After the 6 days of racing I came back feeling stronger where hills are not so daunting and focusing on speed as the one thing to really work out.  Even though it has only a been a short time, being able to train consistently without the injury or pains has been encouraging and exciting to see how fast I am able to progress in ability.  Running was always a battle of going hard, strengthening weak muscles and tendons, and resting enough to recover.  But so far in cycling the battle comes when I’m on the pedals pushing for another sprint or hill.  This is a huge “knock on wood” statement, but it’s been amazing to not feel the anxiety that a small ache will develop into a pulled muscle where I am forced to take days of rest and weeks of rebuilding.

  The only worry that I have at this point getting on the bike is whether it’s going to rain or not and how long into the day the cold fall morning will extend.  This summer I loved getting up and out the door by 8am for a ride in order to avoid the hot humid midday sun.  Then I would have the whole rest of the day to visit family, do stuff around the house, hike, walk or swim, or just mess around on the computer.

  Now I’m forced to hold out the morning as long as possible for the sun to warm the humid Italian air, and even then I have to cover up with more and more layers.  The cold is not my favorite training weather, I prefer “too hot too handle” than riding with cold muscles and an uncomfortable chill.  But as the season progresses it’s all about getting used to it and sticking to training that will make me stronger and faster for next season.

  The real stress of trying to be a cyclist has hit me hard in the past couple weeks also.  It hasn’t been as easy as I might have thought to find a team, develop a plan for winter, and find races that I can do to gain experience. 

Team Issue:  Here in Italy in order to race you have to be registered with a team.  Teams are formed in September/October (right around now) when the season is over.  My problem, despite all my connections and talking to people is that I don’t have many or any races to show experience and teams don’t want a new rider that isn’t a certain gain in their books.  And since next season is quite a while away (February/March is when races start) I need to plan now and try to organize to have a team, mostly to train and then race with.

Winter Issue:  Since it gets cold and snowy here in northern Italy it is important for me to go somewhere warm for winter in order to get good training and make up for lost time in technique and riding skills.  This means either going to southern Italy or Spain, which would be nice, but also means going with someone to train with that knows where to go.  So recently the option of returning to the US has developed into a major possibility.  This way I can find a team/club/group to possibly train with and in most warm winter areas in the US I can find early season races even in February.

Find Races Issue:  Recently, I’ve been trying to find a … or should I say ANY race that I can throw myself into to get experience and practice.  With the bieurocratic mess of what seems like everything in Italy, I have had more stress and frustration from this process then writing my entire senior thesis.  With the type of registration that I have I am not allowed to participate in certain races, and have to have special permission to race in junior men’s races that requires a judge to give approval.  Since there are only a couple more weekends of races left before a complete stop, I’m trying to get into the last of these Sunday junior men’s races.

As much as I am enjoying the escape my long rides and pedaling the roads that I still can’t seem to get bored of, I always manage to return home to the elusive cloud of uncertainty where I don’t know how this cycling story will end…. or continue.