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America, the land
where everything is excessively large, the weather is extreme
and is home to the rich and famous. In little old Kutztown
however, we didn't get to see many of the rich and famous, but
it was still awesome nonetheless.
Kutztown, for most people reading who have never heard of this
place, is a little town situated in the state of Pennsylvania.
It is about an hour and a half drive to Philadelphia, and the
same distance to New York City (which I got to spend a day
in!). It is home to the Amish, who live in old school
generation wearing ankle length skirts and the males wearing
suspenders with the every day formals. They transport via
horse and carriage, and generally grow their own food which
they sell at the fresh fruit and vege market. Kutztown is
probably the size of Cambridge, but the university we stay in
takes up about half of the town.
It was a great sigh of relief when we finally touched down in
USA, after completing my final uni exam the day of leaving NZ,
and always the last minute stress of whether the bag will be
under the weight limit so shuffling everything around. It took
two flights and a hour drive to arrive at the final destination,
Kutztown. The weather was also a pleasant change, going from
rain and windy cold weather to sun everyday and 30 plus degree
heat.
When I first arrived, I felt super agitated living the athlete
life which was as follows- wake up, ride, eat, and recover for
the rest of the day. After being so used to always running
around trying to fit everything into a tight schedule, I found
it difficult lying around for half the day watching netflix.
But no worries, that lasted less than a week because I
realized I actually needed some down time after the training
we were doing.
The training in America was great, the roads are really
smooth, none of this bumpy Waikato stuff I am used to! The
weather was amazing, I found myself complaining of the heat
but then thought of everyone at home and decided I was being a
little bit selfish.
I went to the same place last year, but it was a lot different
to this year. This year we had only three girls, and a couple
of male sprinters, which when compared to last year with a
squad of eight girls, support staff, and other squads there as
well- it was a lot different! The change was good, I became
more independent and did a lot more solo rides. Last year was
about experience, whereas this year having knowing what I was
in for, I was able to put my head down and do some of the best
training I have ever done before.
Another thing that was cool was that we had the opportunity to
some crit racing, we did one each week and with the motivation
of earning back our entry fee, I'd say us kiwis did pretty
well! It was good as it made a solid session of training more
enjoyable because we were with other people.
We had no vehicle for half the time we were there, so we
learned to master the art of carrying as many groceries in a
backpack as possible! All while not cracking any eggs or
making the coke or sparkling water get too fizzy. (Learned
that one the hard way when half of my sparkling water exploded
all over me). An ice cold water was primo after painfully
walking up the stairs back into our air conditioned room post
training in the scorching heat.
I didn't realize how many things I had to say about the trip,
so I'll leave you there with a little bit of insight as to
what I experienced over the last month. I've got to say, after
my first ride back today and feeling like an Eskimo with all
the layers I was wearing- I do miss it a bit. But I can't wait
to get back into training and put the base I developed over
there to good use. So for now, I should probably stop
procrastinating and get back into these uni assignments.
Thanks for reading :)
Nina
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