It’s September and I’m nearing the end of my first season of racing as a professional. Looking back to one year ago, I realize how much my life has changed. Last year at this time, I was an engaged college student who had just signed my first pro contract to ride as a stagiaire for the remainder of the 2009 season with Kelly Benefit Strategies (KBS) in North America.

I had begun 2009 with a bang by proposing to my girlfriend of 5 years on top of a ski slope in Minnesota on January 2nd. Thankfully, despite my nerves, I did not drop the ring in the snow and lucky for me, she accepted and thus began the planning for our future. At that time, we didn’t know what was on the horizon. We came up with plans about schooling and future careers as any couple in their early twenties might. I hoped cycling and continued athletic endeavors might fit into that plan, but with my amateur status there was no way we could plan our future based on cycling.

My 2009 progressed seemingly normally. I began with a strong performance at Tour of Bisbee and followed it with good form in Tour of the Gila, where despite crashing out on the last day I received an invitation to do a guest ride for KBS at the Joe Martin Stage Race. Following that, I spent the majority of the summer back home in Wisconsin racing for my amateur team, ISCorp. I was having good success and feeling strong, which to my delight landed me an opportunity to come on board with Kelly Benefits in the fall. It was my first big break in cycling and I was stoked. With my first contract we began to consider the possibility that future plans could change a little and that maybe I would have a cycling contract for the 2010 season.

My first race as a pro was the 2009 Tour of Utah in August.  I had a strong showing in stage two and was able to carry it all the way through to the end and finished 7th overall in my first professional race. It was an exciting first result and allowed me to begin to get my hopes up that it would help me land that contract I had been working so hard for. Following Utah, I rode the US Pro Road Race and took 5th place. I was shocked because I went from being fifth in the elite road race just earlier that season, to 5th in the pro race. I couldn’t have been happier with my first bit of pro racing.

It was after US Pro however, that things really changed for my fiancée and me. On my drive home from the airport, I received a phone call from a number I did not recognize. I was unable to answer, but after a voicemail and some text messages, I was in contact with Johan Bruyneel. Wait, did I just say that? Yes, my life had just changed drastically. To this day, it is still a surreal moment for me to believe that I received that phone call and was able to report to my fiancée that we might have the opportunity of a lifetime and the big break we had been working hard for: a pro contract. To look back on all of this a year later, it still seems too crazy to believe. My signing of a professional contract with Team Radioshack no less was the ultimate cap to a very eventful 2009.

And so began 2010, my first official season as a professional cyclist. I got married to my wonderful wife on an incredibly cold January day in Iowa. It was the most beautiful day either of us has had and the best way to start off the New Year. One month later, after a great honeymoon and some time together in our new apartment, it was time to ship off to Europe.

Calpe, Spain was the place of training camp and my first European experience. It was great. Without boring details, I will just say I instantly fell in love with the cycling atmosphere and the country itself. Following camp was my first true introduction to Europe. Moving into a foreign country/city alone and knowing very little was a bit intimidating. Thankfully I have great teammates and others around that helped me through and made my first time in Europe much easier.

I began my European racing in Sardegna, Italy and it was like baptism by fire. I still had very little professional racing under my belt and then throw in the strength of the European peleton, and it is time for school! Thanks to great guidance from my director and help from my teammates though, it was a successful first race. I was amazed at how much I had already learned in just one race. I was sure that this season was going to be fun but quite hard and that it would test me in all aspects of strength: mental, physical, and emotional.

The rest of my first season I was blessed with amazing opportunities for racing and to see unbelievable places from Corsica, to Switzerland, to Austria. The opportunity for me to race Liege Bastogne Liege was crazy. I still remember the last 30km being close to the most miserable I have ever been on a bike. That suffering though is what made it possible for me to have strong performances at Tour of Austria and Tour of Denmark. I remember the beginning of the season thinking that 150km seemed like a long way, but now if it is not 180km it doesn’t seem like much of anything at all. Isn’t it funny how perspective changes?

This season has provided me with many lessons and experiences outside of cycling, too. I have gotten to experience different foods, time schedules, customs, and cultures. It is amazing how being in a foreign place makes everything so much more difficult. For example, locking myself out of my apartment and having to knock on a neighbor’s door, attempt to explain the situation in my broken Spanish, and then climb out their window on to the roof, up a ladder, and in through the window of my apartment. Thank you, neighbor!

So here I sit at the close of my first European season. I look back on the racing, the training, the living, everything that I have been through in the last year, and I see a whole different world. I am now married, I am living out a dream, and I have learned so much about racing, training and the world. Just over a year ago I was still on my amateur team; it seems so long ago. I have certainly had moments when I have felt discouraged and down, but I always tried to tell myself that I am new to this and it doesn’t come easy. With a positive attitude, patience, hard work, and the support of others, I have been slowly improving and learning so much from my teammates, the directors, and others around me. It still seems unbelievable that I have this opportunity! I hope to take all my experience from this year and continue to improve and build on them with Team Radioshack in 2011.