First European Season - Domenic Paolilli

I am back home after an action-packed European season of racing and have taken the past few days to collect all my experiences and put them together in this blog. To provide some quick background information, I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship at the World Cycling Centre (WCC) to join their Mountain Bike team. The Cycling Centre and athletes’ accommodation was based in Aigle, Switzerland, which has been my home away from home for the last 4.5 months. It has been a big goal of mine to get overseas to race the European season. When the opportunity came about to train and race with the WCC’s MTB Program, I believed this was a great environment for me to get my first taste of international competition. The programs focus was on athletes’ development and progression as a bike rider, and not getting caught up with expectation on results initially.

Settling Into a New Lifestyle

I felt so lucky to be overseas living the European lifestyle and getting to ride my bike in some breath-taking places. Riding up numerous mountainous climbs, soaking up the views whilst hearing the cow bells ring in the background is just one of the many amazing moments I experienced over there. It is those pinch yourself moments. The awesome riding routes was easy to get use too, however being away from home and living in a new environment did take time to adjust too. Prior to this trip, my longest time away from home was 1 week! so this was a huge new experience for me.

Us athlete’s had single rooms in our accommodation (Mon Sejour), it was a basic set up but did the job. I tried to make my room feel cozy and like home, pinning up the Aussie flag, placing pictures on the wall and having my little coffee set up were just some small things that helped. There was generally a lot of spare time within our days around training to recover, I found having a healthy balance between resting and doing some light activities helped make this time useful. Some activities that helped me were learning a language (French), reading, watching a movie or going for a walk around town which normally involved a cheeky stop at the bakery :). Daily I would also use this time to contact family and friends back at home, which really helped me stay connected. Through the ease of clicking a button, I could still have a laugh with my brother or get some advice I needed. 

Training Environment

A day of training varied depending on the time of season, but here is a typical outline of my day. I would wake up around 7:15 – 7:30am, freshen up and then have my breakfast. Breakfast for me is the same pretty much every day, consisting of oatmeal or bread, some fruits and eggs to get my day started. I would then make a coffee and use this time to get ready for the day, call home or scroll through Instagram. Our morning training started at 9:30am at the WCC, which was a short 3km commute on our city bikes. Generally, our road rides were more structured interval sessions and mountain bike rides were skills work or race simulations.

We would finish up training around midday, shower and clean up before having lunch at the restaurant at the WCC. Lunch was probably my favorite meal of the day as the chefs there would always provide heaps of variety in the meals. 2 – 3 days of the week would involve a second session for the day, either on the bikes again or in the gym doing a full body routine. If not, the afternoon was a good time to relax (in my case trying to get in the habit of having a nap) or find a new movie/series on Netflix to watch. Before you know it, Dinner time would come around and was always a great opportunity for everyone to chat about their days. I would usually head out for an evening stroll trying to catch the sunset before bedtime, which was about 10pm. Then sleep and repeat!

Highlights and Reflections

Favourite Race

The first race I did was my favourite, a C1 Race in Chur, Switzerland. After coming straight off the plane to Europe full of excitement, I was stoked to be lining up with some of the best in the world in the beautiful city of Chur. This was my first ever European race, and too see all the locals gets amongst the event and the passion they showed was a memorable one.

Learnings

The standard of the field is high, and you need to be on you A Game each race to get the most out of yourself. For me to achieve this, I have learnt that you need to get the whole package right and try to put all the pieces of the puzzle together for race day. From physical preparation, technical skills, good support crew and right mental mindset for you to execute your best performance.

Results

The results slowly progressed throughout the season in the lead up to Worlds, which was the big goal of the season. Unfortunately I crashed at Worlds which impacted my race, but the tune up races in the lead up showed some good improvements within my race which I had been working on. I will be honest however, I expected some better results of myself across the season. Although, putting everything into perspective and how far I have come to this point, I am still proud of my efforts and only adds fuel to the fire to work harder.

What is Next?

Once I finish my off season and fully recover from my hand injury, the focus will shift to the Australian season. A mix of MTB and Road events will keep the summer fun, with some titles along the way I will be chasing. Also, working on all the areas of improvement I identified after the season to help me become an all rounded athlete. Lastly, continually keeping training fun and loving the sport.

Checking In With Domenic Paolilli

Filmed in July 2021 by Dominic Hook, Domenic Paolilli talks about where he is currently in his cycling career, and outlines his ambitions and dreams he seeks to achieve. Domenic is a determined athlete, who is continually progressing and developing with the help of his support network.

Created by Mini Chook Media w/ Assistance of Con Chronis & Todd Cuthbert