Euro Spring Trip Part 1

I have been in Europe for about a week and a half at this point, and it finally feels like the season is starting to get underway. So far this trip has been pretty amazing, and unique when compared with the rest of my trips across the pond. It all started out a little differently than usual. I was waiting in the Brussels airport with the rest of my Bontrager-Livestrong teammates for Axel Merckx, our directors flight to arrive, when none other than Eddy Merckx walked over to us and said that he was taking us to his home to wait for Axel. Teammate Josh Atkins and I piled into the back of his van with the rest all the teams bikes for the short trip to the Merckx' residence. At first I thought we might get pulled overfor having people stuffed in the back of a van but then I remembered who was driving us...

Since we have been in Belgium we have only done one race, Deinze-Ieper. It was not the best race for the team but, the first race after a trans-atlantic flight hardly ever is. We had some bad luck with mechanicals and crashes. "Stone-Cold Stuyven From Leuven" was the teams only finisher in the lead peleton. Besides the race Belgium has been much nicer than usual. We have found great rides thanks to Axel and Jasper de Buyst, and have been treated to especially nice Belgian weather. We all owe a huge thanks to the Merckx family, especially Mrs. Merckx for taking such good care of us and keeping us well fed after our training rides.

I am writing this post from St. Lo in France as we prepare to start the Tour of Normandy tomorrow. We have previewed the prologue course and it's definitely a good one, it's going to be a strong rider with some big cajones who takes the win tomorrow. The next 7 days are bound to be some of the toughest racing we do all year. Hopefully I'll have some good stories and results to write about when it is all said and done!

Thanks for reading,

Gavin

Kicking Off 2012

A lot has happened since my last entry. The last time I wrote I was in full-on base training mode, getting in some long miles in Austin. The upcoming racing season was a distant goal in the back of my mind. Since then I've done a few great local Texas races, and had two pre-season Bontrager-Livestrong training camps. This has been by far my most productive Winter ever,andI can't wait to get into the important races of the season. My teammates Lawson and Nate as well as myself have taken full advantage of Austin's mild winter this year. Each of us has training more than ever before and have some good early season form. The local P1-2 scene in Texas has some of the strongest fields anywhere at this time of year, allowing us to test our fitness and get in some good race efforts.

Our first training camp of the year was held in Austin, so naturally Lawson, Nate, and myself had to do our best to represent. It was a great camp that got all of the American's on the team together a couple weeks before the main camp in Solvang, CA. It was great to see all the staff for the first time since last season. Team Owner (and pretty decent rider) Lance Armstrong joined us on a few training rides and threw down some cash prizes at the top of some of Austin's hardest climbs to make things interesting. The Austin based Bontrager-Livestronger's claimed most of the prize money but, the whole team fought strong even after 6 hours of riding in the Texas Hill Country. Overall Austin team camp was a huge success, everyone got to visit the LIVESTRONG headquarter's as well as see who keeps our team running at the CSE offices, all while getting in some good rides and getting to know each other.

Our next team event was a short trip to Waterloo, Wisconsin to visit the Trek factory and get to meet the people at Bontrager who make the products that support our team. Seeing the quality control and effort that goes into all Trek and Bontrager products was incredible. We also took part in the Hullabaloo in Waterloo, 500m trainer races against the Bontrager staff. It was an all Bontrager-Livestrong final with our powerful director Axel Merckx taking the honors.

Up next was our final team camp in Solvang,CA to get the big miles in our legs before we get the season underway. Once again Lance joined us during the first few days and put some money on the line for the fastest guys up Figueroa, no one could take down the 7-time tour champ but it made for a good showdown. We had a very unlucky training crash during one of our longer rides that took down almost half the team and seriously injured Connor O'Leary(seperated shoulder) and Charlie Avis(broken scaphoid). Other than the few injuries camp was smoother and harder than any other year. It is definitely the best team I've ever been on as far as having fun goes. I think we spent more time laughing and joking around than on our bikes at camp, not an easy thing to do when we rode almost 30 hours.

It has been a great build up to the season and I can only hope the season goes as well as the Winter has. I would like to take this chance to thank everyone who has helped me out during these crucial months of training including, Dave Wenger and Durata Training for the coaching, and all the staff at Bontrager-Livestrong, especially Axel Merckx, Reed McCalvin, Glenn Kasin, and Bill McPherson for running such fun and productive team camps.

Check back shortly for some stories from Europe.

Thanks for reading,

Gavin