TRIA Orthopaedic Center Your Cycling Blog

Our first guest blogger is Sinead Miller, a 2009 Ryan Collegiate All-Star and Marian University collegiate cyclist. Enjoy!

Hello everyone! I am currently racing in Europe with the USA National Development Program and this racing season is already proving to be a great one. Many things have changed for me this year, from joining a new team to taking my fitness to a whole new level. Now I am proudly a member of Peanut Butter and Co./Team Twenty12. I have been training very hard throughout the past months, so that I can do my best to contribute to the team and accomplish my cycling goals. I am also still a full time student at Marian University and I race for the Marian cycling team during the spring as well.

Last year I was a freshman at Marian University and I was able to win the Collegiate Criterium National Championships. This earned me a spot on Ryan’s Collegiate All-Star team for the Nature Valley Grand Prix race. Last year I was not on a team outside of collegiate racing, so this opportunity presented to me was a great one. I am so thankful that I was given the chance to race Nature Valley with the Ryan’s All-Star team last year. This was this first NRC stage race that I ever competed in, so it was a great learning experience for me.

Everyone on the Ryan’s Collegiate team was treated like a professional and it showed me what it takes to compete with the highest-level women racers in the U.S. I gained so much knowledge about racing during Nature Valley. Each day I was able to improve and the team manager, John Barron, also played a vital role in helping me and my other teammates throughout the race. He knew all of the courses in-and-out and John was always able to provide us with helpful tips before and after each day of racing. Now I am a much more experienced rider compared to last year and I can not wait to race Nature Valley again in the future.

Next time I race Nature Valley I will know the courses much better since I was able to race with the Ryan’s Team and I will be much more comfortable there. Any collegiate rider who is presented with the chance to race with the All-Star team should take it. The experience played a very important role in my racing career. It was the first time I ever had the chance to race a stage race as a true team member. Also, my teammates and I had a great time together, from racing to just having fun at our host house, the whole trip was awesome.

Now I am preparing for my next race, which is a World Cup in Holland next weekend. It is crazy to reflect back and analyze what big improvements I have made since racing Nature Valley last year. Being able to race Nature Valley with the All-Star team really helped me to wake up and realize what type of training I needed to do to compete with the best women racers in the world. After racing Nature Valley I was so motivated to improve and now I am able to compete with the highest-level women racers in the world. I am also now a part of a fabulous team and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I could never have dreamed of all of these things happening to me so quickly.

Ryan’s Collegiate All-Star Team is such a great program. Anyone who is presented with the chance to race for the team should really consider it. The amount of information and racing experience one can gain is priceless. Also, Nature Valley is such a fun race and very exciting. I can’t wait to race there again soon.

For more information about the Ryan Collegiate All-Star team, check out http://www.ryancollegiateallstars.com/.

Nature Valley Grand Prix,NVGP,Ryan Collegiate All Stars,Women's Cycling,Women's Professional Cycling   Tags: Peanut Butter and Co., Team Twenty12,   Comments Off