told ya this place was nice

luxembourg....

is incredible. can't wait to get some pictures from riding. some nice weather would be a nice bonus too.

The town of Wiltz, about 20k from where we are staying.

Right outside our door.

hosingen

Race Sunday-blah. Good legs but it doesn't matter if you hit a climb at the back and the split happens there. All things I know, but I need to re-find the euro peleton skills. That has always been far more difficult for me than just having horsepower. Decent re-introduction to euro racing and I've got plenty of races to go.

Now I'm in hosingen, Luxembourg. It's raining at the moment but other than that I can't complain, it's a beautiful area and the training looks amazing. Recovery day today so I'm considering going for a short walk (can't wear out the cycling legs) to check out the countryside here.

some pitchas

Izegem
coffee stop in Kortrijk

More Izegem

New National Team Jerseys

in the belge

I'm back in Izegem. Going through the normal parts of settling in over here, jet lag and getting the bike dialed in and figuring out where in the world I'm going. I race a kermesse Friday nearby, then Sunday I do a big 1 day race in the really hilly part of Belgium. I'm pretty excited for that. After that, I head down to luxembourg where they've rented us for a house for awhile since some juniors and girls are coming over and the house isn't big enough for everyone. I'm not complaining, I here luxembourg is beautiful and the training is great so I'm excited. Got plenty more races coming up after Sunday but I'll let you know what they are when I'm sure of the schedule. got a camera and I'll try and get some pictures up soon.

getting close

Can't believe it's almost May! I'm counting down my last few days of class and finals. Only two days after my last final I jet over to Europe for two months of racing. I received a schedule awhile back, here it is below. As always, things can change but this leaves some room for either/or races so it should be pretty close (the multiple listings of each month show the different options for race schedule: 3 for may, 2 for june). Regardless of which races I do it looks like I'll be doing mostly stage races and doing a bunch of climbing, so I'm really excited.


MAY 3-4 travel Haut Anjou, Triptyque, Ardenees Ronde Isard

MAY GP Wallonie, Triptyque Ardenees, Ronde Isard

MAY Haut Anjou, Fleche du Sud

JUNE Vuelta Tarragona, Ronde de L'Oise, Haut Savoie, IWT, Omloop Het Volk June 28th travel home
JUNE Thuringhen Rundfhart, Haut Savoie, IWT, Omloop Het Volk

Other than the pollen counts making my life absolutely miserable, training is going well. Last weekend I even got out on a group ride in Macon with some of the guys from around here. I love the riding there and I owe a lot to all the people in the cycling community in Macon. Hopefully i'll make it out to the tuesday night worlds ride sometime this season.

alright, time for some training!

The Gaps

The Gaps in North Georgia have gotten a pretty fair amount of recognition as a training grounds for cyclists, and I have to say, that area is hard to beat for a solid weekend block of climbing. This past weekend I found myself staying at Will's house, yet again, for back-to-back big climbing days. It says something about your weekend when Six Gap was the "flatter" day (the other day consisted of some doubling back on climbs that meant something like 8 total, without the easy side of Woody's). It may not have a huge variety of roads to offer up endless new routes like Greenville, and it doesn't have climbs as lengthy as the ones found further up into he Appalachians, but all Six gaps are reasonable climbs that are pretty close to each other. And if that's not enough, you can add in Brasstown or any number of the "secret" 5-10 minute climbs we've discovered.