SmartEtailing has been good to me. Very good. They gave me the flexibility to train extra long during lunch hours, the ability to race a full schedule of the best events I could find last year, and the pay to get me there. Financing a full year of travel races and high end bike equipment was not cheap, and having a full time job was the only way to make it happen. Plus, I was offered amazing deals with QBP (the parent of SmartEtailing), the job allowed me to sit with my legs up, and I got to write about bikes, wheels, and power meters–not too shabby of a deal if you ask me. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. The job forced me to rest, to train inteliggently (still up for debate), and it re-invigorated my desire to make it onto a pro team. Part of the job included writing about pro races, which was fun but made me super jealous of all the lucky guys who were out there racing California and US Pro Challenge instead of sitting in an office watching it unfold on a screen. I wanted that, what they had, now more than ever. For once, I focused my strength at crushing every race I attended instead of shitting it all away on training rides. Last year, thanks to working in the office, my passion was for the races, not intervals. (Okay so maybe it was 50/50).
Lastly, my coworkers were awesome and a pleasure to work with. They became some of my best friends. All in all, I have nothing but gratitude and good memories from working at SmartEtailing and I thank Liam, Stephen D, Steven H, Brittany, Will, Russell, Shaine, Alex, Jim, Tim, Jeff, Sam, Matt (did I work with him?), and even Dan. Yes, even that bastard Dan.
Last year wouldn’t have been possible without such a sweet setup like SmartEtailing, that’s for sure. It was perfect for me. But ditching the “9-5” desk job for Europe to go ride my bike and crush fools for a living? It sort of feels like:
Fuck yeah I’m so ready for this! I’ll once again be a full-time bike racer…AKA bored out of my mind, killing time in between rides with Facebook and Hulu for 13 hours a day. No but seriously, it’s time to focus on training and racing again. I know the down time, the extra sleep, the diminished stress, and the unlimited training hours will turn me into a monster. Either that or I’ll overdo it like I always used to and be tired and flat come race day. I guess we’ll find out if I learned my lesson in a couple months.
KENNETT PETERSON 