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.

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.

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.

The training is going very well, partly because that is the only thing to do when we are not in meetings.  The roads are quite pleasant, and terrain is undulating.  Winds that could easily blow you off the road seem to be the only negative.  All of us have been making the best of things, putting in solid hours on the bikes and filling the rest of the day with core workouts and meetings.  The days have been flying by, and that’s great news, as I can’t wait to get back to South Carolina and enjoy Christmas with my family.

Everything has been going quite smoothly in my preparations for the 2010 season so far.  Some power is finding its way back into my legs and it is taking a little bit longer each day before I bonk out there on the road.  I would say that I am better than ever before at this point in the year.

On a side note, while on the massage table a few days back, Jeremiah noticed something poking out of a scar on my shoulder.  I had shoulder surgery over five years ago, but I had no idea of what it could be.  All I knew was that something had been itching me for some time so I asked him to pull it out.  Once we found some tweezers he proceeded to pull out a three-inch bright blue stitch!! It was quite gross to say the least.  It is crazy to think that it has been working its way to the surface for over five years.  The body really is an amazing organism and full of surprises!

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.

The days prior to the race Thomas Lovkvist and I rode on quiet one lane roads and up and over countless hills, some gradual and some way over 20% grades!  We past vineyard after vineyard and village after village and hardly ever came across any traffic, something that I thought would never be possible in northern Italy.  I am not sure if it is the food, wine, culture, sights or scenery, but I am always excited to be in Italy and to race through one of my favorite regions, Piemonte, was even more special.

We took the start in Novi Ligure just outside of a cycling museum named after the great Fausto Coppi, who was from this area.  From what I hear, it is very much worth a visit if you are ever in the area, unfortunately we didn’t have time today.  The race didn’t disappoint today, and started full gas just as every other day here.  I was hoping things would settle down quickly so I could take in the sights.  After a couple of hours, and with two guys up the road, we made our way into the hills.  We rode a good tempo up each and every climb, passing through the towns of La Morra, Barolo, Monforte d’Alba and Novello.  If you know a thing or two about wine, you will easily recognize these names as they appear on some of the most sought after bottles in the world.

We spent last weekend in the food capital in Italy, Bologna, and this week we are in the wine capital, Piemonte.  Here wine is everything and it’s easy to see.  Every sign on the road either points to a vineyard or to a wine bar, and close to 70% of the land is covered in grapes.  I had to control myself when racing through, as I wanted to just hope off the bike and head to one of the many wine bars that looked so inviting.

I guess you could say that my head wasn’t quite in the race today.  That’s not completely a bad thing.  This race is primarily an opener for the big one on Saturday, Giro di Lombardia.  Most guys keep things pretty relaxed, and are focused on just staying fresh for Saturday.  If you look at it that way, that’s exactly what I did.  The speed was good the whole day, never too taxing.  We did have a very technical finish into Fossano, something you would expect from the organizers, RCS Sport, the same people who run the Giro d’Italia.  That forced all of the splits in the peloton and Philippe Gilbert continued his impressive string of victories.

I did start to come around after four or five days of rest, so I started to get in some good days on the bike.  As soon as I was feeling like my old self, I headed towards the hills and ended up on what was one of my favorite loops.  A really nice climb followed by a gravel descent towards a massive reservoir and up another mountain.  Sounds awesome, right?

The only problem was the gravel road must have had a rough summer as it was barely ridable compared to the last time I rode it in the spring.  I ended up washing out in a turn, at a fairly low speed, and my poor uncovered hands took all the blow.  Nothing too serious at all, something you would expect to have happen about every time you go mountain biking, but at this point in the year it was about the last thing I would like to deal with.  So I just laid there in the sun for a good fifteen minutes, or until I realized I had a flat tire so I would have to change that and pump it up with some bloody palms, not fun!  Days like this one you just have to make it through and forget about it as soon as possible.

I took a few more days easy to refresh the body and more importantly refresh the mind.  Did some shopping and spent a day down in Barcelona with Timmy Duggan.  Add in a few good dinners and some wine and I was once again feeling my old self and motivated to finish out the season on a high note.  And then I awoke yesterday morning to a scratchy throat, great!  That is how about every cold I have ever had starts.  So I am back down at the moment, and I am taking it very easy in the hope that I can hold off this cold and get in a few good race days before my last racing goal of the season, Giro di Lombardia.

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…