Getting out

This weekend I did another bike race as usual, but took the opportunity do something that we don't often get to do during the season... camp! Along with a few of my teammates and good friends, my girlfriend and I camped in the mountains just above Salida, while doing a 3 day omnium. Friday afternoon, I packed the minivan chock full of bikes, wheels and camping gear and headed off for a TT in Salida that evening. As soon as we got to town the rain clouds that had been building all afternoon let loose. It was a little soggy for the tt, but we were lucky it was as warm as it was. We had a free hotel room, so in lieu of the rain, we took it the first night. It was a less than stellar experience and were ready for something different the next night. A little off-roading was required to make it to the campsite, but the space shuttle was more than up to the task. We had it all, bikes, trucks, guns, and Friedman Foil Food (soon to hit shelves at your local Whole Foods). Even at 10,000 ft and in a sleeping bag, I easily slept better than any night in the past month. It was a welcome change from the monotonous hotel room routine that we typically go through during races. We were just having a great time all weekend and raced aggressively, the only way we know how to have fun. It worked out great for us, with Jason taking the crit and the overall in a stronger than typical local field. I finished up 2nd in the road race and 3rd overall. Deb cleaned up in the SW4, winning the omnium and a prime at a local restaurant. Thanks for dinner, honey! It was a weekend filled with good times with good friends. I'll remember this trip for a while.

Evans

It was pretty nice today even up at 14k feet. I forgot how long it seems to take after treeline. The road is in terrible condition up by Summit Lake, but apparently the fees they collect go to the rangers, not to the road.

Close but no cigar

Agh. So close to getting a stage win today at Cascade. I can't wait to get through today, go to sleep, and start tomorrow's stage to give it a go again. Today, I was that guy who gets caught at 50 meters, right when you start thinking you might have the win. As disappointing as it is, at least I feel played my cards right. I attacked on a steeper section of the climb. The last few kilometers were just too flat for a small guy like me to hold off a group going for the stage win. I was looking forward to today's stage and actually had trouble falling asleep last night because I kept thinking about it. Now I'm just as excited about tomorrow too.

I've been writing a daily update on the Garmin/Chipotle team website about the race here in Cascade. Check it out at http://www.slipstreamsports.com/. While your're there check out the inside scoop on how the team's doing in the big big bike race in France.

There's a couple mentions on there of the so-called "space boots." In fact, we have a set here in Cascade also. Here I am 100% focused on recovery for tomorrow.

Cascade preview

The day before the race. It’s a good transition between the chaos traveling and the familiar stage race routine. Tomorrow is the first stage of the Cascade Classic here in Bend, Oregon. Most of us arrived yesterday evening and today was a chance for us to preview the course for Thursday’s hilltop finish. Judging from past years, it will be one of the more decisive stages for GC. Not having much of an idea how to get there, we headed out of the hotel for our ride following our Garmins. Too bad we couldn’t take all the sweet dirt roads that it found for us instead of the busy highway because we were short on training wheels and a few guys were riding tubulars. In the end we made it to the top of the climb for a nice 3 hour ride. The soigneurs and mechanics had lunch all ready for us and drove us and our bikes back to the hotel. It was a nice relaxing day for us, but thanks to the staff. After all of us got our massages, we headed to a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant where there seemed to be a never-ending stream of jokes and laughter coming from our table. Capping things off on a serious note was the team meeting. Now it’s off to bed with the team in high spirits and ready for the job at hand.

Home!

I've actually been back in Boulder for a few weeks now and have definitely been enjoying the time home. The weather has been hard to beat. A little warm in town, but a little climbing into the mountains and its suddenly 20 degrees cooler. The rides that are the usual winter staples seem so boring when its this nice to ride the canyons up to peak to peak highway. No gravel in the bike lanes and no need to stuff the pockets with jackets and gloves for the ride down.

Philly week went pretty well. I had a lot of fun doing those races for the first time. I'm looking forward to coming back to Philly. Manayunk was a blast. Its not as steep as I had imagined from the pictures, but the stories about guys attacking the last lap in the big ring blow my mind.

Without much racing on the schedule for this month, I've been taking some road trips to go to some local races. I was reminded of how lucky we are on Slipstream to have such an incredible support staff after speending a weekend on my own. We really have nothing to worry about except riding our bikes. Last weekend was the Dead Dog Classic in Laramie, WY. I made a bad mistake by not reading all the race info beforehand and thought the race started in Laramie. We were driving up from Boulder that morning, and arrived in Laramie at 9am, an hour before the 10am start time. We got to the race headquarters for packet pickup, but the place was deserted. Uh oh... After reading the race flyer which I had printed out, but couldn't be bothered to read, I realized the race started some 40 miles out of town. With some in-car changing at speeds I didn't know the 300,000 mile van was capable of, I hopped out of the car all kitted up with 15min to the start. I picked up my 2 jumbo size numbers, pinned them on, pumped up the tires, slathered on some sunscreen, and filled my pockets with food just in time before the start. Whew. The race itself went well. I won the road race on Saturday, then had some bad luck on Sunday. However, the highlight of the weekend was watching my girlfriend win her category in the crit and tt. She pulled back 3 minutes to win the overall! We had a great time and the courses were awesome. Thanks to the race organizers!

Up next is the Cascade Classic, and in the meantime, I'll be watching my teammates on TV in the tour. I feel very lucky to be part of this team and its amazing to see them finally in the biggest cycling event in the world. Go Argyle!