Euro Trip- Part 1

 It all started nicely. Look I'm in France riding my bike. It's fun, it's pretty, it's all good.

Minus the sleeping arrangement with sheets big enough to cover almost half the small bed.

 Alexis and I went for pre Prologue Espresso- just like normal (though the flavor ranked one below nasty).

 We had nice team dinners and coffee together. 

Then it all went downhill-- and onto the right side-- twice. In one day.

 It sucked and I cracked.

 Everything hurt. My body hurt. It hurt to ride my bike. I wasn't sleeping. The internet sucked. The drives each day were long and windy, the and racing was hard with no success.

 I tried to HTFU. I tried to race my bike. I was sort of successful in that I won a trophy. Most combative of day # idon'tremember.

 But I was not having fun. This no-fun feeling has not happened to me for several years. I've made a point of making my bike racing fun. If I'm not going to get rich doing it, I might as well be having fun and enjoying my life as a bike racer.

Being in pain, away from home, not making money, and not able to have a chance at winning each day really made me think long and hard about "what am I doing here?"

Finally we finished Ardeche. We celebrated with grapes picked right from the vine,

 and beer and pizza- for me.

 We drove to Italy and I still had a bad attitude. I needed an attitude adjustment- ASAP.  I got one. Thanks to The Sister and her advice of "ditch the expectations and enjoy the experience", my trip has now turned into WWHD (What Would Heidi Do?).

If Heidi were in Italy, she would drink wine. Cheers.

Heidi would eat a chocolate croissant on the bike ride during the coffee stop (no the espresso is no good here. It's all over roasted and tastes burned). 

Here's to a better outlook for this week of racing, and here's to enjoying the experience- no matter what kind it is.
Racing starts this evening with a 2km TT. Yep, less than 3 min.