Above the clouds at least. A bit heavier air below.

And why, tell me, do so many people over here burst into applause for a succesful landing? I kinda make that assumption when I get on board…. Or at least hope for it. Fortunately somebody else on board inevitable feels like I do and cheers even louder with the sarcastic “Thank god I didn’t die” implied. Ah, travel. It brings out the best in people.

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Been catching a bit of flack here for the lack of follow up after last weekend’s racing, so just in time to head off again I’ll get to it.  Lagueglia and Haut Var were 2 tough days of bikin that were perfect prep for the real start to the season this Saturday at Het Volk.  Unfortunately I’ve been under the weather the past couple of days, hopefully on the upswing (power of positive thought) and as I’m leaving tomorrow AM to head to the cold, wind-whipped rain of northern Europe I better be. 

Italy was some good fun however last weekend.  We stayed at a quaint little hotel in the center of blue hair vacationland, just east of San Remo - not far east of the French border.   The Chef at our hotel was the true staple old Italian cook and you could see how happy he was to simply bring out some good solid food that made people happy.  Pasta, truly al dente (and then the next day we were quickly brought back to the French reality), clean flavors on the plate, great coffee - maybe even a bit too much of it - and then a bit more pasta.  It was one of our mechanic’s birthdays that evening and when the Chef found out he dashed off to the kitchen with a gleam in his eye and in a matter of minutes whipped up an apple clofutti stat, delivered with the biggest smile you’ve ever seen.  That with some gelato put a bit smile on faces all around the room.

The race was fast, italian style (slow on the flats, haul ass up and then down the hills, then slow again, until the last climb when it kept going to the finish), and a solid 4000kj day out on the bike.  Afterwards we piled in the camper and headed west to France for a night in St. Tropez (went really big at the hotel restaurant) before Haut Var.  This was where we were reminded how terribly the French hotels we frequent butcher pasta.  Ouch.

 Haut Var was another big one, 4500kjs for power geeks, and a day that went from cruisy progressively faster and faster until the last 70k was just straight up flat out.  A brutal 2k kicker with 15k to go broke the remaining field to pieces and that was that.  I was about 25 back about half way up this little cote, having already pegged some silly numbers for the first half, and then got a good laugh watching Rebellin take off like a GP bike up the last 500 meter kick. Unreal.  Then I got back to hauling myself over the top, barely tagging on to the 2nd group of riders that rolled in for the mid-20s to mid-40s.  Ryder showed some great form out there earlier in the day making a couple of tough splits, and looks to be taking advantage of it down in Valencia as I’m chilling here. 

It’s been a relaxed week here in town since…  Mike and I have had Magnus staying with us for the past bit while they do a training camp and have had a good time cooking up a few quality meals and sharing some solid laughs.  That guy is a riot - it’ll be a pleasure slaving on the front for him in the classics ahead.  We all managed to get stuck in the elevator the other night and learned not to challenge its 4 person weight limit.  We had 5 and it decided to stop 2.4 floors up…almost, but not quite to our door.  We managed to pry the door, a couple of us slid out, the elevator then dropped back down to the ground floor and the others escaped.  It didn’t work for the next day but then decided to fix itself, thank god, and is now back in action.  Walking 3 floors up a 2′ wide staircase in cleats with a bike, having the timed lights go off mid-floors, was a good time…

So , up to Belgium tomorrow for some really bumpy roads in the rain.  Fingers crossed the weather decides to change…power of positive thought, right?   

Just got some new kicks in from the guys up at D2 shoe and DAMN they are nice. Yep, more argyle, but a bit toned down from last year when all the solid panels were bright orange. More importantly, with a new production facility they are able to bang the shoes out quickly and with perfect duplication from pair to pair. I got these, slapped some cleats on, lining them up, with an older pair, and went out to ride. Not a change required and they felt perfect. Unreal. Thanks Don and Dan!
Just arrived in Italy for the Trophee laiguelia, one of the Italian season openers. We’re staying right on the water, the sun is shining and it’s almost 60. What more could we ask for… Not gonna say I wish I were at the tour of California right now - the boys are killin it but mother nature is getting even for the blessed weather of years past. Have fun out there guys:).

One thing I guess we could ask for actually: some good luck tomorrow. Everybody is on some surprisingly good form or has it coming and it’d be nice to capitalize on it and keep things going. Off in search of quality coffee and then a cruise along the coast. Already have a feeling that another update will be coming shortly…

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A couple of us came up with Johnny Weltz today to the grand celebration of catalan cycling, 20k up the road from town. Pretty cool watching this whole community go nuts for their local scene. Tropheys for everybody and way too much cheap wine, beer and spirits making their way around, kids included in the fun. Nice of them to invite us up, but we were just a bit out of place:). Entertaining none the less and now we know who rules the local scene when we see em out training. Otherwise not much excitement here….finally feeling settled, getting in some good training and still blown away, and fully taking advantage, of a region so blessed in foodstuffs. One more week to chill and then the swing really starts up - not a free weekend til May.Good luck to the boys out in CA and jeez does Rock Racing make for a good story.  Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.

Just posted up a new journal on Velonews.com. It’s been nice getting settled into Girona over the past few days. Lots to do yet before this apartment feels like home, but things are coming together slowly and it’s been awesome getting back into the kitchen a bit.  I’m once again blown away by the availability, and cost, of vast quantities of unreal produce, even in February, from the daily market, and my favorite bakery and meat shop have helped stock the kitchen well.  The 3 bags of fresh produce I walked home with yesterday ran me 8 euros.  At Whole Foods it would have been, easily, 50 dollars.  The man at the wine shop had a smile on his face when I came in as well:)I’ve started up some Spanish lessons as well with a real focus and hopefully in a couple of weeks I’ll be able to get my point across with a bit more complexity than a two year old.  Now if only I had the language skills of my youngest sister…