Over the past ten days the Greenville community has seen its fair share of professional cyclists cruising the streets.  Riders from across the nation are discovering the quiet roads and relatively warm climate of the Upstate.  Having the US Professional Championship based in Greenville for the past five years has certainly helped get the word out.  Now, the time and effort is finally being put in by a number of riders to actually set up their winter base here and take advantage of all that the area has to offer.

George and I have been happy to play tour guide these past few weeks.  The long rides we are use to covering by ourselves are made much quicker and easier with the help of some company.  Ted King has been based out of my house this past week and has, as far as I can tell, been enjoying his time here.  Another New Englander, Jeremy Powers, just made the journey down south to put in his final preparations for a bid at the upcoming Cyclocross World Championships in Germany.

Our training group has been getting more diverse by the day.  From sprinters like Frank Travieso to climbers like Chris Butler, we have had a great mix of riders to push each of us in all the aspects of cycling.  After all, sometimes the best way to progress is by surrounding yourself with better riders.

With a few of the locals joining us throughout the week our group has been relatively big and entertaining.  Some of them have been biting off more than they can chew trying to keep up on the climbs and pull through when we are rotating on the flats.  But it has all been in good fun.  I hope Greenville continues to draw in a growing number of cyclists.  When we are in the dead of winter, and the body needs the mind-numbing base miles for the season ahead, misery loves company.

Our host for the week, Specialized, has been generous to all of the HTC-Highroad organization since the minute we arrived in town.  Specialized HQ has even been transformed into our team offices. The normal employees filling the office have been few and far between.  Instead of the filled cubicles, signs have been put up in every space directing us where to go.

With most of my testing and bike fitting completed, I set out on my first ride on the new bike yesterday morning.  The early fog burned off as I made my way through the busy streets.  Before I knew it, I had made a left turn onto Canada road.  From the aggressive traffic of the valley floor, to the eerily silence of a forested climb, the transition took place in a matter of seconds.  From there I was removed from the stress of the city life and left to my own thoughts.  The roads in the hills are some of the best you can ask for.  The type where even though you have somewhere else you need to be, you just want to keep going to see what’s around the next corner.

And then there is the bike.  My first impression is that I can’t wait to race it.  It is very responsive and very light.  Not to mention the looks, and this is just the first training bike we will receive.  The intimidation factor will be high on the start line of the races in 2011.

As everyone knows by now, for cyclists, the 2011 season begins in December.  The teams have been finalized, the schedules have been set and the first get-togethers are underway.  Some teams are in the snow, while some are at the beach.  HTC-Highroad’s will take place up and down the coast of California over the next 10-days.

I’ve just finished packing and I am ready for the first leg of the trip, Morgan Hill.  Specialized, our new bike sponsor is based in Morgan Hill, and for the next few days we will be getting to know them better as well as getting to know our bikes for the year ahead. Specialized has developed a 29-step process, known as the BG Fit, to help everyone feel more comfortable on their bikes.  I feel pretty good already, so I am interested to see what changes can be made.

After a few days in the San Jose area, we are transferring down to Westlake Village to focus more on actual riding.  That is about all I know for now.  I am really not too sure what all to expect, I am just excited to begin a new season.  There will be a lot of returning riders paired with quite a few fresh faces, so it should be a good mix to keep things interesting.

Looking at the weather forecast, it looks like timing for a trip to sunny California couldn’t be any better.   Things are cooling off quickly here in the Southeast, so the warmer temperatures will be welcomed.  And for a sign that 2011 is starting off on the right foot, I’ve already been upgraded to First Class for the trip out West.  When it’s good, it’s great.

Traveling to a new area of the US is a rare occurrence for me these days.  It seems I have been everywhere and in between, but I had never set foot in Little Rock, Arkansas until two weeks ago.  Our close friend, Brendan Quirk, finally talked Courtney and I into checking out his hometown and we couldn’t have been happier with our decision to go.

At first, I really just wanted to check out his company, Competitive Cyclist, and spend some time with him and his family.  Then the idea of having a little group ride came into play.  Before I knew it, it was a full-blown-trash-talking-infused race between twenty of Little Rock’s finest.  There were even cash prizes for the three main climbs!

At this point in the year I am as far from my race condition as I can be, but when there is money on the line and half of your companions are rolling around on $10,000 bikes, clothed from head to toe in Assos you know you have to represent.  Long story short, I came, I saw and I conquered!  Though, it didn’t come without a great deal of suffering.

But “winning” the ride wasn’t the highlight of the week for me.  I’d say that would have to go to my first encounter to the unforgettable chant for “calling the hogs” during the Arkansas football game. I know Americans are passionate about their collage football, but this took it to a new level…

With that said I can finally speak openly about where I will be racing next year and I am happy to say I am sticking with the same team I have grown with over the last three seasons, HTC-Highroad.  I feel at home here at HTC-Highroad and to end up renewing my contract with them makes me more motivated than ever.  Besides, I have some unfinished business with the Giro d’Italia.  I still need to finish off those 150meters that kept me from winning stage 13 this year.

There will be more to come from our get together in California next week.

This past weekend I took part in a number of great events for the Speedways Children’s Charity in Texas.  The SCC is an amazing organization that has spent the past twenty years making sure children live productive lives.  I am just happy to have played a very small part in growing the organization these last two years.

First up was the clay shoot out at Ross Perot’s Circle T Ranch.  Last year I surprised myself and many around me by breaking my fair share of clays.  I am not known for my shooting skills, but I held my own.  This year was no different.  I did end up holding back my strong team, but not by much.  Out of the twenty-five teams of five shooters we came out close to the top of the standings.

The day of shooting was finished off with the Annie Oakley competition.  If you are not familiar with the Annie Oakley format, I am sorry, it would take far too long to explain.  But let’s just say that, not only did I make it to the final round, I actually won the thing outright.  That was until everyone bought there way back in and I was soon out.  But at least the charity made out well!

The rest of the weekend, which is geared around the NASCAR racing, was more of a culinary experience for me.  On Saturday night, Mario Batali, Guy Fieri and Tim love battled it out in the kitchen to raise over $100,000 for the children.  Then the next morning Courtney, her aunt Bobbie and husband Bill and I were lucky enough to have Guy and Mario cook us breakfast in the infield of the Texas Speedway.  An amazing morning all made better by the fact that the children of the Texas SCC chapter were benefiting from it all.

The hours I usually spend riding my bike each day have been put to use in my kitchen the past two weeks.  I am not quite sure how and when I became so fascinated with food and wine, but now I just can’t get enough of it.  Having traveled all over Europe and a few other parts of the world, I have sampled thousands of different foods and wines and developed a pretty diversified palate.  The challenge of recreating those dishes is what I enjoy most about cooking.

Sampling wines from all over the world is also so appealing because it lets me taste and smell the exact place and time that the wine was bottled without even leaving the comfort of my home.  Wine is such a great representation of any place on the earth, giving you a window into the soil, climate, people and their lifestyles’.   If you can mange to master the cuisine of the region, then it is just that much better.  But popping open a cork on a bottle of wine is the much easier and far less time consuming route.

Since I have been missing out on the usual fall Italian races, I have been trying to feel like I am in Italy as much as I can here at home.  This week has been all Italian in the kitchen.  From osso bucco, to the apricot crostata pictured here.

HTC-Columbia’s Mallorca training camp has finally come to a close.  It’s been a great one, but I am very much looking forward to getting settled in my Spanish home for the year, Girona.  Upon arriving in Mallorca the team and staff feared the weather would get the best of us and our training camp wouldn’t include much training at all.  However, the weather just seemed to get better each day.  By the end of the twelve-day camp we had almost sixty hours out on the bikes, plus countless more hours in the gym!  That’s a huge workload, and I am feeling pretty tired at the moment.  But I know I will just get better and better over the next few days and I am confident I have a great base to begin the season with.

The next two weeks will be spent fine-tuning my form in order to be ready for my first race of the year, Challenge Mallorca.  With so many long rides in my legs after this camp, I won’t need to worry about adding volume.  I will just be focused on shorter more intense days, trying to help the body remember what it is like to be racing.

Courtney and I will also be rediscovering the Catalunya region of Spain.  We have both really missed the culture and atmosphere of Europe, and are excited to be back.  It will be great to spend some time together and revisit our favorite spots and dine at some of our favorite restaurants.  There are so many great things to look forward to at the moment.

Roberto Bettini from the other side of the lens.

HTC-Columbia’s training camp on the island of Mallorca has been flying by.  Once again, we are slammed with meetings and appointments filling every moment we are not on our bikes.  Even in the middle of the night I am waking up thinking I am late for the ride or some meeting!  To my surprise, the weather has been great so far.  All of Europe is buried under snow, yet the temperatures are mild and the sun is usually out here in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Training has been going along quite nicely as well.  Long hours on the road bike are broken up with a few intervals up short mountains or some high-speed work on the flats.  We also had our first “race effort” yesterday with a team time trial of fifteen kilometers.  We were split into two groups of eight, with the finish time taken on the seventh rider, so we had to stick together.  We raced down the coast road here, in very windy conditions, with only two minutes separating the first group from my group.  Soon after the start my group began catching guys that were being dropped from the group ahead.  They had obviously started off too hard and were paying for their effort now, and that only motivated us more.  We ended up winning by a good margin, and the first group only finished with four, not even close to enough riders to stop the clock.

I always wonder why we race so hard in these training camps, but in the end it is pretty fun to be out there going 60kph on the time trial bikes.  It is a feeling we have all missed over the past few months.  Later in the week we will take the race from the flats of the coast to the mountains inland for an uphill race.  Until then, the long days will continue.  Five to six hours on the bike each day, followed with more meetings.  I am happy the days are going by so fast as I can’t wait to get to Girona, Spain, and meet up with my wife, Courtney.

Two days have now past of the HTC-Columbia training camp in Spain.  Yes, I meant to put the HTC first.  They seem to have taken over the title spot of the team, but that is about the only difference you will notice on the new jerseys.  We have received some great new Columbia gear as well, and I have been putting all of it to use.  As I am typing, the wind is howling outside my window and the cold air seems to be forcing itself through the walls and into my room.  So escaping the freezing temperatures of Greenville, South Carolina didn’t go so well!

Our ride today started out quite pleasant, actually.  Maybe it was the fact that we had the wind at our backs the first half of the ride, and the sun in our faces that kept us warm.  As soon as we started to head back it was a different story.  The rain blew in; followed by a short burst of snow, then more rain!  Luckily, all of this crazy weather hit us in our final half hour, so it could have been much worse.  It is also amazing at how just having some fresh roads to ride makes the day go that much faster, and it also makes you a little less sensitive to these bad moments.