Life On Two Wheels

Along the river and toward the mountains a morning shadow shimmers across the road. The rays of the first light jet through the trees and across a figure gliding upon the road. His breath trails in short spurts, petrified as it hits the icy air. All is quiet except the slight sound of the athlete as he summons himself for yet another days work. Soon the rest of the world will bustle with life as well and the brief simplicity of cyclist and nature will disappear into the everyday struggle of life in full motion; the errands and intervals, the appointments and intersections, and the deadlines and finish lines OutPaceTheRace

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

In Trans: ESP to CO, USA

Transition- Girona, ESP to Boulder, CO
February 8, 2006

I’m back on the road, crowded shoulder to shoulder with obtrusive Crouts at 5:00 in the morning. This being my first European experience though, I must say that I had no incidence of the prevailing American hatred that is so “prominent” in Europe. When the media, or whoever, tells you that Europeans hate Americans, tell ‘em that when “the big deal” went to Europe, he met nothing but enthusiasm- & to my knowledge my team mates had no ghastly encounters either. Right now it’s only the Danish that “everyone” hates. I’m 12.5% Danish, so do you hate me too?
Europe has its differences, I guess the question is whether those differences are too different or not. I don’t think they are it’s really just the modernization of the US vs. the laziness of Europe. That may seem a bit blatant, but it’s the root of the difference. If Europe wanted to air on the “ease of use” side then they’d have easy exits on the freeway with convenience stores, supermarkets and the whole US simplicity- but they don’t. They want to wake up late, go to work for a little while, stay up late, eat cheese & wine, & go to bed. In the US it’s different, everything revolves around getting ahead, and the key element there is making money- so you get the go, go lifestyle which makes it much more modern and straight forward.
Here’s my itinerary for now:
Girona to Barcelona- by car (wake at 3:30am)
Barcelona, ESP to Frankfurt, GER (flight at 6:55am)
Frankfurt, GER to Denver, CO (flight at 11:55)
Drive from Denver to Boulder (arrive in Denver ~6:00pm)

Train in Boulder at altitude & attempt to dial the tt bike for the ToC time trials.
Fly to California for a 3 day training camp, the dates etc. aren’t concrete yet.
Tour of California 2/19/06-2/25/06
Fly home to Seattle.