Bicycle racing is a team sport, which means that you have to handle training, mechanic support, and even cooking all by yourself. American Rebecca Fahringer began her third cyclocross season with Kona Maxxis-Shimano. With no elite races in the U.S. and a "fear of missing out," she began a full schedule in Europe in preparation for the World Championships in a few weeks.

"I wanted to come because I wanted to race. I knew if I stayed home, the FOMO would be too big. I also feared that my skills were far from top-notch and that a year off would dull them and prevent me from sharpening them again," Fahringer told Cycling News from his Belgian base.

As her schedule has progressed since November, she has fine-tuned her form and gained confidence with two top-10 finishes. This Saturday at the Zilbermeer Cross, a course that meanders along the sandy shores of Lake Mole, she will be in the top 10.

"I haven't run this course before, but from the videos I've seen, it looks like a lot of sand and pavement. I've heard that sand is best described as "heavy" and the weather tomorrow looks to be around freezing with a high chance of precipitation. Otherwise, everyone will be running, I'll be exploding with flair, and then running," noted Charisma Fahringer, known for her insightful and humorous video diaries. 'But maybe I'm exaggerating in my head, or maybe it's not such a bad thing. After all, I can be a sand rider."

Fahringer said that one of the reasons he ran a full schedule in Europe was to score points toward the World Championships, even though his teammate Kelly Warner and other American supporters were not traveling abroad.

"It's very strange not having Kelly, my wife Emily, my dad Kelly [Shields], and my mechanic Spencer [Johnston] here. So it's very empty. I miss my training partners the most. I didn't really miss them until the last week or so, when I took the weekend off," said Fahringer. Because if I hadn't raced until the World Championships, I would have been devastated. [I'm not going to miss it because I know how fast, intense, and hungry the up-and-comers are, and I'm not going to miss it because I'm not going to miss it because I'm not going to miss it.

Only a handful of American women are consistently racing in Europe this season, and Fahringer is currently ranked 14th in the elite women's UCI cyclocross rankings. Her compatriots Clara Honsinger and Kaitie Keough of Cannondale-Cyclocross Pro Racing are ranked 6th and 31st, respectively, while 15-time U.S. cyclocross champion Katie Compton of KFC Racing p/ b TREK/Knight Composites) is one spot behind her in 15th place. Also racing in Europe is Corey Coogan Cisek (Velo Revolution - Cyclocross Custom). All but Compton are on Saturday's start list.

"The best thing about this season is that I've grown to love racing in the US. I think a lot of top racers want to spend a full season in Europe, but after this season I realized that a long but split season is the best of both worlds," the 32-year-old said.

She said the top three things she missed about racing in the US were "the people, hanging out, and being at the front of the race."

"There are no fans at Euro races, but it's refreshing to see fans and fellow racers at American races. In the U.S., most of the fans come to race in their own field. There is a camaraderie like no other," she says.

"I love getting good results, and in America, getting good results usually means a hard-fought battle for the podium or the win. It's still a hard race, but it's satisfying to see the light of day at the front of the race. "

He said he started this season fatigued from the stress of the move and "pandemics, lockdowns, and political unrest in the U.S.," but he is on the mend.

"My 'form' this season is more in my mind than in my body. When I first got here, I wasn't sharp because I wasn't racing. Then I had a concussion. Then I got back into shape, and then in the Cologne period I had some bad luck and fatigue set in. I would say I have been lackluster this season, but I was never out of shape.

"I started the season a step behind. A lot of it has to do with not being able to compete in the first 20 races of the season in the U.S. and the stresses in my life piling up. My mental capacity is limited and in many years I have devoted most of it to the sport, but this year there are just too many other things going on.

"For the next World Cup, I am hungry for the results I know I can get.