I was at school in England."

This year has seen Duffy put her triathlon career on ice while getting to grips with student life at the Colorado University where she has starred for the collegiate cycling team.

Studying and training in the foothills of the breathtaking Rocky Mountains seems to have had a mellowing effect on Duffy who admits to being far more pragmatic towards racing than she used to be.

"This last year has allowed me to relax and I'm just a lot more relaxed about everything," Duffy said.

"I went out training when I wanted to go out training and if I didn't want to then I wouldn't.

"I think that was important as it allowed me to do other things and just refresh my mind about everything and fall in love with competition again.

"I guess being out here (in Colorado) with a different coach and everything has really inspired me to do more riding, but I still plan to get back into triathlon during the off-season.

"We'll have to see how things go when I start picking up my training over the next few months, but I'm pretty confident things will fall back into place."