The Gold Coast

I'm not even really sure where to start, but I guess I should kick this off by saying that I won't come close to giving the appropriate amount of word-time to people and places mentioned in the next couple paragraphs.

Last week I went back to Los Angeles to shoot a video with Shepard Fairey, a world-renowned artist best known for his Obey Giant campaign - and more recently, the 'Hope' poster he designed during Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.




Lucky for me, good friend and ultra-talented filmmaker, Rod Blackhurst, resides in the city and thus I was able to hire him to help me. Rod and I have traveled all over together working on projects, so it didn't take any time to get back in the swing of things. Here's the link to the video:

Shepard Fairey + Trek = New Team Radioshack bikes for the Tour of California.

Upon returning to CO, I headed down to Cortez, CO with my friend Jesse Swift for some racing in the desert. Honey Stinger/Trek teammates Len Zanni and Colin Osborn met me down there, and along with them was Calle Friberg, Swedish national champion (several times over!) to round out our 4 person team for the 12 our relay.

Unfortunately for us, Lady Luck and I have been on the outs for some reason. After my first lap double-puncture, we rallied all day long to get back into the game. And into the game we were! With all of us tearing ourselves inside out to catch back up, the team delivered me a great opportunity to go out and steal the win. As I was getting ready to head out for my last lap, the leaders came through the timing tent 2:15 ahead of us - sitting in 2nd place. Well, I knew what I needed to do. It was my fault we were in this place so I had to clean it up!

I went out with purpose and I was feeling great. I caught and passed the leader (who, I must mention, was on a 3 person team... Not 4!). As I was cruising along and dreaming of finishing in first after the crazy circumstances, I hit a steep hill. Standing up and mashing on the pedals, I heard a 'pop' and then looked down to see my chain laying in the sand. Long story short, I wasn't prepared enough to fix the chain in a timely manner, thus slipping our team back into 4th at the finish... Lucky I have a very forgiving team and we chalked up the day as a fun one, albeit challenging. Lesson learned - be prepared.

The next day I found myself back in Concourse C, boarding a flight to San Francisco. Trek had asked me to be in a photo shoot for their catalog, ads, and whatever else they'll use the photos for. Of course I said yes. Who wouldn't take the opportunity to ride their bike up and down Highway 1 North of San Fran for 4 days?! I saw mostly familiar faces and met a handful new people. I've worked with photographer, John Laptad before, but never in this capacity. John does tremendously great work, and the fact I knew what he meant when he said, 'I'm shooting at f11', was hopefully a help. Thanks to John for making me look good as I know it's a tougher job than I'd like to admit. He had two lovely girls with him who helped make us look good and tried to keep us on track. Thank you Amarett (Assistant) and Mariva (Stylist) for putting me in the hot seat...

Out there with me doing the heavy lifting as 'models' were new friend Chris and old friend Jeff. The 3 of us are simply fans of riding bikes, so when we weren't shooting we were riding, sprinting, attacking, and just having fun.

I'm finally back home and anxiously awaiting my upcoming schedule. I've been preparing for a few big races that are quickly approaching, but my travel schedule may have something to say about it. As always, I'll just try to hit that moving target known as
my schedule.