The 2007 edition of the Amgen Tour of California is now behind us. The race was an absolutely awesome experience, as we got to race head-to-head against the world’s best. Among other hot shots, the race featured the current road and time trial world champions, the current US national champion, 9 ProTour teams, the world’s top ranked team from 2006, the reigning Olympic champion, and plenty of other fast folks. Besides the racing itself, it was awesome to have so many people following the race from around the country - both people I know and people I got to meet for the first time. Before and after every stage we got the chance to talk to friends, fans, and family who had come to root us on. It was a simply delightful experience. We’re now in Clovis, CA at our host house for the month. Here’s a shot of Tom riding Noah’s bike around the block to loosen up the legs after the ToC.
Noah’s in 3rd grade. Here’s a picture of me testing out Noah’s bike.
Noah’s brother Garrett is in 7th grade. I think it’s safe to say that the two of them know more about the world of professional cycling than anyone else their age. It’s pretty wild. Here’s Garrett taking Scott’s steed out for a spin.
The Nintendo Wii is a pretty incredible invention. This day in age, when child obesity is at an all time high, this high-tech gadget make the user jump around, ferociously swinging their arms burning lots o’ calories in the process. Plus all the games that I’ve had the chance to play are sporting games like tennis, baseball, and golf, instead of the killing games that are apparently plaguing society. Whatever. In any event, this game is fun. Here’s Tommy Z taking on BenO in a tough tennis battle.

As promised in the last blog, here is a summary of my birthday bash. My birthday happens to fall on the thirty first day of every year, which just so happens to be January 31st. Now that it’s February 9th, we’ve all had time for all the fun and excitement to settle in and I’m ready to blog all about it.

The day started successfully with a trip up Figueroa Mountain, which rises from 900 feet to 4500 feet in the backyard of our butter mansion here in Los Olivos. I undertook this adventure with Tom Zirbel and Emile Abraham, and I should point out that this was Emile’s first ride on the new bike, having just arrived the previous night. This is unusual because most people noodle around for about an hour on easy roads when they test out new bikes. Not Emile, because he’s all man. He took on this 3 hour climb fest. Also no small feat since he’s a sprinter and generally sprinters don’t like going up.

After a mild afternoon filled with relaxing and not doing much of anything, we went out to dinner at the Firestone Brewery, owned by a Middlebury alum. I had a blast there since it was the first time that (nearly) the entire team was together. So for it to coincide with my birthday made for a good excuse to go out and have fun. Adam, the Middlebury guy, knew that we were coming and he treated us really well with sample beers for the table and a hefty jug o’ beer for the birthday boy.

After a delicious meal, I was surprised with a great birthday dessert, featuring three brownies, and four scoops of delicious vanilla ice cream. I’m a man who loves his sweets, but I’ve been doing well at abstaining lately for the sake of being fast on the bike. However, a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do on his birthday, so after sending the plate around for everyone to try, I still managed to stuff down the vast majority of this platter of a dessert.

Yes, believe it or not, here comes a new blog posting! I’ve been a bit out of sorts lately. I don’t really have an explanation for it. I mean, between riding and sitting on my butt I certainly have plenty of time on my hands to be getting things accomplished. Especially something as trivial as writing blog posts, right? Right. I’m glad we’re in agreement. All the same, here I am posting a new blog. My time lately has been filled with all sorts of exciting things, most notably: riding my bike, eating, reading, and riding my bike. Roberto Carlos, Omer, and I made the trek from Santa Rosa to Los Olivos in late January, courtesy of Ben “You’re the Man” Oliver. Truth be told, Ben IS the man. He drove up from Los Olivos to S.R. and then turned right around early the next day to escort us back south. Here’s a shot of Ben deftly handling the Golden Gate bridge behind some hippy driving a Prius. Horray for global warming!

Los Olivos, for those of you outside of the loop, is a tiny town outside of Solvang, CA. And Solvang, CA is a small town about 40 miles outside of Santa Barbara. May I recommend searching the zip code 93441 in any online map to find our home away from home. My go-to line when describing this place is that Lance and his homies (teammates) have their team camp in Solvang, so we thought we’d give it a shot too. Turns out Lance is onto something because this place is amazing. Actually, Bob Hughes of Advantage Benefits deserves an ENORMOUS thank you for setting this place up for the team! As you can see in these pictures, the place is just plain awesome. It’s more of an estate than anything else. The motorized driveway gate, multiple horse pastures, guest house, pool and hot tub, and simply mammoth house are all testament to this. Here is a shot of the front of the house:
Here’s a photo of the master bedroom. Robbie and I share the plush bed, while Brian is living in our palacial closet. Seriously. I’m sure the picture doesn’t do justice, but this place is rad.
Here is Ben’s office. The garage is littered with boxes and boxes of new equipment that arrives daily. You can see the new TT bike front and center. We’re on Pinarello bikes. I seem to say this at the beginning of every year, but this bike is easily the best bike I’ve ever ridden. I don’t know if this is because bike technology continues to grow stronger, lighter, and… cooler or what. In any event, I love this bike and can’t wait to test it out in 2007 races.
Ah yes. Here’s a shot of Garrett’s bedroom. Which also serves as the house’s concert hall. It has a Steinway piano, on which Ben is supposedly an ace. I’m yet to hear him tickle the ivories, but word on the street is that he’s the next Bach.

So that’s an introduction to the house and our stay in Los Olivos. We’re here until February 12th, at which point we’ll head north up to Santa Rosa and the start of the TOUR OF CALIFORNIA. It’s a pretty big deal.

Attention readers: my birthday was January 31st, so the next blog will feature a very exciting summary of that special day! Stay tuned!