It’s been almost a week since I competed in the 2008 World Road Championships in Varese, Italy.

They say — whoever “they” may be — that finishing races like the Grand Tours, the Spring Classics and World Championships changes you as a professional cyclist and that our bodies will be able to withstand a higher level of masochistic abuse.

But what do they mean by change? Like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly type of change? Like taking off my training wheels for the first time change? Like a young chick hatching out of its shell and seeing light for the first time?

Too much? Yeah, I know, I get carried away sometimes. But it is the World Championships I am talking about.

The best of the best, the cream of the crop, the icing on the ... oh, there I go again.

Can you feel my excitement?

To represent the USA in the World Championships is an honor only a few people get to experience.

This year that honor was mine and although I was not the best cyclist out there, I took the opportunity to grow both as a person and as a cyclist by taking as much away from that race that I possibly could.

I finished the race in exactly seven hours, nearly 20 minutes behind the winner, but putting my pride and ego aside, it is finishing the race that is going to make me a better person.

The 260-kilometer (or 160-mile) World Championship Road Race was officially the longest single day of racing I have ever done.

At the starting line were 200 of the world’s best professional cyclists from every major cycling country in the world.

Countries like Spain, Italy and Germany had stacked teams of seasoned professionals and were the clear favorites.

Outsiders included the strong but overlooked Belgian and Danish squads and one can never underestimate the always powerful Australians and Russians.

The Dutch, the Swedish, the Swiss, the Slovenians, the Bulgarians — everyone was there to represent their countries as proudly and successfully as they could.

The USA team took a new approach to the World Championships this year.

Instead of taking the seasoned veterans that we have, USA Cycling (our governing body) opted in taking a young and eager bunch to represent our country.

The idea was to give us a taste of what to expect in the years to come, to nurture us and to ease us into our next big challenge as the next generation of American cyclists, winning the most historical races cycling has to offer.

It shows they are looking to the future and are willing to put faith in America’s cycling talent.

I wish I had stories of epic grandeur to share with you from the Worlds, but I do not.

It was a beautiful race held on a gorgeous Sunday in Italy with thousands of eccentric cycling fanatics cheering (and drinking) their heads off.

The world’s best paraded around the streets of Italy, pouring everything they had into the race and leaving it all on the road.

There was a surprise winner and a lot of exhausted faces after seven hours on the bike.

For me, it was a matter of survival. I faded towards the end of the race, but instead of giving up, I forced myself to finish the full 260 km, as I was hoping I would experience what “they” say is a life-changing event.

I’m not sure what they mean by life-changing, but if it comes in the form of feeling like a drug addict going through withdrawals in the first week of a detox program, then I can’t wait to see what is next.

I have never been so physically destroyed from one day of racing, but if this is the metamorphosis process, it’s only a matter of time before I will spread my new set of wings.

Most cyclists at this level don’t enter races to “just finish.”

We enter races to win or help our teammates win. We do everything we can to make that happen, and sometimes it works and often it does not.

Regardless, we come back, race after race, to try once again.

Finishing the World Championships is not a major feat or accomplishment from most professionals’ point of view, but then again, I never said I was “most professionals.”

I know just finishing isn’t something to proud of, but for me, it marked the next step in my career.

Just like a butterfly spreading its wings for the first time or taking my training wheels off, the doors to opportunity are now wide open and expose the beginning of the long road ahead.

Even though I have been writing all year about my experiences, my trials and tribulations, this is where I have been struggling to get — to the point where my future is in my hands.

To finish a monumental race like this shows that I am ready to embark on that path and to become the great cyclist I’ve always known I have the capacity to be.

It wasn’t easy taking those training wheels off, but look where I am now!

The season is nearly over and I only have three races left.

However, two of them are at the 250- to 260-kilometer mark and will bring upon my next challenge.

The first in Paris-Tours in France and the other being the Giro di Lombardia back in Italy, they are two of what we call the “Classics” — or major, monumental races that have been around since cycling gained popularity in the early 1900s.

I know it seems a little soon to be expected to capitalize on my Worlds experience and go and win these races.

But as opposed to Worlds, where I took my training wheels off, I’m looking at these races to be just like riding a bike!

Editor’s Note: Napa native and professional cyclist Lucas Euser, who is living and training in Girona, Spain, writes a column for the Register every other Saturday.