Spring? Please?

Ok, I don't know if you can tell from this pic but it was dumping snow here today! I shouldn't be surprised because it always does this at some point this time of year every year, but come on, there's ridin' to do! Pretty small turnout at Jack's Jay ride tonight. I'd rather go play in the woods when it's this cold but the trails are pretty sensitive right now. All we need is a week or so of nice, sunny weather and they'll be great. At this rate they should be good by August.

Thye best news of the day was that my Velo News came and in it were 2 items of note. First there was a pic in the "hot" section of Tina in one of Lori's belly dancing outfits, although there was really no mention of the race itself. In fact, there was no mention of the team's Sea Otter win either, although they covered the men's race. Don't any women work there? I think complaints are in order. My favorite bit, though, was a nutrition article extolling the virtues of chocolate milk as a recovery drink! Now for years after rides my favorite thing to have has been a glass of ovaltine and a PBJ. So it was nothing I didn't know, but now there's proof. It was a refreshing article to see in a magazine so stuffed with recovery product ads. Plus it doesn't cost $50 a jug or give me gas. More ovaltine please!

Pals

While we were at Sea Otter we got a visit from an old pal wearing an ugly shirt. No, not Tom Schuler! Actually it was Chris Goodson. Here it's Sarah (I'm camera shy) Tillotson, Tom, me and "UB" Chris in his old old University of Buffalo jersey. It was great to see Chris again; he used to live in Lake Placid but is now living in Santa Cruz. I pestered him into coming down and checking out the action; sorry we didn't get to hang out much but duty called; tired racers and all. Doesn't Sarah look tired? This is what 22 laps with a gazillion feet of climbing does to a girl. Look tired, Sarah!

Insert your caption here! Best one wins a prize.

Many people have wanted to know about the racer's diet; you know, what their special nutritional needs are. Sima kept knocking back these things; I didn't get the name of them but they were lo-carb, lo-sodium and high in protien. Funny, everytime she'd pick up the jar the cat came running. Good energy for racing or a night of blogging; Jim looks like he's going off the back, wouldn't you say?

Here's Sima congratulating Tina on a great win at the Redlands crit. Nice lids, Tima!

Who'd a thunk it?

Shelley and I dipping our feet in the Pacific off 17 mile drive. They normally charge you to drive down here but we dropped Beat's name at the gate and they let us in for free. Thanks Beat!

High Plains Drifter

All things must end so it was time for Shelley and I to set off for home in the now famous van. Shelley called shotgun and there's no room in the back, so looks like Sarah's getting ready to run alongside. Nice shoes!

Sarah treated Shelley and I to a goodbye lunch in trendy Carmel, where we found a perfect olive shaded parking spot. We saw a guy downtown trying to parallel park in a Ferrari; with help he managed to get about 18 inches from the curb. Our ride's much cooler. As soon as we got out a guy said Congratulations for the win! Tina, you're famous! I like California.

Sarah saying "You guys are fired!". But will it fit in your carry-on? Or make it to the feed zone? And how about the towel thing? Girls. You don't really need your quads worked anyway....right?

Here we are enjoying California's lovely views. We were going to go to Yosemite but this seemed so much more fun. What's with this place? It's not like there's no more room to add another lane, or a whole other highway, for that matter. Sabotage!

Ill Communication....We came across this helpful sign after about an hour-and-a-half of stopping-and-going. Got it, thanks!

After I dropped Shelley at the Salt Lake airport I copped a snooze by the side of the road. Sleep high, train low!

My shadow somewhere in Wyoming, listening to the Beatie Boys. Sarah lent me some of her cd's for the drive. She's crafty. Thanks, Sarah! You're a superstar.

Hey Doug! Know where I can find a good place to ride around here? Or a Pepsi?

That's all for now but there's so much more to say...drop by the office and I'll tell you all about it.

Finishing with a bang

Yeah! Tina Pic doubles up at Sea Otter, with Dotsie Bausch in third. The last few times they came through the feed zone they were on the front just hammering! A lot of the field dropped out but we ended up finishing 5 out of 6 in the front group, and as for the 6th, I don't see anyone else who raced in Commonwealth games out racing now; they need rest and so do you, so no worries. Way to go, team!

Pre-race duties

For the staff, the race is to get the racers ready for the race. Here I am loading up the big guns of the destroyer Audrey. Ka-BOOM!

Team Sports boss Tom "plow" Schuler makes sure the bikes are stacked just right against our new team car. That's a photo of Dotsie Bausch on the car, who won the first NRC road race in Merced, Ca.

Seems like Doug doesn't do anything before races except entertain the racers; actually, he's got the routine down so well that most of his work is done before I really know it. I still feel like I've got a lot to learn.

Here's Doug all set up in the crit pit in Fresno. The early bird gets to lean his wheels wherever he wants. Better luck next time dude!
If all goes to plan you have the racers ready to lay down some rubber. Here's Sima, Brooke and Sue at the line in Fresno. Go get 'em, girls!

What a trip!

Greetings from California! It's taken me a month to finally start updating people on my doings but since it's pouring today I'm hiding out in our host house and figuring out this blog thing. There's a lot to catch everyone up on so I'm just going to post things in no particular order-more fun that way! Enjoy...






In case you didn't know, I'm doing a stint as the soigneur for the Colavita/Cooking Light Women's Cycling Team. An awesome bunch of ladies and second to none on the bike. One of the perks of the job is riding with them! Here it's (l to r) Audrey "the Face" Lemieux, mechanic "I'm a man" Doug Berner, Sima "for Real" Trapp, Sarah "podium girl" Tillotson, me, and Tina "Oops, I won!" Pic, pausing at Ventura beach.

One of the best things about this trip is that Shelley could join me for a little working vacation, taking a little r&r and taking over as soigneur for a couple of days while I shift my attention to the bikes because Doug leaves to go the Ironman in Arizona to work with the Timex Tri Team. Here she is sporting the team duds at the Garrett Lemiere Memorial Grand Prix in sunny Ojai. Looking good, girl!

Oops, Tina won! I got to call this race on the radio because Jim, the team director, is back home. The team all wear an earpiece during the race so that they can hear the director and talk to each other. It was great; when I said "move up", they moved up, when I said "watch for attacks", they were vigilant, and when I said "go now!!!", they went! Then I found out after the race that my mic was broken and they didn't hear a word I said. Oh well! Great minds....