The chill of the early morning air bit at my skin as I lined up for the race, a lesson from Jeff echoing in my mind. “Knees covered below 65 degrees,” his voice boomed in my memory, “…or else.” I’d religiously followed his advice, pulling on knee warmers against the cold. Scanning the parking lot, I half-hoped for a nod of approval from Jeff himself, my personal guru in all things cycling. But he remained detached, radiating an aura of cool European composure – “Euro Mode,” I’d come to call it. He was too effortlessly chic, too entrenched in his “euro-ness” to acknowledge overtly the progress of a fledgling racer like myself.
My journey into competitive cycling became an obsessive quest for knowledge, often gleaned from the pages of European cycling magazines. These publications, translated and often cryptic, became my bibles. Any technique or training method that seemed to hold water was immediately locked away in my mental vault of top-secret strategies. Sharing these hard-won insights? Unthinkable. That, I reasoned, was the “Euro Way.” Jeff, in his earlier mentorship, must have simply had a rare lapse. Year after year, Jeff’s European cycling pilgrimages transformed him – he returned faster, tougher, and undeniably more “euro.” Our paths intertwined repeatedly, evolving into a comfortable racing camaraderie. Yet, the mystique of his “euro-ness,” that elusive quality, remained just beyond my grasp, and the grasp of every other local racer trying to emulate him and perhaps, the essence of a true Euro Bicycle rider.
No matter the grueling miles I logged, or the punishing weather I endured, I always imagined Jeff pushing further, harder, in even more brutal conditions. This imagined benchmark fueled my own relentless improvement, pushing me to forge my individual path. This inward focus, this guarding of “racing secrets,” inadvertently created a distance between me and my fellow competitors. But it didn’t trouble me. In my mind, it simply solidified my independence, my toughness, and my dedication to the “Euro” approach. This solitary pursuit, this dedication to a certain ideal, felt intrinsically linked to the very essence of what I perceived as a “euro bicycle” rider – someone defined by discipline, performance, and a certain undeniable style.
