Spilimberg, Italy

I'm shocked I have found enough internet here in this small town to even access the world wide web. The journey over the pond was a long 25 hours with several connecting flights. From what I have heard from back home I have missed a good amount of nasty weather not that it is much better here. Damp and cool has been the theme of the trip thus far. It seems to suit the smaller Italian towns well. The sun has been gracious enough to grace us with its presence on multiple occasions.

Each day we have gone out to preview the courses, they are about a 20 mins drive from our hotel and the drive there is beautiful along the countryside. In general it has been a wonderful trip so far. The staff have been amazing and the crew of athletes are a solid bunch of humans. Thankfully my stress levels have seemed to be relatively under control. One of the first nights I found myself laying in bed and I couldn't relax my shoulders. It took awhile but finally the tension was able to release and I fell asleep. After that all seemed to be well until today I had a little heart palpitation and my anxiety levels have been increasing all day. I've done my best to stay relaxed but realistically I don't think I will be until I can fall asleep.

Tomorrow is the first race of the trip. My legs have been feeling really good each day we have ridden. I think I'll put out some of the best power I ever have but I don't really have any expectations on myself with this being my first international race. The experience will really be the most beneficial part of this trip. Saturday I will have a break and get back to racing on Sunday. The courses share some roads, in particular some cobbled roads.

Internet depending I probably won't update till I get to Belgium, I would like to do an update about the TT and road race. Hopefully my connection is a little better once I am there so I can keep this up to date.

Off to bed,

Noah