So camp managing sounds kind of fun until you actually do it. Tonight was night #1 for session 2 of the trainer class at CTS. We have 27 athletes in this session, so all that means is I'm a real pro at installing power taps now and I've spend 20 of the last 39 hours at the CTS home office installing power taps, organizing and filing, and generally trying to get my ass in gear for trainer class session #2.... did I mention we have a swim camp this weekend too (oh, I'm so eff'd).

All I can say is I'm P-I-S-E-D not to have been invited back for Buellton #2 last week. Just look at Basso, so dreamy! (photo snapped by mechanic Jose) He was just waiting for me to come back, I know it!

p.s. (if you don't get the Pised reference, you may need to rent the Sweetest Thing).

So sad. Uber hottie Ullrich retires. Click to read more.

I guess that means he can eat donuts and drink beer and get as fat as he wants now. Long live Dough Boy!

What lies at the end of the tunnel?

I don't know but watch out for that ice, you could slip and fall.

It's Friday night, what are you doing? Tonight it's just me, cats, and computers. I'm finding I'm much more functional with a 2-computer system. I'm almost like one of the IT guys, except I think they work on 3 computers at once. Actually, I still can't get email on the new one, even after visiting the IT goddess Nicole today.

I'm still working now because I spent all day at CTS doing push ups. No, not really actually I'm the new Camp Manager for the Springs office and all that means is everything takes much longer than projected.

My new kiwi training buddy on loan this week from Katie. Luckily I ran in to Mark yesterday on my ride, which made a long ride much entertaining. So he kept me company today too.

And having company is the only way to do Squirrel Creek. It's way out east.

Way, way out east. This is just about the spot where I cracked. (see the mountains in the distance, that's where I had to ride back to). I'm not complaining though, it's been my first solid training week at home during this winter from hell. Well no, hell would be warm, it's been more like the winter from Siberia.

I've got blogger's block. Since I can't think of anything today, here's a link to a clip from last week's The Office (I also can't figure out how to post youtube on the new blogger because new blogger kind of blows)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsrUvt-QXk4

Ok, it's just a new lap top... I thought I'd make it suspenseful. I waited to get it until the new Windows Vista and Office 2007 came out. I'm not so sure about the new software yet, I fear change.

Oooh UPS! What could he have delivered today?

(Today's cliff hanger post brought to you for February sweeps. You know, gotta improve ratings)

Jinx! Buy me a coke.

So I woke up to this on Saturday morning, and of course it snowed. There wasn't even any snow in the forecast, but it snowed just enough to make the roads very wet for the first hour of my ride Saturday. That just meant me and my bike got very dirty.

and I got the worst cankle crud... I think I should have worn full leg warmers.

First off I want to appologize right now for any snow we get this weekend.... I finally washed my car today. It was the first time in 2 months and it was so gross. Everytime I've even thought about washing it, it just snows again so I haven't bothered. So we have a nice weekend of weather forecast, and no doubt I have jinxed it by washing my car today.

Oww! Oww!

I am so sick of this flippin' cold weather. So today was so snowy and cold that I decided to make a fire. I sat down to do a little project in front of the warmth and then all of a sudden I was like "Oww!"

Yes, that is a gigantic burn hole in my ultra-fancy CTS sweatshirt.
To prove the point, this is the burn hole in the t-shirt I had on. Fortunately, there was no flesh wound, although I am P-I-S-E-D that I burnt a hole in my sweatshirt, besides the fact that I almost lit myself on fire.

Ha!
Best thing I saw today on V-D day.

If I actually liked snow, I would say it was kind of pretty this morning. It's kind of like someone took a can of fake snow and sprayed everything. It looked kind of surreal.

Oh yah, Happy V.D.

So after 8 straight weeks of snow on the weekend, we finally got a break last weekend and it was actually decent riding weather. I got in some good rides anad even got to work on my cankle tan wearing my knee warmers. But just when you want to get ready for spring and riding outside a bunch... damn that cold and snow again in the forecast. At least it's not on the weekends now.

So the funny part is not my name being misspelled on my business card. The funny part is me handing these out for the past 2 months and not noticing until yesterday that my name is misspelled.

There's not enough coffee in the world this week. I've been so tired since I got back from California.

In other news, it's been 4 days since I got back and still Ivan hasn't called. That's it, we're breaking up.

So you think you remember anything from high school geography class. Click here and take a test. You can start with something easy like state capitols or humble yourself with the countries of Europe. I'm not telling you my score.

Froggy says "F*** yah!" Back from California and it's as warm today as any day I was in CA last week. I think the groundhog was right.... is spring coming already?

So the final camp recap.

The last day of camp ended as it typically does, in the bar with everyone having fun (and a few cocktails).We started with a little wine at dinner. Sarah, one of the camp athletes, had some wine sent down from her winery in Nappa. She and her husband make Joel Gott Wines, it was really good. Check it out. gottwines.com
Of course we had to finish up with the tie break game of wiffle ball.

Things got a little heated during the game.

And intensity was high. We lost, well more specifically my team got crushed. I think they called in the 12 run mercy rule.

On the way to the airport we had about an hour to hang out in Santa Barbara. It wasn't nearly enough time, but at least we got to go to a few of my favorite places, like Trader Joes and Santa Barbara Roasting Company.

On the flight back I saw Bob Roll. Here I am discretely trying to snap his photo. This was the best I could get.

Unfortunately flight delays kept us in Denver for 4 hours. Seriously, I could have ridden my bike home in that amount of time. Here Jim passes the time with some baby tossing exercises. We met up with Jim's wife and baby Luke in DIA when they were on their way home from Tucson.

So it's back home and back to the cold. Actually today it's pretty nice. Let's hope it stays this way.

So the last day of camp. Today was the big monster climb up Figueroa mountain. This thing is a bitch of a climb, takes (me) over an hour and is pretty flippin' steep at times. The nice thing is we had perfect weather for it today.

On the way up, we saw this guy with a dog on the top of his car. I don't really think that's safe.

It was a totally sweet ride out there. We went up the Happy Canyon side which I think is prettier.

And I saw Ivan Basso again today. Discovery was training out on Figuerora today too. That's 3 days in a row I've seen Ivan, I think that means we're officially dating now.

So I realized I hadn't posted many riding pictures from camp this week. Mostly it's because I haven't taken my camera with me each day because it's been raining a bunch. So I thought I'd catch up with some pics I have taken.

Most mornings it looks like this with fog and mist and kind of damp. It's pretty chilly too until about 10 am.

Day 1, riding in the rain.

Speaking of riding, check out my sweet camp bike. It's a 44cm Specialized Ruby. It's actually nicer than my regular bike, and it fits me better too. I'm going to hate to give it up. It's full carbon frame, carbon cranks, seat post, bars, ect and pretty dang light. The Zipp wheels are actually on loan from the SRAM guys, but I figured it out, all you have to do is get a "convenient" mechanical early in the week and presto, super fast wheels the rest of the week.

The ride out on the 1 on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day yesterday.

We had another sunny day today finally, and with just a couple days of rain it's already starting to get green around here. It's been very brown this year.

Out on Foxen today getting in a few extra miles. I finally got tired from riding today which was nice because I haven't gotten to do as much riding this year at camp.

And while I'm at it, I might as well post another picture of Basso.