Athletic sports and running have always been part of my life. As a young boy I was in my local athletic club, competing in middle-distance races. Then I decided to play football for a few years, because if you’re Italian you’re expected to play football! But in 2004 I went back to my first love and now I run more than 1500 kilometers per year, competing in 10k, half and full distance marathons.

Last year I decided to make the switch to triathlon. My biggest hurdle was cycling: I never had a road bike and my legs are simply not built for producing watts. My coach and I decided to start my triathlon training in October in order to be ready to compete in Spring. I signed up for the Milan triathlon: it looked like a good excuse to go back home. The problem was that cycling is really hard to fit in my daily schedule, and the Swiss weather doesn’t help. So I Googled “Indoor Cycling in Zurich” and Velocity came up first. It was the perfect deal: 5 minutes from my work, lunch classes and pay-as-you-go.

So the day came for my first Velocity class. I clearly remember this one feeling: after some time I said “Okay I’m done, I gave everything”, then I looked at the screen and we still had 40 minutes to go! Somehow I managed to get to the end, and then I kept coming back. Pretty soon I was hooked and getting stronger and stronger. Thus, more and more, I felt ready for the triathlon.

I’m happy to report that the triathlon went really well! My goal was just to have fun and get familiar with the three sports together, the wetsuit, the transitions and much more. I remember during the bike leg of the triathlon I kept hearing Fabian (one of the Velocity Instructors) in my head saying “push and pull, big circles”.

If I were to give advice to other Velocity riders on conquering a challenge, it would be to say: listen to your body, it gives you important signals to understand how it is reacting to the training. Try always to improve, do something a little bit better than the last time. Set a goal, build a plan to achieve it and go outside of your comfort zone: that is where the fun starts.

I truly believe Velocity is built to give you the most fun and flexibility: you can book your bike easily on the website, just bring some clothes and you are set. You can decide to push yourself to the limit, challenge the leader board or just enjoy the music. Give it a try and you won’t regret it!