![]() ![]() Very few sports allow access to athletes like cycling.”Ĭyclists who hail from Virginia, it turns out, have a bit of a reputation. You will get to watch them practice on the roads the day before. “If you are walking against the grain for the road race, the cyclists will come by every 20 minutes. “Fans will absolutely have the same kind of access they have in the European races,” says Paul Shanks, director of communications for Richmond 2015, which is helping to organize this year’s UCI Road World Championships here. And signs chalked in the road are more likely to read “Way to go!” and “Good luck!” rather than “Allez.” It means seeing your entire extended family, in-laws and old school chums cheering from the roadside. It means racing on wide-shouldered roads devoid of dangerous European “road furniture” like the obstacles that define roundabouts, curbs and medians on the continent. It means hearing the comforting background chatter of Southern accents, and eating a pork barbecue sandwich for lunch. For the riders, coming home this fall would mean more than just seeing Mom again. The USA Cycling team’s roster won’t be finalized until a few weeks before the actual racing begins, but several men and women from Virginia are likely to be competing here in Richmond in the UCI Road World Championships, which runs Sept. In fact, your own mother probably can’t afford the cost or travel time to regularly come watch you race. The days are filled with hours of solo training rides on unfamiliar roads and eating strange food cooked by people who don’t speak your mother tongue. Rolling around France, Italy and Spain on a bicycle may sound like a glamorous job, but being an American expat in Europe can be lonely for a professional cyclist.
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