My year in review

Hey guys,

Well I thought that it would be a good time for me to reflect on my year in cycling as the road season is coming close to an end (for me at least) as are my days of school left (only about 10 weeks to go!).

I think it’s good to have a little reflection at the end of each year, just to look back at the highs & lows of the season & for me there have been many of both.

The year started off really well I feel. I did a lot of traveling, racing at the Oceania track championships/Melbourne cup on wheels, Youth Olympics & the track nationals. I really didn’t focus on the track too much mentally although I did a lot of work with Gary West & the state team. My mind was really focused completely on racing in Italy in the months of March & April.

Read the rest….

I still felt i raced well on the track. I really enjoyed my time at the Youth Olympics & Oceania’s and i learnt that I can ride a good points score if i put my mind to it. I have now learnt that I am easily at my fittest during the track season. The work that we do on the track is incredible and gives you an amazing aerobic advantage.

I must say that the best time i had was over Christmas & New Year when i went to Italy for a training camp with Cycling Team Vigili Del Fuoco. That was probably one of the best experiences I have ever had. I made so many friends & rode excellently (just came off track season) during the camp. I really must thank every one at the team for giving me the opportunity.

From here i was so very eager to return to Italy and race against the world champion Ulissi in the Junior Milano San Remo.
I trained so hard and i was ready to race.

The racing was amazing, so many crashes, so intense…I loved it! Really i would have loved a better result in the San Remo but luck just didn’t come with me that day. I’m sure if i was a bit more confident & had more experience i would have been right up there. Still it was awesome & i will remember it for ever. The next day was my best result in Italy with 8th in the Trofeo Marcello Falcone. I broke away after a km and stayed away the whole time. I was the leader of the team for that race and i think i proved me to myself mostly that i could really race well.

I would have loved to race just a bit better in Italy but my main goal was to race well in Canberra and get a spot in the Junior national road team.

Alas, that didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I crashed both times in the road races in Canberra & had my chances taken away from me.
I really felt i was going well but oh well. The less said about Canberra the better! 

On a better note i had a great national championships coming in 8th and beating a few of the top roadies. It gave me a bit more confidence especially riding in the heat.

From here really it didn’t go that great. I had a good ride in Berri but other than that my main problem was motivation.

A friend of mine put it best, she said i probably put too many expectations on myself for the selection races & didnt have anything to look forward to after that.
I won’t go into all the details but i really lacked a whole lot of motivation for a couple of months.

But i came out that and started to enjoy my riding again and finally got that win i was looking for. Taking a stage in my home tour was great and i beat a bunch of really strong riders.

So from here onwards i look towards the future. It’s kind of scary, i now move up to the senior level but i feel that i will just keep on improving.

Now i will have much more time to train as i wont have to go to school from 8.30 till 3.30 each day.

I’ve now got extra motivation for this summer season as i have changed my focus over to become a top level sprinter.

I’ll start writing on this thing much more now, i now remember how fun it is to write it!

Loving this hot weather.

Thanks to all who have supported me over this challenging winter, looking forward to a great future!

Thanks
Christos

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