Nicole Mitchell, Bermuda’s top female cyclist, believes the sky is the limit for her after making a sparkling start to the season.

Mitchell, the 2013 NatWest Island Games gold medallist, grabbed a bronze in the circuit race and finished fourth in the road race at the Tour of New Braunfels in Texas last weekend.

Having exceeded her expectations so far this season, Mitchell believes she has already laid down some important building blocks for the season.

“As the saying goes, racing is the best training,” Mitchell said. “The early season racing is really a chance for me to gain more experience racing against unknown fields. In addition, I hope to start sharpening my fitness.

“My coach, Kendra Wenzel, has really been working on increasing my base fitness through the winter so it will be good to start building in some intensity with races.

“I was a bit surprised with how I performed in Texas, I had done a lot of long steady rides so I really wasn’t sure how my legs would feel once the attacks started, but they responded really well.

“I managed to position myself well in the peloton which is something I have been working on.

“I am looking forward to seeing how I perform in Arizona this year in comparison to last year.”

Mitchell, 30, will have a hectic schedule when she heads to Arizona next week. She will compete in four events in quick succession.

“While I’m there the plan is to race in the Valley of the Sun, the Valley of Fire, the Old Pueblo Grand Prix and the Tucson Bicycle Classic before returning to Bermuda in mid-March.

“I caught a bit of a cold flying back from Texas so I have been resting to get over it. The fields in the forthcoming races will also be deeper.

“The main goals for Arizona will be looking to improve on my results over the last year, where I also raced in the Valley of the Sun and the Tucson Bicycle Classic.

“I’m then looking to head out to California to continue to build ahead of the Pan American Continental Championships in May [in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala].”

The competitions she will be involved in overseas will help her in the bigger scheme, particularly with the length of the races being much longer than those locally.

“The Pan American Continental Championships and Commonwealth Games [in Glasgow] are likely to be 60-plus mile races as are the races I’m currently doing away which will condition me for that distance,” she said.

“The local races are great, but just too short at 40 miles.”

“With all this being said, none of it would be possible without the incredible support from my employer, Ariel Re.”