COSTA ETRUSKA, ITALY DAY 2

What can be held responsible for a bonk? what is it exactly that leads to this dreaded, all too familiar feeling for cyclists? it only has to happen to you once for you to know that you never want it to happen again. but it will. a missed feed? a strong wind? competitors that can’t take a decent line? maybe one too few glasses of water the night before? one too few gu’s?

I could point my finger at any of said factors that led to my bonk on sunday, but if there is one thing i hate, it is the cyclist that makes excuses. in the end, the bottom line is that i couldn’t do what i needed to do. just didn’t have the legs that day. it is a fine line to walk between allowing yourself bad days, and being too easy on yourself. in only two european races so far, i think i have managed that walk pretty well. i am frustrated, of course. beyond frustrated really. but with the help of some very inspiring women who have been in this position before, the pity party has been avoided. and in the end, the bottom line is simply this: I LOVE THIS RACING. this is racing at it’s finest, hardest, most bleeding-out-the-eyeballs-sufferfest, exciting, pure, BEST.

as jim said last night in our team meeting, recapping the weekend: over here, everything you do in a race, you end up paying for it. everything is a withdrawal from the bank, and if you make too many withdrawals without enough funds…..you pay. if you open up a gap, you pay. if you go into the wind, you pay. it is truly unbelievable. the efficiency with which you have to race is mindblowing, because there ARE NO easy minutes. no chance to recover. the girls i am racing with on the US team know this all too well, and are so impressive in their neat, clean, efficient moves. me, not so much…not yet, anyway. for the most part in the US, you can suffer in the wind for a bit, because most likely you will get to recover a bit before the next hard effort. not so over here, at least not that i’ve seen. ~ Emily

Don’t get me wrong, i am no expert. and there are certainly races in the US that absolutely split me open. these are statements in general, and of course not true in all cases, over here or over there. but it is a crazy thing to see 100 women strung out up an entire climb. not splitting up, not bunched together, but strung out, everyone pushing as hard as they can. it is awesome to see, but i think i’d rather have a different vantage point than from the caboose.

On to france, and hopefully some better results!