Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Antonio Herrero

That's my Godfather. This mafioso hard looking man, had one of the biggest hearts of my knowledge. He was there for me from the start of my life and helped our family through the ups and downs of a foreign family immersed in a thick Spanish village. For the past 6 winters I used that area as my training camp. And now, for the first time due to a new team and great opportunity I must do my prep. here in the States. Although I wont be back Spain for a while, Antonio wont be there either. Sadly he died just a few months ago. I expected to be back over the winter to be with his family, but it must wait. I will miss stopping by his quaint bar on the side of the road up the 5km climb to the village of Frigiliana. He was always there for me for a chat after my long rides and with a "tapa" and refreshing drink. I'll miss his silly questions of why I would ride so long each day, how much I was getting payed, and when I was going to marry an American girl. Well, I am on my way.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Melting Snow, Open Mountain Roads







Colorado's road snow removal is the Sun. This is news to me. Denver/Boulder area only has enough snowplows to take care of major highways and busy roads. And the other hundreds of side streets with 2 feet of snow are just waiting for the Sun. So am I. Maybe I should start a snow plowing service.
Anyways, the Sun has come out and warmed things up a bit enabling me to get off the indoor trainer and head up into the mountains. I headed up from Golden on a 12 mile climb to Golden Gate State Park, reaching close to 10,000ft. Felt good exploring new roads and breathing in that thin clean air. The way down was colder than I thought it would be, but luckily I had brought some serious Ski gloves that Sarah's uncle lent me. They were huge! They probably looked like a pair of boxing gloves on me. Making my "pro look" rather silly.
Temps are on the ups this week, look forward to some long days on the bike and getting into a groove.(Outdoors)





Have pro contract, Will travel.

Sarah and I loaded her Dad's 1990 Chevy conversion van to it's limit. Basically, our lives were packet in there. Destination: Boulder, Colorado. We arrived to a bit of a frozen tundra, nothing compared to my normal training location at this time of year, which has been Sunny Spain for the last six years. But the benefits of training at altitude will surpass sunshine. We have been staying at Sarah's Aunt and Uncle's down in Wheatridge, about a 30 min. drive to Boulder. After about a week of diligent searching we found our selves a clean and cozy apartment in the heart of downtown Boulder. This will be our home, for who knows how long...10 months, a year, two... We'll take it as it comes. We've got a life time pass on the roller coaster of life.

Panoramic pic, taken with my new Kodak EasyShare V570 Digital Camera, presented by our title Sponsor.