Another view

Not the first place of choice to be watching the race, but it sure beats sitting in a hotel with nothing to do.

I'm sitting in a car with our director Lionel and mechanic Kevin behind the 2nd stage of Etoile Besseges. It'll be an interesting perspective.
Some bad luck yesterday and I went down with about 50k left. I made it to the finish, hoping that there was some chance I'd be able to race the next day. However an xray showed a small fracture of my hip. I'll need to take a few days of rest before getting back on the bike, but I'm hopeful that I can resume training before I lose too much form. Anyway, I'm thankful things are not worse. My Giro helmet took a beating and is in more than one piece, but did its job. Thanks.

Off to the races

So its been a long time and a lot has happened since my last post, but the time has flown by. A short few weeks of off-season, 2 team camps, the holidays and my first race. I'm back with Slipstream/H3O for 2008 and thrilled to be part of this program for another year. I've never felt this good of an atmosphere on a team, but what's incredible is that the same sentiment is shared by the many riders that came from Pro-Tour teams.

My season is officially underway now. Last Sunday was the French season opener GP Marseillaise. Ryder kicked it off with a fine 3rd place and it was evident from the start that the team is riding well. We spent the last couple of days in a small town Gagniers a few hours north of Montpellier. The scenery is spectacular and after the first day we've been able to enjoy it in the sunshine. Our team of 8 riders and 7 staff took over a large apartment building in Gagniers. We've been treated to home cooked meals, which are a welcome break from the typical meals served from the hotel chains especially prepared for the racers (meals are prepared on the cheap). We joke about an assembly line emptying cans of vegetables and mystery meat onto plates. Actually the hotel we stayed at in Marseille was way above par, so we're off to a good start.

However its back to the racing today with the first stage of Etoile Besseges. Its a flat 150k over 7 circuits along the coast. More to come after the race....