Catching Up and Starting Over

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since I've posted here. The racing season came to an end with the Yuasa Crit, and I took a couple of weeks off the bike, rediscovering my love for good beer, fatty foods, and lots of wine! Not much has happened in those couple of weeks, aside from a bit of weight gain! I still don't have a contract signed for next year, but it looks like I'm getting offers from two teams, both of which I can be successful with, but each having different pros and cons. I'm at the point of gathering as much information as I can about each team: rosters, race schedules, my role on the team, benefits. Then I will sit down and go back and forth and decide which team will be the better fit for me to develop as a cyclist; where can I best improve my abilities, results, and visibility?

That's going to be a tough decision, one that I already think about every day. Human Zoom/PBR is the only team I've ever raced for, and I want to make sure that my next team is the right fit for not just my physical abilities, but also my personality.

Training started back up in the beginning of October. I'm back in the gym and out on the bike for a couple hours at a time each day doing endurance and tempo work. No offseason! Having a few weeks off got me ready and eager to get back on the bike. I'm doing a bunch of fun rides right now; keeping things interesting. It's going to be a long, hard winter, but all the training will pay off come springtime!

Thanks for reading. -- Al