I’d say the highlight, or most surreal moment, of the summer would have to go to the day we started our race in Poland at the gates of Auschwitz. It is impossible to even put into words the presence that the concentration camp carried.  Trying to comprehend what took place on those grounds, I just stood in awe as we waited for our little bike race to begin.  Moments like those are priceless and put everything in my life into perspective in a matter of seconds.

Sitting in the plane now, with my wife digging her nails into my arm each time we hit any section of turbulence, I can’t wait to get home and reconnect with family and friends.  Living in Europe is grand – I love the culture and general lifestyle – but there really is no place like home.

The coming weeks will be blur as I race out the remainder of the season.  The Canadian ProTour races have all of the ingredients to make for exciting one-day races and I am looking forward to taking part in their first editions.  Then, back to Greenville for US Pro.  After that, my work life is a bit up in the air.  I am planning on attending a few events during Interbike out in Las Vegas, with the hope of continuing on to Australia for the World Championships.  Then, on to Italy for the fall one-day events and finally completing my around-the-world trip when I land back in Greenville for the off-season!

I am looking forward to getting the year going and figuring out where my fitness is in the first few races.  I feel the winter has treated me well, but it’s hard to say when you’re not racing and don’t have anything to compare with.  I am also really excited to get back to life in Girona.  The life and culture there is about as good as it can get.  Morning coffees overlooking the river at our place, and an evening glass of wine in one of the town squares with Courtney are some of the best parts of life.  It will also be nice to escape the bitter cold that has settled in Greenville, and have some fresh roads to train on.

The night begun with a small, yet great dinner over at George’s house.  A few bottles of very nice wine later and I was ready to curl up in bed, but it was only eight so I had to rally to make it down to our neighborhood’s clubhouse for the actual party.  Several coffee drinks later and I was on the dance floor, one place you’ll rarely find me.   I was trying to learn a few moves from Brent Bookwalter who made the trip up with John Murphy for the party.  There was no denying Brent knew his way around the floor, but he was paying for his effort, as he was full on sweating the whole time he was out there.  With only a few short hours of sleep, I was paying for it the next morning.  It’s a good thing I only go through that once a year!

The rest of the long weekend was spent down in Atlanta, GA.  Courtney planed a trip there to celebrate my upcoming birthday since I will not be at home for it again this year.  We found a new favorite restaurant, Eugene, and spent way too much time in the malls, but we had a great time.  It was such a nice way to begin the year!

Hope you all have a great 2010.  I am very excited for the possibilities and looking forward to making the best of each of them.  Happy New Year!

This Christmas weekend should be as special as always.  It’s hard to believe it’s actually that time of the year.  I have been so busy lately that it’s been hard to keep up with when and where I actually am.  Surely when I sit down with my whole family for dinner on Christmas Eve it will set in.  Enjoy the Holidays!

Now it is time to once again re-adjust to a new time zone and finish up all of my holiday shopping.  It’s hard to believe Christmas is this week, but it sure does feel like it.  Returning to the cold weather was a shock and it is strange to see snow by the roadsides and ice in the trees.  Training is full on for the 2010 season now.  It was a very quick switch from easing into things to being in the thick of it.  In fact, the week spent in Lanzarote, I had around forty hours of exercise!

The goal for the next few weeks is to just enjoy as much time with my family and friends as possible.  Before I know it, I will be back in Mallorca, Spain, for our next training camp and then the racing season will have officially begun.

When I am home, I am cooking, cleaning, shopping, running, riding and playing some tennis here and there.  On my trips so far it has felt like a stage race, with hotel transfers and with activities planned from sun up to sun down.  Unfortunately, during the winter months I can’t use my “I need to rest and recover for my next race” card and my wife knows it!  Guess it’s payback for the rest of the year when she is taking care of me.

If I looked back to the summer months I was already looking towards the off-season and making plans to do this and that.  Trying to pack in as many fun things that I could.  The possibilities seem endless at that point.  Once the off-season finally arrives you realize that the more you have planned, the faster it goes, and that is the case for me this year.   But I can’t say that I would do anything different.

I really have had a great time so far.  I was able to be part of so many cool experiences in Texas, our annual tennis tournament is coming up this weekend, which will be a great chance to catch up with some friends and then on Sunday I am off to Peru for a week with Right To Play (www.righttoplay.com).  I can only assume the Peru trip will be a huge eye opener.  We will be touring different villages and schools, giving talks and playing games and other activities with the children. I have no idea of what to expect, but I am sure it will be something I will always remember.  After Peru, it will already be Thanksgiving and then off to the first Team Columbia-HTC training camp.  It really does go so fast, but you only live once…

Jeremiah, who worked for Columbia HTC this year, and Jared, a local artist, were up for the challenge.  Jeremiah has had some experience on a bike and he has all of the gear.  But Jared was borrowing a lady’s bike and wearing normal tennis shoes, not the best setup, especially with the wet weather we had today.

Obviously Jeremiah had been holding out on us as he made it to the top in under fourteen minutes, a very respectable time.  He did manage to get his heart rate up to 200bpm, so at least we know he was going for it. 

After seeing him finish we headed back down the mountain to see Jared’s progress.  He was going fairly well, but fighting the bike the whole way.  Sprinting for a few seconds and then almost coming to a stop. It was actually pretty inspiring to see someone push their limits so much.  He made it to the top in twenty one minutes, just over the time limit, but we figured he deserved a little leeway since he was in tennis shoes and in the rain.  Jared immediately collapsed in the middle of the road, but he had secured his spot in the Tournament along with Jeremiah.

I had not been in Charleston in many years so I was a little surprised at how much I enjoyed my time there.  It has a very European feel, and I love the fact that we were able to walk everywhere and never had to use the car.  We did a little shopping and even a run one morning along the Battery, but we spent most of our time trying a few of the amazing restaurants Charleston has to offer.  A big group of us went to Lucca one night and dined family style, with endless plates of anitpasti, fresh pastas, meats, cheeses, wine and desserts being brought to the table.  By the end of the night, with very full stomachs, we all agreed that it was some of the best Italian we have ever had.

It was nice to get  away with Courtney for a few nights, but I was happy to get back into my own house and put away my suitcase, even if its not for long.  We are off again next week to Texas for a clay shoot that benefits a local charity and the big NASCAR race the following weekend.  It should be a great time, and we are looking forward to catching up with our family there.

I have had a couple of long days on the bike this week, and I have been doing some circuit training on some hills to simulate it the best I can.  I am hoping that all of the training and racing that I have done the past eleven months will help carry me through the race.

Aside from the rain, I have been hearing a lot of my friends talk about how awesome it is to be in the off season, and hearing about all of the great times they are having.  I am in no way ready to shut it down for the year, but I do hate missing out on some of the fun.  It always seems a little strange when I head out for a six hour ride and George is heading down to the tennis court.  I love the upcoming races, so I am as motivated as ever.  Worlds will be a new experience for me at the elite level, and the fall races in Italy leading into Lombardia are the best one days of the year in my opinion.  If you put these races in the spring, then they would be everyone’s highlight of the year.

I am especially looking forward to my block of racing in Italy.  The races are held in  a few of my favorite regions, Tuscany, Emilia Romagna and Piedmonte, and we only race five days during our ten day stay, so we have plenty of free time to enjoy the area.  To me it is almost like a vacation, and a great way to end a season of racing.  Last year Michael Barry, Scott Davis and I spent the time off the bikes in the local towns and checking out as many wine bars as we could.  Then there is the Italian food, I could go on forever…

The fashion show was awesome as well.  George’s and Rich’s kids were to first to walk out and put a smile on everyone’s face, and the show was closed by Pat McCarty doing a karate kick at the end of the runway, something you had to experience to realize how funny it was.

Sometime during the party George said he wanted Courtney and I to go to New York with him the next day, an opportunity we just couldn’t pass up.  After heading downtown for one more drink, and to see Floyd Landis sing a few Kid Rock songs, we called it a night and headed home to pack up for the last minute trip.

Before we knew it we were in New York and already having lunch.  After came a little bit of shopping, a few more drinks and a quick drive out to Queens to watch the opening matches of the US Open.  By this time we were all starting to fade fast, which was unfortunate, as you want to really enjoy these rare moments as much as possible.

Venus Williams was playing in the first match.  I was excited to see her play, but she wasn’t at her best and her match went on for nearly three hours! It really seemed to take forever.  By the time Andy Roddick came out for the next match we were ready to go back to the hotel and sleep.  We did stay around just long enough to see a few of his 130MPH serves, very impressive.  So fast, that in our court-side seats all you could see was a fuzzy yellow blur.

After a long night, which saw me come down with a touch of food poisoning, we boarded the plane and were back in Greenville by lunch time on Tuesday.  A trip like that is a good way to kill two days, it flew by way too fast.  I spent the rest of the week trying to bounce back from the trifecta of H1N1, the NY trip and the food poisoning.

The Tour of Missouri is now fast approaching, and I am really looking forward to racing with our team there.  We had so much  fun last year, and it is always nice to race in America.