Hiatus

Back in action after some ups and downs the previous three weeks.

Redlands was a wash after getting sick, then crashing into a car on the first road stage. Luckily I was not seriously injured, but my body was out of whack and I was unable to finish the race.

Life came at me quickly in the following week, where I flew back to Tucson, packed my things, and drove solo back to Wisconsin over the course of the next three days. Feeling really out of focus and just terrible all around, I went to see the doctor the week after my crash and found out my shoulder was separated and I had some horrid inflammation on the left side of my body.

Down but not out I began training again shortly after in Green Bay. Currently, I'm in back in Tucson staying at Curtis Zimmerman's place of the esteemed missingsaddle.com website. Starting to get some good feelings in the legs again before Tour of the Gila next week.

Life has been good the past two weeks, having good riding company with Rebecca Much of Team Webcor, joining in with Chad Beyer, Tyler Wren, and Dan Vallencourt for a few spins up the infamous Mt. Lemmon.

Trying not to sweat too much in the heat. Excited to get back to racing--

-b-

"Are you serious?"

5km into a 15km climb...cobbles!

"Dude you need to stop talking during races"

Stage 7 - Short. 135 km. Windy, big rollers. Made the breakaway. Finally. Hamilton, Landis, Milne, Carlsen, perfect group. Flatted. No team car in sight. Another day on the bike.

Back in the peloton. Dude gets all up in my space. I've got nowhere to go. Give him a love tap back to his place. We lock bars. Down we go.

Stage 6 - Cobbles. Real. Big. Cobbles. Front derailleur gets all jittery on me. Then it decides to just fall off. Nothing like chasing back to the peloton at 60 kph motorpacing over Paris-Roubaix style cobbles and Belize style speed bumps. Could never forget that one if I tried!

Bridging up to the break. Stetina joins the bridge. Good move. Motoring now. Shift. Chain wraps around my crank. Twice. Back to the peloton. Give the front derailleur some "precise adjustments" courtsey of my foot. Back to good....

Bad luck hits all at once!

One day left in downtown Mexico City - and finally back to civilization. And by that I mean Starbucks.

You can thank Travis Brandt for that one.

-b-

Mexican endeavours

So far in La Vuelta Mexico....

Pulled over by one traffic cop. Axel played it cool and got off with a warning. Act like you don't speak Spanish.

Hotels = amazing. 5 stars. Crazy views. Lovin' it.

200+ km stages. Never trust the race bible, the race is whatever the race director decides on the day to race.

Crazy crowds. Signing body parts and clothing daily at the starts and finish venues.

Crazy strong Mexican racers. Not many pro teams in Mexico, but a helluva lot of strong riders.

Crazy cobbles and speed bumps. Sketchy gets a new meaning down here.

Crazy saddle sores. You just don't wanna know.

Can't believe it's only stage 4...hump day tomorrow, only 4 more to go.

Adios,

-b-

Can't fight the feeling

Racing is in the air finally...you can smell it, taste it, feel it in every part of your body. Anxiety. Excitement. Nerves. It all comes together at the start of the race season. But somehow we always get over it and down to business.

Stage one of Vuelta Mexico today was 100 km of circuits through downtown Oaxaca, 12 laps of 8 km. One nice climb each lap and some nasty ass cobbles and dips made the race harder than I expected, not helped by my stale legs from the lack of riding the past couple of days. You see, AeroMexico airlines neglected to get my bike to me before 9AM the day of the race...we start at 10AM. Needless to say, it was a bit close but at least I was on my own bike and not the neutral.

Lance was in the follow car today with Axel...I guess they got a lot of excitement in the first couple laps of the circuit with Reohei and Julian both crashing, followed by some flat tires courtsey of Phinney and Reohei. The bumps dips were fun enough on a bike, I can't imagine how much air the caravan car got chasing back to the peloton!

Anyway the clmbs were not too bad but I was having one of those days, so I sag climbed each lap and cruised in about 15 seconds down on the main peloton after 100km of racing. Ready to fight another day, looking forward to some of the longer stages--oh yes, such as tomorrow's 205 km stage in the mountains. Hello altitude.

-b-

Oaxaca, Mexico

Enjoying the views from the top of the Hotel Victoria in Oaxaca right now, wishing we had more time to vacation here in Mexico instead of begin eight days of racing tomorrow! The racing would probably be easier if any of the team had our bikes and luggage yet--after 15 hours of travel yesterday we arrived in Oaxaca sans any luggage. So at least now I have an excuse to sit up here on the hotel balcony, enjoy the view, and not think about bike racing for a while.

Viva Mexico-

-b-

Viva Mexico!

Off to the Vuelta Mexico - Telmex this week for eight stages of bike racing goodness and Mexican food consumption. Could not ask for a more perfect race at this time of year, between the great weather, high altitude, and long stages. Should be a great race to test the legs and start the season off right. Starting in Oxaca and ending up in Mexico City on March 8th.

Follow the race on cyclingnews.

Plus I can brush up on my extremely rusty Spanish skills.

Hasta luego,

-b-

Santa Rosa camp recap

We're finally finishing up the second Trek-LiveSTRONG team camp here in Santa Rosa, California after a solid 8 days of training, sponsor meetings, massage, and of course eating. The staples of any cyclist's diet should include plenty of rice, fish, pasta, and oatmeal - and I've no doubt consumed my share of the works this week.

On top of all the experiences this week, the one most prominent in my mind is Axel Merckx's guidance on a daily basis. The guy is a class act in every way, and I'm honored and proud to work for him. Axel keeps us U23 guns in line every day with a mix of good natured Belgian humor, friendship, and laying the verbal smack down on us when need be. Luckily that hasn't been often!

Second on my list of cool experiences was the riding company. Between Levi, Lance, Contador, Bart, the Saris guys, SRAM, Beaker Concepts, and the rest of the Astana team we have been in the best of company all week long. Lance laying down the law the first day got the hard efforts out of all our systems, and really prepared us to work hard "in our zones" the rest of the week long.

Of course I can't forget to mention our title sponsor Trek in all this buisness - they really stepped up to the next level and made this camp phenominal for us. I just packed my bags of gear - almost half of what we get for the year - and I'm astounded. The kits are top notch, the bikes are better than ever, and our staff is dedicated to our success.

Back in Tucson tomorrow, recovering and training until next weekend's Valley of the Sun stage race in Phoenix. Looking forward to the next challenge,

-b-

Riding with the boss

First the meet and greet.
Then putting the hammer down on Spring Mountain Road.

1) Lance is fast. Very fast.
2) Levi is going to win Tour of California.
3) I'm the geek on the team - It's only taken 1 week of training for the team to figure that out.

We rode Kings Ridge today northwest of Santa Rosa. Probably the most amazing ride I have ever done on a road bike. Legs are tired today after hammering with Lance yesterday and 6 hours today. But still lovin' every minute of it.

-b-

Sunny side up

Of all the things in Tucson I like the most....

...home would have to be the most spectacular.




Really. I do like Wisconsin. But Arizona is quite nice at this time of year too.

Off to Santa Rosa to get the final touches on our training before racing starts up at the Vuelta a Mexico in a few weeks. Hopefully Astana doesn't rip our legs off too much; it's becoming difficult to reattach those legs after each hard training ride--especially with Jon Chodroff, Cam Evans, Kirk Carlson, and Curtis Gunn lighting it up on the Shootout each weekend.

Tuna and brown rice....mmmmm....lunchtime.

-b-