Sometimes it’s hard to be a full time student, a full time bike racer, and have a social life.  There just are not enough hours in the day to always be able to do everything I want.  I’ve heard the pros say it, and I know that I have to make sacrifices sometimes to be successful in cycling.  There are times when my friends will want to do something, and I will have to skip so that I can get my training in.  It’s hard to miss out on the fun sometimes when the alternative is a set of thirty minute all out intervals, but I know that that’s what it takes.  Every day I am at school from seven in the morning until at least three in the afternoon, and that’s not to mention all the homework I have to do at some point before the next school day.  That does not leave a lot of time to get in all the training I need to do.  What it means is that I have to do a lot of riding on the trainer during the winter when it does not stay light enough for me to get outside after school.  I really don’t find that riding the trainer is very enjoyable, but if that’s what I have to do then that’s what I’ll do.  My friends don’t always understand why I can’t hang out with them, or why I have to leave school right away every day.  Under any circumstances, it takes a lot of self discipline to make it in cycling, but I can tell you that it is even harder as a full time high school student.  You’ve really got to love everything about the sport to go out there and hurt yourself everyday in training, and I assure I do love the sport.  That’s why I’m willing to make some sacrifices to achieve my goals in the sport of cycling.