I've raced the "Citizens" class and Pro, with absolutely no support, and with a salary. I've slept in parking lots, and expensive hotels. I've raced as a college student, a NASA engineer, a second shift forklift operator, a bike shop mechanic, and a paid professional racer, in cities all over this continent and a few in Central America and Europe. Few people know how to train- I know how to train, how to race, and how to optimize time and energy for cycling. It wasn't just learned from a book or magazine. It was experienced from a stay at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, from a summer of driving and sleeping in a worn-out sedan from the Carolinas to Wyoming and back (barely), from talking to other professional racers and coaches about their plans, and from trying and analyzing every training, diet, and racing plan imaginable. Whether you have no confidence and wonder why you race in the first place, or wonder why no one's called you over to Europe, whether you're trying to fit rides in between a full-time job or trying to decide which soap to watch between your morning intervals and evening group ride, I understand. I've probably been in a similar situation and figured out the best plan of action.