I thought California equals warmth and summer like conditions no matter what month of the year it is. I certainly was looking forward to what my idea of how the weather should be out here after getting pounded by cold weather and wind for the past few weeks in Boulder. Not too be.
Jesse, Pete and I flew together from Denver out to Ontario, Los Angele's other airport. We were picked up by "monkey" a well known mechanic in from the mountain bike scene, now Brian Lopes's personal mechanic,(for those of you who know the mtb scene). Anyways I remembered him right away from my old mountain bike days and I reminded me how small the cycling world is.
Our Camp site is out in the high desert, close to Palmdale. (Middle of nowhere). Good roads however, plenty of flat rolling terrain and some good size mountains. Altitude is around 4,000ft so still getting the benefit of that and the howling 20-30mph winds and 45 degree weather is keeping me tough.
Good to see the team again, train together and get the season officially started. We've been working well together throughout the rides and being sensitive to different levels of fitness, this being a good sign of positive team work. My training in Boulder at altitude is doing me well, I have been feeling good this week and step up my intensity in my training in good timing. My teammate Mike Dietrich is pretty well, it seems he's been getting in some good training amongst his studies in Arizona, or maybe he's failing all his classes... Anyways I nipped him in a sprint the other day and he wants a two up sprint re-match, he's trying to pull in some money and side bets. All I can say is "bring the money boooyyy!" The pool is up to $20 bucks...some good coffee money for the weekend, I'd say.
My director Robin Zellner says, "Living the dream, Raby. Living the dream."
Certainly.
