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