Walsh learned his craft at UCD CC and has now secured a full time rider in the United States
By Brian Canty
Former UCD rider Anthony Walsh, now riding in the colours of the Astellas Oncology team in the US, has said realising he is now a professional bike rider has only just sunk in.
Walsh, 29, from Clontarf, Dublin, has enjoyed a very good number of seasons on the domestic front, so much so that he decided to try European racing last season. He then got in touch with the professional outfit from the States and after some stellar rides in Canada, particularly at the back-end of the year, they agreed to take him for the coming season.
“It only really sunk in in the last few weeks when people were asking me what I wanted for Christmas,” he explained.
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“I normally got cycling stuff but now I'm getting all that stuff off the team I didn’t know what to ask for!”
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Walsh spent the Christmas and New Year period at home before heading to Spain for some warm weather training with his old UCD team mates and going to Florida and South Carolina with the new team for more training.
Adapting to the rigours of life in the pro peloton is something that takes quite some getting used to he said.
“Cycling was my hobby when I was in college but now that my hobby has become my job I think I need a new hobby. I can't play golf because it's too much walking. The coaching business - www.a1coaching.net - I’ve started should take up a chunk of my passive recovery time now though.”
“Training has gone really well so far this winter though,” he continued.
“I’m doing over 20 hours a week at the moment. Mainly base work but some intensity mixed in. I haven't worked much at threshold but already my power to weight is way above where it was when I was second in the national hill climb in October. I'll keep building; Redlands and the Rás will be two of my big targets in the first half of the season.”
“I think my first races will be Tour of Battenkill (UCI 1.2) in New York and NRC Redlands Classic in California. They both sound a long way from Navan and the traditional season opener!”
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