Todd Wells

Great Days

Another Livingo pic with Hans and Dave Wardell. The gondola in Livingo was closed because the workers were on strike while we were there. Since Hans knows everyone everywhere in the world he got the person in charge to open it up for the press camp to do one run.

Saw Lisa Lieb today out on the trail. She won some urban adventure race a few months ago. Now she goes to the UK to do a Range Rover driving race with one other girl and if she beats the other girl gets to go on a month long adventure race around the world. Or something like that. Pretty cool.

Did a good ride this in Snanke Gulch(Horse Gulch) this morning. The trails are ripping and there are all sorts of wild flowers.

Winston has been hanging out with Fee, my friend Doug's dog lately. They just lay around while I'm at home and as soon as I leave they go at it. When ever I leave they're lavying around sleeping and when I get back they are totally out of breath panting.

The weather here in D-town has been awesome lately. Hot and sunny. I can't believe I have to leave already on Thursday and will be gone for another month. It seems like I just got back. I feel more like a tourist when I come home then a resident since I'm gone so much.

The Tour has been awesome to watch so far this year. It was awesome watching Frishkorn yesterday. THe guy has been killing it this year with his ride at Milan San Remo and now almost winning a stage in the tour. Danny Pate has also been riding awesome and he had a great TT today. He is probably the funniest guy in the Tour peleton.

I wonder what Darts' doing right now....

Home

It sure is nice to be home. I've gotten to do 2 of the 3 high country rides I try to do every summer.

The Tour has been great so far this year. I waste so much time during these 3 weeks sitting in front of the tube.

Here's a shot of one of the rides I did in Livingo

I wonder what Gullys' doing right now.....

It's Offical

I was offically named to the Olympic team yesterday. It was a formality but until you get the offical notice you never know what can happen. Speaking of not knowing what can happen I can't believe they didn't name Mary to the team yet. I don't know who else they would take. Too bad for the girls there is always drama.

Last week I was hanging with the Dart and Luke in Livingo

The lengendary Mark Peterman was there too. He runs the product side of GT but use to live in Durango before I got here. He was a roadie when everyone rode MTBs.

We were staying at a pretty nice hotel. It still charged 10 euro for the internet that only worked ocasionally

This is how the Dart does laundry in Europe

That's how you know you've made it, when you have to resort to cleaning your dirty clothes in a french toilet.

It is so nice to be home. The weather in Durango has been awesome, I've been playing some golf, no tubing yet though since the river is raging and it's still freezing. Meg has been doing an awesome job with the lawn and it's still green.

The trails are in great shape and I'm heading out the door to rip the Colorado trail before going to Farmington to play some golf.

I wonder what Gullys' doing right now....

Phew....

Had some Absinthe for the first time ever last night. Wish I didn't.

Did a 5.5 hour drive from Livingo to Milano today. Wish I didn't.

Get to go home tomorrow. Hope my flight isn't delayed.

That's what the hardware looks like

Wonder what Winstons' doing right now....

Getting Fat

It is amazing how hard we try to stay skinny and lose weight and how easy it is to get fat. While I probably have packed on less then 1 lb in the past 2 days it feels like I'm turning into a cow. Before Worlds I did a bunch of long rides and ate tons of vegetables to try and skinny. I don't know if it worked or not. I had a pretty good Worlds, not great and I did get pretty light but would I have riden better with less training and more food? Who knows that's why it's bike racing.

The one thing I have going for me here in Livingo as I start my mid-season brake in hopes of having a career performance in China is that it's almost the same elevation as Durango so I should burn more calories doing nothing. Also shooting photos is like doing short sprint intervals where you rip it up for 5 seconds and then rest which isn't considered training. If I could just eat and drink a little less I might get back to Durango with out gaining too much wieght. When I get home I'm looking forward to some serious dog park plyometrics with Winston, some golf with Gilby and some tubing with Rude and Snoodle. That's a lot of action for a time of the year I'm suppose to be resting but you gotta have fun sometime.

Meg has been hanging out with Treboohoo for the past few days and she says he's been super positive. I find that hard to believe but she is suprised by it as me.

The Dart and I have a big day of road bike photos tomorrow so I gotta get to bed.

I wonder what Gullys' doing right now....

Worlds

Ive notched another Worlds in the books. This worlds was not my best ever and was far from my worst but it is another solid result in what has turned out to be my best year ever. I think every good result I earn is proving that this is no fluke.

I set my goal for this race at getting a top 10. I was hoping for a top 5 and dreaming of a medal performance. I am happy though with 15th. The level is so high right now and these are the best racers in the World so I gotta be happy with that.

In the middle of the race I cracked hard and thought I wasnt going to be able to even finish the race. My bad start combined with that didnt help my cause. Luckily I pulled it together at the end and finished up the race. It is much easier to suffer in the front group then in the middle of the pack.

Tomorrow Im off to the GT press camp to ride all the new bikes and hang out with the crew for a few days. Then I finally head back to Durango for some serious bonding time with Winston, a lot of tubing and golf time and then it is time to get ready for Beijing.

I wonder what Megs doing right now....

Italy

One more day till the big race. The weather is holding out nicely, 30 c and sunny. The course is super fast and is starting to get dusty in some spots. Saw that Absalon had some fresh scars on him today from training. The downhills arent too technical to just ride but you can ride them as fast as you feel comfortable going. The rocks and roots are still greasy so if you over cook it a little its not hard to wad it up.

We got some sweet Nike clothing from the US team this year. The skinsuits are way to tight, theyre called a swiftsuit I think. They might be good for a 40K road tt where youre going 30mph but on a hot, steep mtb course its not optimal. Good thing we get shorts and jerseys too. But the casual clothing is sweet. Dry fit shirts, tons of socks, a water proof golf jacket. You name it, we got it. I also got a bunch of new Sidi shoes today. Its like Christmas over there. Im going to have to get another bag just to bring back all my stuff.

Meg is running a half marathon today. It starts at Bakers Bridge and finishes in town. Rude had his birthday two days ago. I think hes 24 but he might only be 23. I cant keep track of those things.

I have been killing the Shantaram book. I cant put it down but Im worried I wont have anything to read on the plane going home if I get through it too fast.

Got a massage from Bernardo last night and am getting another one tonight. I think it helps so much to get rubs before the races and its nice having someone here that is suppose to give me rubs rather then having to ask other people for favors. I hate having to do that.

I wonder how Meg is doing in her race right now.......

The Dart gets Silver

The Dart netted a silver medal today in the U23 race. Him and Nino were off from the gun of the 6 lap race. The Dart sat on the front for 4 laps until Nino attacked him on the 5th lap. They came back together but then Nino opened it up on the last lap winning by almost 40 seconds. It was a great race. Those 2 were in a league of their own.

The weather here is good again today, a little hot for the race but nice for hanging out. About 30cs and sunny. Im hoping my training in NY when it was 100 degrees will be good prep for this weekend.

Heard that Bishop decided to pull out of the race since he hasnt been riding very well and just stay home. Im not sure who the top US U23 rider was but I think only 2 guys finished and 1 of them was Carebear.

I wish my race was tomorrow, I feel like Im adjusted to the time, the course and ready to rip. We head to Livingo after this for GT press camp. So far I know that Luke, Fred and Jose are going. It should be awesome with all those guys plus the whole GT crew and the mechanics. We hardly ever get to hang with any of those people in a non race environment where everything is very stressful. We will be able to just chill, do some DH runs and drink a few beers next week. Im looking forward to that.

This is the hotel were staying at http://www.hotelbelfiore.it/ Its pretty nice but there is only 1 computer we can use and the whole SA team is staying here which consists mostly of juniors and U23s and you know how much those guys like to be online. As much as me.

1 other tidbit from the weekend is that the Chinese girls are staying at the hotel too. The U23 Chinese girl had a horrible race for her, 13th the other day and they wouldnt let her eat dinner. I dont think since they burst on the scene either one of them has finished that far down even at a World Cup. Not sure why she isnt riding well but I wonder what theyll do to her if she doesnt do well at the Olympics?

This is turning into too much writing with an Italian keyboard.

I wonder what Megs doing right now....

Worlds

Made it to Italy today. Flight went well last night, slept most of the way even though I think I had the worst seat on the plane. Next to the bathroom and the seat only reclined half way. Im not a big fan of Continental but with a direct flight what can you do.

Caught an hour nap on the marble floor in the Milan airport before driving up to Male. This is the same town, JHK, Meg and I did a race in last Olympic year.

Got on the course, its in great shape and seems super fast right now.

Im pretty tired so I gotta sack out. Hopefully I can get some photos for tomorrow of the Darts race.

I wonder what Megs doing right now.....

Off to Europe.......Again

Ah yea, back on Euro time and getting ready to head back across the pond. It has been awesome to get some US time in and now I'm ready for my 3rd Euro trip of the year. Looking forward to Worlds and the Dart said the course is technical but not boggy. Perfect.

I have another direct flight and no bags, I'm becoming pretty good at this. Now if my flight isn't screwed up it should be an EZ trip.

I talked to Hutch today, he said it's 107 degrees in Tucson. That sounds nice.

I don't have to wonder what Gullys' doing anymore since I seem him all the time now that he is the new Matt Cramer.  

I wonder what Winstons' doing right now.......