Pickle Thanks Kings North

Hi Everyone, It is Dan "PICKLE" Bonora again writing a follow up entry on John's journal now that I have been back in the states for about a month. I feel the gains I have made as a racer from my three-week trip in Belgium are primarily mental. I have a much greater understanding of a race and the way it evolves as well as how to read it. I feel the physical gains one can hope for are minimal. Granted I learned how to suffer for a little longer and harder which is still primarily mental. To obtain significantly greater speed or physical strength in only three weeks is difficult and almost any coach will tell you that. Yes I have gained some of both speed and strength. I feel this is because I learned more about how to train and opened my eyes to other techniques which has allowed me to assist my coach more in identifying my own personal strengths and weakness and coming up with programs to suit me. So again we are back to the mental gain of my trip rather than a physical. The only thing I feel I may have lost is some ability to climb. Belgium is very flat and there for it is difficult to improve or maintain one's abilty to climb. All though you can try just sucking it up and suffering a little longer and harder until the climb is over. I would like to thank John for helping my trip to be a success as well as everyone else especially the sponsors of Kings North (Belgium Team) and World Cup Ski and Cycle (US team). Dan " PICKLE" Bonora