Pro Cycling Dairy - April

As a Cyclist the ‘season’, roughly February through to late September, involves a great deal of time on the road. Jumping from hotel to hotel, it is very easy to start longing for your own bed. However in complete contrast to this lifestyle, I have spent the previous two months entirely in one place. Having travelled near non stop to races for almost as long as I can remember, I started to get itchy feet simply being at home.

Luckily I had a good excuse this week to get on the move again: Tao, my boyfriend, was celebrating his 21st whilst at a race in the Treviso region of Italy. So Anna (Tao’s Mum) and I booked up to head to the land of pizza and pasta for 5 days, catching two races and the all important birthday! 

I had been in Italy for a whole 10 minutes and already greeted the lady at the Airport cafe with a very English ‘Hola’, immediately apologising and correcting myself to ‘Ciao’. Cleverly I then followed this up with a ‘Gracias’ as she handed over my lunch. I walked away red faced and chuckling to myself. It not being the first time I had forgotten to shift my brain post flight. Like most people, my vocabulary for most countries stretches from Hello to thank you and then concludes with good-bye. The struggle comes when trying to remember what country I am in at the time.

As I sat in the Cafe, I listened to all the different languages being spoken around the airport. I enjoy the many confused looks whilst peering up at the departure board, the taxi drivers flapping signs with hastily scrawled names in the air and the families greeting each other at the arrivals gate. Having a job where you are constantly around different languages and cultures, I think you grow an appreciation for the nuances of these places, how they operate and what to expect.

This year my team has six different ways of saying hello, thank you and goodbye. It is truly an international dinner table which means the conversations are always interesting. One example would be a sponsor asking me if I was married, due to us Brits wearing wedding rings on the opposite hands to them.

So with our racing calendar taking us all over the world, and my brilliant team mates to enjoy it with, I don't think I’ll be getting itchy feet again anytime soon!