The Tour de l’Ain wrapped up last Saturday and I quickly, and happily, headed back to Spain.  I left l’Ain totally spent having raced over 2,000-kilometers in two weeks with tons of travel and a nagging head cold.  Not the ideal way to come out of such a big block or racing, but I am hoping a few days rest will breath some life into my body.

HTC-Columbia had mixed results during the week.  Coming close to winning two stages with Marco and Alex being caught just a few hundred meters from the line and placing Tejay high in the overall made for a solid week, but also for one of the few stage races in which we didn’t actually win a stage.  I felt worse by the day, and barely hung on to finish out the race.  Racing a week in Poland and then heading straight into another race filled with fresh riders made for a rough experience.  I am hoping my body bounces back in the next days and benefits from the race days.

Tomorrow will bring yet another travel day as I am off to Italy for the rest of the week.  Some very challenging races are in store.  Plenty of mountains are to be climbed and with these races being some of the final ones for the Italians to earn a spot for the upcoming World Championships in Australia they are sure to be fast.

The Giro is going very well so far.  I might be minutes down on the general classification, but I am safe and healthy!  Crashes have been the norm for the first few days.  Crazy courses, with turns every hundred meters and traffic islands as far as the eye can see.  With so many Italians racing here, and their lack of experience with races in the north of Europe, the races have been very nervous and dangerous.

Now we are in Italy!  Tomorrow will see each team trying to be the best against the clock in the team time trial.  The course is dead straight and about as flat as possible.  Speeds will never drop below the 50kph (30mph) mark, and that should make for a fast and exciting stage.  Here are some pictures of the course, which we previewed this morning.

Preparing for Liege-Bastogne-Liege, here are a few pictures.

My journey to the Classics this year did not turn out the way I had envisioned just days ago.  The airspace never opened up here in Europe for the flights to run and my team was unable to work out any other options, waiting hours on hold trying to book any method of travel.  So I decided to take matters into my own hands and rent a car to drive the 1,300 kilometers to Belgium.  I found that even though the cost to rent a car for a one-way trip was approaching the 2,000 Euro mark per day, I could rent the same car and return it back to Spain for just 20 Euros a day.

My mind was made up.  I would pick up the car in Girona, drive to Belgium and race through Liege-Bastogne-Liege, then drive down to Italy to pick up Brendan Quirk for a few days of training on the Giro d’Italia course and finally bring the car back to Girona in early May.  I am tired just from writing about all of the driving ahead, but at least I know I will get to where I need to be.  The outrageous bike charges and the countless security screens that come with air travel will not be missed either.

Driving in Europe is not all that bad either.  I am amazed at how much the scenery changes in such short distances.  Being from America I am use to driving hours on end before I was out of the deserts of the West, or the mountains of North Carolina.  Here in the space of a couple hours you go from the arid landscape of Provence, past the high mountains of the Alps and you are in the rolling pastures covered in yellow mustard seeds that make up central France.  The scenery defiantly keeps the drive entertaining, but I was more than excited to pull into our team hotel late last night.  It was a long trip that took some thirteen hours from door to door, but I am happy I did it.  It is great to be back with the team and where I belong.  I hated watching Amstel on TV, and I didn’t want to be in that same position the rest of the week.  These races are some of the best of the year and regardless of how I feel after the long drive I can’t wait to race tomorrow.

For 2010, Fleche Wallonne has had a pretty significant course change.  As always we pass the infamous Mur de Huy three times.  With its slopes kicking up above 20% it has always been a deciding factor, but probably never more than it will be this year.  In past editions we would pass the Mur two times before the finish on the third trip up, but those first two times were always far out from the finish so the pace was calm.  This year the 2nd passage comes just twenty-nine kilometers from the finish, so it will play a vital role in the race.  The run-in to the 2nd passage will be chaotic, as we all know the race will be decided there.  HTC-Columbia’s goal is to have some riders up the road by then as with a finish like tomorrow it is always good to be a little ahead of the game.

The Challenge Ciclista a Mallorca marks the start of the 2010 racing season for me. It is quite a strange way to begin as well. The five-day race looks like a typical stage race, yet the format is far from the usual. There is a final overall for the general classification, just like the Tour de France, but each stage is raced separately. Only if you choose to race all five days will you be in the running for the overall title. I know, it sounds confusing, but it is just like what I grew up racing a lot of in the South, the omnium.

Most teams bring over half of their roster here since ten riders can start each day (instead of the more normal six-nine) and it doesn’t have to be the same ten everyday. With some riders skipping a stage or two, spots open up for others, and you could see over fifteen riders sharing the week of racing.

It is a pretty nice way to roll into the season, and I feel it’s great for the fans as well. They get the chance to see twice as many of their favorite pros. The fans also get to ride out on the same roads that others, who are not racing, are training on for the day. A training camp with race days and twenty teams all in the same area is basically what it boils down to.

The first two days were rather flat, so I opted out of those and arrived here today ready for the final three stages in the mountains. Each stage seems to get progressively harder as well, and the weather is not the brightest in forecasts. But I am remaining positive that this will be a great start to the year. With all of the training I have done the past few week’s things couldn’t be better. I am just looking to erase all of those question marks that you typically start the season with. Will I be strong enough to finish? Will I be strong enough to be at the front? Could I be there fighting for the win? By the end of the week I hope to answer them all with a “yes.”

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.