2019 is a fresh start for me with a new team. Mitchelton-Scott has given me so much motivation. We have big ambitions with the Yates brothers, so I’m motivated to work hard for them. I’d like to be part of the success so there’s a lot of work to be done now.
We’ve spent long hours on the bike which is a great way to get to know your new teammates. I’m from Ethiopia so of course new teammates want to know what it’s like to be from there. I get a lot of questions about the weather and what it looks like. It’s interesting for them to find out about my life back home so it’s been great having these conversations on the bike. That’s the beautiful part about cycling, everyone comes from different nations and share their various cultures and lifestyles.
The most interesting thing about the camp is we’ve been doing more than 200 kilometres a day, riding to a different city and new hotel every day. We started in Portugal and now we’re in Spain. Every day brings a new place, new views – it’s amazing. I’ve never done this in training before and I’m loving it. We’ve had big days: 180km, 211km, 228km, 241km. Mentally it’s much nicer on the mind to visit a new city every day because we’re seeing so much on the road and everything is interesting.
A lot of work goes into checking and testing everything at a camp like this. We’ve checked positions on both the road and TT bikes. This is also where you receive new clothing, suitcases etc. December and January is always a time in every team where you receive all of these new clothing that makes it special to be a pro cyclist. I usually donate my old kit to the kids in Ethiopia who are training hard.
Something that surprised me about Mitchelton-Scott is how relaxed they are. It makes me very comfortable because my personality is a very relaxed one too. Everyone knows what they’re doing here and so far, I love it. Riders and staff are happy, smiling, working hard – that’s all that life is about for me and that’s what I see in the team. I’m excited for the next two years.
I’m sharing a room with Chris Juul Jensen on camp. He’s just joined social media so he is always talking about hashtags. I told him to take my picture and say #Africa. As you can tell, we’re having a lot of fun. My first race will be the UAE Tour at the end of February. I’ll update you guys after that again.
Tags: australia, cycling, ethiopia, road cycling Last modified: Jan 20, 2020
