The Pleasure of Pain

I've learned this lesson the hard way before. An afternoon training ride in the mountains can turn into a hypothermic nightmare. One of my favorite road rides is Golden Gate Canyon because of the sheer amount of hard climbing in a relatively short amount of time. The ride takes you over three big climbs . . .



. . . and ends up at Peak to Peak highway.




Unfortunately, Jen and I marched up the mountains with the slightest tail wind (which was great), but we turned around to come back down and it was beyond cold. We barely made it 5 miles to the visitor's center where we found a fireplace and some very nice people. Jen actually used the hand dryer in the bathroom for the warm air so much that it blew a fuse. After warming up for an hour or so, we had to hitch a ride down the mountain. This nice couple from NY crammed us into their small Jeep and strapped our bikes to the back.





You know it's cold when your water bottles freeze on the ride.




Next up:
I'm working on a post-race report for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo down in Tucson, AZ. I chose to run support and not do the race. I didn't know it going into the event, but one of my roles was going to be 'cactus needle extraction'.

it's official . . .

What better way to start out the first post of this blog than to announce that I'm with a new team this year. It's barely sinking in, but I will be wearing the Trek/Volkswagen uniform for 2008! This is a huge opportunity for me and one I didn't think would ever come up. This is one of the hardest teams there is to be a part of and I'm very lucky to be with such a great group of people. I owe a huge thank you to them - especially Nick Martin - for bringing me aboard. I'm not sure how much longer I can do this at a professional level, but with the support they offer up . . .



I'm going to give it a go as long as I can.

I was lucky enough to have dinner with some of my best friends last night and when I looked around the room - I realized that everyone there was doing what they want to do with their lives. Not only that, they are always good for some great words of wisdom when needed. I've been a little out of the social group because of work and cycling, but last night was just what the doctor ordered. Now, if I can only get away to see Libby . . .



News bits:

It was very difficult to tell Spot Brand bikes that I was going to ride for Trek,(this was the team I was going to originally for 08) but Nick Howe was a better than great man in handling the situation. I still ride with the people from there and my friend, Dellys Starr, just won the Australian national championships - which means she's in a really good spot to make it to the olympics this summer in China.

Now, on my new team, I have a teammate who is also chasing the olympic dream: Jeremiah Bishop. He is super fast and an even nicer guy. Go JB!

I'll be putting a schedule together soon.

The Trek-VW Rocky Mountain team:

Josh Bezecny
Nick Martin
Brian Smith
Jenny Smith
Caitlyn Tuel
(and me)

I'll be heading to a Trek-VW training camp in Moab in the middle of March and I'll get a chance to hang with the super fast guys and gals.

Next up: I'll do a short write up on an epic day including Colorado sunshine, Colorado clouds, wind, my former teammate Jen, Golden Gate Canyon, 32° changing to 10°, hypothermia and a nice couple from NY with a dog, 2 cyclists and 2 bikes crammed into their small jeep.


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