I’ve been in Arizona almost a month and still can’t believe it’s winter.  The temperatures are a bit up and down with some mornings and windy days that make you throw on a jacket or wear gloves for a ride.  But I will never complain as long as I can get on the road and have sun shining everyday.
  Training has been solid and since I arrived Jaime and I have schemed about summer plans, racing, training, gear, bike stuff and so much more.  I’ve been cross training with morning outdoor pool swims a couple times a week and yoga to work on flexibility and strength.  Cycling is the objective and focus of LIFE so my rides are where it counts.  The past couple weeks have been a gradual increase in volume with last weeks 21 hours really making me feel the building strength in my legs.  This week is a rest week to let my body recover and start to get set for racing…. Oh MAN!! RACING!!!
January 20th is my first race in the USA!
The Avondale Criterium race in Phoenix to debut and show what I got.  It will be a race of laps around a closed circuit on streets. 

  I can’t believe the first race is almost here.  I feel like it was just yesterday I was still in Italy trying to figure out what I was going to do for winter and team stuff.  It is so exciting that things are finally working out and coming together.  One of the greatest things is how well my body is responding to cycling.  It has been almost 7 months of continuous training with NO INJURY.  Yes, I must admit I have had some injury.  Due to 2 falls, I have to consider those minor setbacks.  But not like the constant aches or pains that caused me to take of days and weeks off running.  I am able to pedal hours and push my body to limits that makes me be grateful for the opportunity I have to be an athlete.

  Tuscon has been a paradise for cycling and I have enjoyed every minute of being here so far.  Plenty of roads to explore, hills to climb, and bike lanes that make me feel like I won’t get run off the road every time I am passed by a car.  I embrace my hours on the bike not wishing for music or other distraction, but listing to the sounds of my pedaling and the rush of the wind.  I watch the shadows on the mountains shift and clouds graze across the blue field.  The open sky stretches beyond the horizon and the sun sears the earth to a brown rugged leather where only the saguaro cactus give a texture of pins in this grand sheet of desert.  Like the day drifts from morning to afternoon when I am out for hours, my time out here will make me strong, and the winter of sunshine will prepare me for the summer of exceeding expectations.