This weekend I’m in Phoenix, AZ for the Valley of the Sun Stage Race- debut race for me with MetroVW. I got in yesterday(Thursday) around 10:30, and, after a shuttle trip from the airport, arrived at the hotel just in time to inhale a PB sandwich and change into my riding clothes to head out for some leg-opening. I got to ride my new team bike for the first time as well. The BH frame rocks- it’s a lot stiffer than the Blue Rc7. Something else that’s new is that it’s built with Campagnolo components, which, of course, work fine, though I still have a special place in my heart for the Red group on my other bike.
Anyway- the ride was nice. Once we got back and had some lunch, I hunted down a tape measure so I could make some fit adjustments on my new bike. I also needed to swap the 110mm stem out to a 100mm… though since we’ve got Andrew Gonzales here as team mechanic, I sat back & held faceplate bolts while he did most of the work. I think I’ve got it just about perfect, but I won’t really be able to tell until I ride around on it a little longer this afternoon for the time trial.
I just had some breakfast- a couple of packs of Kashi hot cereal with whey protein and some yogurt w/a spoonful of peanut butter mixed into it. It would have been much more enjoyable if there wasn’t a herd of peewee hockey kids running through the lobby yelling about coffee and waffles while the parents ignored them and made life difficult for the breakfast-bar waitress by switching tables and letting their spawn run through the “employees only” section of the dining area. Then they let their kids monopolize the lobby computers to gawk noisily over god-only-knows-what on ebay. WTF?? Are you kidding me? Other people are hanging around the computer waiting and you’re watching your group of 5 or 6 kids eff around and look at EBAY?!? WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS OK?!?!
I digress.
It’s time to race. I like that we’re starting out with a time trial, because it’s somewhat lower-pressure than a road race, and will give me a chance to scope out how I compare to the competition. As always… updates will follow.