One of the greatest things about collegiate cycling is that some of the best racers in the country are week in and week out racing the same course you did. This was awesome my freshman and sophomore years because not only could I race, I got to watch what almost amounts to a pro/1 race every weekend. You could screw up the line through a corner every time in your 45min crit, then spend an hour, watching now pros like Nick Frey, Jamie Driscoll and Issac Howe nail that corner at 30mph every time for an hour. Everyone not in that race is standing around telling glory stories about how so and so raced in Europe and this other kid was on this or that team making them into more folk heroes than fellow college students.

Then last year rolled around. Suddenly I'm not watching the show, I'm in it. There was this huge culture shock of suddenly being the bunch shoulder to shoulder with these guys who a year ago I was looking at as more hero than human. I suffered, A LOT. I was scared to be aggressive because I didn't want to blow up or "get in the way", which instead lead to me being shuffled to the back of the group and suffering more than ever. By mid season I figured out that these guys are just that, guys. If you don't try something stupid around them (See: half wheeling), they are totally fine with you on their wheel or next to their shoulder. Now I just need to learn how to sprint...which leads to the next thing

One of the funnier parts of being an "A racer" now is all of the dumb questions I asked, and sometimes still do such as with sprinting, to other current or former A racers are now being asked to me by people new to the sport. So much is learned from experience through time spent riding and racing to find out what your body does and doesn't respond to that there is never that easy answer. So like those before me all I can do is something like this,

-How many rest days should I take between hard workouts?
-Uhhh until you feel fresh.

-How do you move up in a pack?
-Not really sure, see an open spot fill it.

-How do I get better at climbing?
-Not sure it just happened to me. I suggest doing it more than on race day.

-What do you eat before you race in the morning?
-Dunkin Doughnuts: two muffins and as much coffee as your stomach can hold.

-How do I shave my legs?
-Shower, shampoo, Mach5 against the grain, lots of lotion.

At least the last two were easy.