Todd Wells

Super Bowl Sunday

The training has been going well lately. Our living situation is dialed in and I have more then 1 days worth of groceries in the fridge. Life is good. 

I finished up the first phase of my base on Monday and then had 5 days off. While, not quite off but pretty chill, other then getting back to the best gym in Tucson and working myself over. Kettle bells are way better for swings then dumb bells. Jump squats also work way better with the proper equipment. 

Meg, Winston and I logged in some running miles too. I have been trying to run twice a week this year for my training. It helps keep the muscles in good shape, builds bone density and keeps the weight off. Plus Winston loves it so it's gotta be good. 

I played some golf too. Had my best round going in a while but ran out of daylight the other day. I was crushing the drives though and hit 300, that's big for me. 

Meg and I went to the Desert Museum on Friday. That place is so cool. I hate to look at the snakes but can't help myself. They blend in so well, you gotta be careful when you step of your ride in the desert, there are plenty of venomous creatures waiting to get you like this one.

  

The cactus there are really friendly. 

 

I like this one. Notice my sweet helmet hair. 

 
 They even have mountain lions here. If you live in the west you gotta fear the mountain lion. You don't see them often but if you do it could turn out bad. You can kind of see him here, not much zoom on my phone. 

 

Tucson has been really rainy this year. It has already rained more in the last couple weeks then it usually does when I'm here for months. You don't see the washes running too often in the winter. 

 

Luckily when it rains in the desert it doesn't do it all day(usually). This is a classic Tucson picture. That is a lift kit. Meg is 5'6" so that thing has to be close to 10' tall. 

 

Sram just launched a new site for it's XX stuff, check it out at: http://sram2x10.com  They have a list of bikes speced with the XX, Specialized has 6 production bikes with it and the closed competitor only has 2. That means they give you 6 super light high end production bikes to chose from. Man I'm lucky to be on the Big S. 

Finally, here a classic Flipper shot from our Stellenbosch SA Camp. 

 

I wonder when it's going to be hot and sunny again.....

This is Getting Ridiculous.

The bad weather seems to have followed me from Durango to Tucson. It usually rains one time while I'm here in Tucson all winter and today it hasn't stopped since I woke up. Maybe today is the one day but somehow I doubt it. 

Made it down here last night and am staying with Hutch right now on the North side of town. DT is going to show me a condo tonight though so as soon as I'm set up with a permanent residence Meg and Winston are going to come down. 

So far today all I've been doing is eating and drinking caffeine. I was trying to cut out caffeine for a while but that doesn't seem to be working. What else am I going to do while hanging out at the coffee shop surfing the net? 

I had hoped to tough it out through the SnowDown parade this weekend but I'm a total wuss when it comes to cold weather. How I ended up in a mountain town in Colorado I'll never know. I always had dreams of moving to the beach in Florida but somehow I landed in the four corners. It's so beautiful there 7 months out of the year it's tough to leave. Especially when I can drive 8 hours to (usually) sunny Tucson and so many great people live there. 

Hutch(the Fabio looking guy) was one of the main people that helped get me back into racing once I graduated from the UofA. It was great having him on the circuit for a few years and it's always good to catch up with him. Never short on stories. 

Meg is having yet another birthday tonight put on by Willow and Co. I'm sure it's going to get out of control and I'm bummed I won't be there to be part of it. If you're out on the town tonight I'm sure you'll run into them. 

The rain seemed to have stopped for the moment so I'm going to head back up the hill to Hutch's house in an attempt to get out on the bike or at the very least lace up the shoes for a good run. 

In case I'm not back on line in the next few days, doubtful, good luck to the whole US Cyclocross Worlds team and Kit-Kat. Kick ass over there in Tabor and bring back some hardware. 

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

Motivation

It's hard to get motivated to ride when it's freezing outside. Now I shouldn't complain since I've been in the warmth for all but a few days lately. I can't decided it that makes it harder or easier to get out there though. The thermometer has been below 0 F when I've woken up the past few days. I've been getting it done out there but certain things about training for a long time in the cold bother me. 

First of all, it's not so bad when you only need an hour or two but when you're putting in over 3 hours, 4 planned for today it just wears on you. Sure there is the normal part about being cold that sucks, getting wet from snow melt or sprayed by cars as they pass that sucks but that's not my biggest pet peeve. The thing I hate the most is the sweating.

See I sweat a lot. So as soon as I warm up I start sweating. That means every thing gets soaked, including my balaclava. Then the wind hits it and after a while it turns to ice. Then, I'll go up a hill, the sun will hit it and it will get soaked all over again. It's like I put it in the sink and then directly on. As soon as I start going back down hill, it freezes again. That's really my biggest complaint about training in the cold. 

I have also had some problems with my feet and hands freezing but with all this new Specialized winter gear, that hasn't been a problem yet(knock on wood). 

Enough complaining for one day. Here is what I have been doing the past two days when I haven't been training

 

That's me shoveling my roof. Durango got 3 feet of snow last storm and the snow from the previous storm hasn't melted yet. That's a lot of weight on the roof so instead of buying a new roof I've been shoveling. Most of the neighborhood has been shoveling their roofs. It's a lot easier then shoveling the drive way because you don't have to heave it up, just throw it off. It's a great core work out too. 

This is what we woke up to when we were trying to drive home the other day and the passes were closed. Our car is under that pile after a mere twelve hours of parking it there. 

 

I have a max of six more days of training here in Durango before I head to the heat until summer. I'm trying to tough it out until then but might leave any day. I'm trying to stay until then because there is a good chance I won't be back to Durango until just before the Texas PRO XCT. From Tucson training I head to CA for the first two US races, then to Pan Am Champs in Guatemala, Sea Otter, first 2 World Cups, Germany HC race, World Cup 3 and then home finally. It's a big schedule but I probably avoid shoveling anymore snow till the end of the year. 

I'm thinking about heading to N.M. to ride today, it's suppose to be 10 degrees warmer then Durango and it's only a 30 minute drive. 

I wonder what the Schmooz and Bundi are doing right now....

Home Again

It was a long trip back to Durango from Stellenbosch. The flight from Joburg to D.C. was a monster and I didn't sleep nearly as much as I did going over. Things went smooth though until the Durango flight when we flew out of Denver in route for Durango only to be turned around mid flight because the weather was too bad to land in Durnago. We were suppose to divert to Montrose if we couldn't land in D-town which is only a few hour drive away but flew all the way back to Denver. 

All flights to Durango were canceled after that so I had the bright idea to rent a car and drive the six hours home. It wouldn't have been that bad of an idea but we missed making it over Wolf Creek pass before it closed at 6pm by 1 hour. We spent the night in South Fork with hopes the pass would open the next day. 

We got a few feet of snow overnight and the pass was maybe going to open anyway around 2:30pm so we waited but it never opened. The two other ways to get to Durango from that area, HW 17 and driving all the way to Santa Fe and around were both closed so we stayed in Alamosa the next day. By that times, flights had started getting into Durango. 

FInally yesterday the HWY 17 pass opened and set out for Durango at 5:30 am. We made it over the pass but it goes into N.M. and the N.M. side wasn't even plowed yet but we blasted through the snow in our Outback rental and made it home. Not the way we had planned to end our trip but what can you do? The funny thing was we only had the clothes on our backs that we had worn from our S.A. departure. No jackets, hats, gloves or boots and we were tromping around in freezing temperatures and deep snow. Ha. 

So here are a few pictures from our S.A. trip. 

Wine tasting in Stellenbosch at Morganhof

 

more of the facilities

 

This is one of four of these type of aging rooms in the world

 

This is the Green Gate restaurant. It is Bobby's office away from his office away from the office. It is also the place you can see tons of cyclists, tri athletes and Olympic track and field athletes eating lunch everyday. All organic and great tasting. 

 

Bobby and Christine at this very establishment

 

So the Dart is always carrying Cherise's purse around for her. Of course I bust on him all the time for this. Here he is trying to avoid a picture of it. 

 

Here is the best shot I got of the two of them the whole trip. Sunset cable car ride down table mountain. Ahh, so cute

 

I wonder how long it's going to take me to shovel the roof.....

Blizzard

I don't want to boohoo about traveling but damn. Spent over 25 hours on the plane and didn't even make it home. Flew all the way to Durango only to have them turn the plane around b/c the couldn't land. They were suppose to fly to Montrose(2.5 hour drive from Durango and an avoidable pass) but in the end didn't want to have the plane stuck there. So we flew back to Denver. We decided to drive but made it to Wolf Creek 1 hour after they closed the pass. So now we're in South Fork. 

We have an able vehicle, 2010 Subaru Outback but it has acquired a foot of snow in the last 2 hours. We either drive over the pass which is about 110 miles to home or drive around which is a 5 hour drive. I can't believe I live someplace where it snows, I'm a bike rider. Riding and snow don't mix well. 

Speaking of not mixing well, I got brushed by a car on my last ride in SA. Luckily the guy's mirror was already ripped off from a previous accident on the left side or it would have taken me out for sure. His windshield was also cracked on the driver's side like he smashed his head into it. 

We have managed to stay awake till 9:20 Colorado time so hopefully we'll sleep through the night. So far this year all I feel like I've been doing is traveling. I'm looking forward to an uninterrupted block of training. 

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

SA

The blog has been neglected the past few days. Meg and I have been having a blast here in Stellenbosch. Between, training, gym and sight seeing I've been too tired to update. Plus, I've really been into this "Killing Floor" book. 

I have tons of pictures but the internet is slow so I'll save them for when I get home. Yesterday after we went training, Meg, Dart Cherise and I went for a drive along the coast of Cape town. It was awesome, we saw some of these:

 

and these:

 

After our trip through the best of Capetown's beach towns we went up Table Mountain. The sign said it is the 8th wonder of the world and might be the oldest mountain in the world. Why might, I would just say it is, who is going to know the difference. 

The cable car ride up is pretty gnarly and the floor in the car rotates so everyone gets a good view. We got to watch the sunset up there and then we cruised down to the water front for dinner on the harbor. Quite a day. 

I have a funny story and then I'm getting back to my book. Lene and Sandra(Lene's boyfriend) went to Capetown for Sandra's birthday. They asked Dylan(mechanic) to borrow his car to drive down there. He said sure but was at a half Iron Man so his brother brought the keys over to their apartment and left them there. He said the car was parked down the street. 

They got into what they thought was Dylan's car, jiggled the key and it started right up. They got about 20KMs away but the door kept opening when they went around corners so they called Booby to see if they could use his car instead since the door was a problem. Booby said sure and they drove the car back to Booby's house and got his BMW. They left Dylan's car at Boobys house for the weekend. 

When Dylan's brother who dropped off the keys came to fetch Dylan's car at Booby's house today he couldn't find it. Booby pointed out the car to him but it turns out that wasn't Dylan's car. Somehow they had put Dylan's key in someone else's car and it started right up and they drove it off. 

They were going to go to the police and explain what happened but they weren't quite sure how to explain it or if they would get in trouble. Instead, they drove it back down to the street they picked it up on with a note and some cash explaining what happened and apologizing. The person whose car it was must have picked it up because it's gone now. Either that or someone else mistaken it for their car and took it again. Crazy story huh. 

Well I only have 2 days left here before we head back to the snow. I did the legendary 4 Passes loop today and have been seeing the Bartman and his team on every training ride I do. Today was no exception. 

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

Stellenbosch

Meg and I arrived in Stellenbosch a few days ago. It has been HOT here. Yesterday was up around 100 degrees and hardly any shade where we were filming. It felt like Phoenix or Tucson in the summertime. Add a bit of jet lag on to that and the fact it was below 0 when we left Durango and it's taken a few days to adjust. 

Stellenbosch is a really cool town about 20 miles inland from Cape Town. It is a huge wine growing region and there are vineyards everywhere. A bit like Sonoma. The downtown is totally euro with tons of restaurants, shops and very pedestrian friendly. You can walk everywhere and the streets are mostly one way and only one lane wide so you don't have to worry about getting run over except for the fact they drive on the wrong side of the road. We have been eating at awesome restaurants and all the tables are outside or the buildings are open air. There is a University with 25,000 students in town and a bunch of european track and field athletes in town. 

It's been nice to catch up with the team and meet all the triathletes. Cherise came down with the Dart to the camp but they left today for a few days for a race. We're going to Table mountain on Sunday though in Cape Town. It's suppose to be the 8th wonder of the world.
 
 

I have been pretty tired since we got here. The flight from DC to Joburg was huge. I've never been on a plane for that long before and not being able to get off while we were refueling for an hour and a half on the ground in Dakar was brutal. Today I even slept through breakfast here at the Albarosa guest house. I'm hoping to wake up early tomorrow to train so Meg and I can go wine tasting since we finished all our video stuff already and now only have to worry about training. 

It's almost time for round two today, the gym. I'm finally not sore from my first gym workout of the year a week ago. I've worked out since then but I think it was all the first day's soreness I was dealing with. The gym is about a 12 minute walk from the house and downtown. It's so nice when you can walk everywhere. Does anyone know of a place like that in the US that's warm in the winter? Tucson has great weather but is a pretty big city. I'm looking for a warm winter Durango. 

I wonder what this guy is doing right now....

 

Sore

I didn't think I hit the gym very hard the other day but my body says otherwise. I feel like I'm about 200 years old right now. I think it must have been the dead lifts that put me over the edge though it could have been the lunges. Anyway, I'm suffering through it and am going to hit the slopes with Simburg today. 

When I go snowboarding I usually lack warmth in two main areas, my face and legs. Today I'm rocking the Specialized thermal bib tights under my ski pants and the sweet baclava I got from the Durango Running Store. If that doesn't keep me warm nothing will. 

Meg, Winston and I went hiking up around 11,000 ft yesterday. We brought the snowshoes but the trails were so packed out we didn't even need them. That was good for me since I always bang my ankles with those things. 

 

Winston was loving it and didn't get too much snow stuck in his paws until later in the hike. 

 

The views up by Engineer are awesome. I told Meg to do her best Willow pose and this is what she did. I don't think she quite got it. 

 

When I haven't been hiking, skate skiing or destroying myself at the gym I've been hitting up the D-town single track. There is at least a foot of snow on the ground but all the trails are packed out and great for riding. It has a ton of benefits for winter riding, it takes a lot of energy to move forward but you go really slow so you don't get cold, concentration is must because if you go off the narrow trail you come to a dead stop and if you crash you land in soft snow. 
 

And one more thing, you can stand your bike up anywhere and it doesn't really get dirty. 

We've been getting to hang out with everyone this week so that's been nice. Last night we were kicking it with Meg's crew, Willow and Snoodle at the Office. I have been spending some serious time at the Office the past few days. 

I gotta prepare all my clothing for this snowboarding expedition. Our place to stay in Tucson fell through so if you know of anyone renting a furnished guest house or apartment  from the beginning of Feb through the beginning of April that takes dogs let me know. 

I wonder if I'm going to see anyone going to the Dakar rally when we fly through there on Monday....

Skate Skier

Tad did a killer job waxing my skate skis a few weeks ago. I don't think they have ever been as fast as they are now. Plus I have some new poles that are the correct length and have cool hand straps so I've doubled my skiing days from last year, 2. Speaking of Tad, he just got 2nd in some national skate race and beat a lot of guys that will be going to the Olympics this year. 

Hey Simon, I can see the new banner on multiple computers so I don't know what the deal is. 

Meg and I went out to Pint night at Falcs last night and saw Seth and Muff doing their thing. They're like Tom Cruise in Cocktail. Heather and Lindy met us too and it turned into a late night. It was fun though. 

Today Meg, Winston and I went running in Horse Gulch. So many people hike and snowshoe back there the trails are in great shape for running. I think you could probably ride back there to on the MTB. I hit the ski track at the golf course too. I spend quite a bit of time on that golf course with the sticks but it's much more painful on the skinny boards. 

Brake Through Media just released another webisode on IamSpecialized.com today. It's all about Meg and what it's like to be married to a professional cyclist. 

I'm glad I only have a few more days of cold weather before we head to South Africa. I love Durango but hate the cold weather, I wish I was gone all winter and home all summer. 

Winston is going in for a flea dip tomorrow. He's on Frontline and some other tick thing but we've pulled about 10 ticks off him since we went to Mexico. I think the cold weather and high altitude will kill any that are left but it's better to be safe then sorry. He doesn't think so though. 

This is so artsy

 

That was just a few days ago and now I'm working with this
 
 

Winston really likes the cold weather though since he doesn't over heat after five minutes
 
 
 Tomorrow I'm going to get sore at the gym and then put on all the cycling clothes I have to go for a ride. 

I wonder what Hutch is doing right now....

New Banner

A Huge thanks to Colt from Cyclingdirt.org for creating this new banner for me. It took me a little while to figure out now to post it but it's finally up. It only took 1 year for me to get it up. You know when you're trying to figure something out in school and you finally get it to work, that's what it feels like. 

Meg and I made it back to Durango last night. We had our fastest trip ever, under 8 hours from Tucson. We broke all our trip records coming home from Mexico this year. Tucson was awesome, we got to see Hutch, Myron and Myron's lady, Becky. Meg got her Oreganos craving satisfied and I was able to curb the Indian food salvation at a restaurant we had never been to before but will be going back to a lot. 

Now that I'm home I have fast internet so I can post some photos. 

This is Gilby hanging out at Casa Sarah in San Pancho. It was great having him and Rebecca down there for a few days. 

 

After they left my parents came and had a great time. Here is our camp on the beach. 

 
  When we drove down to San Pancho we were craving fast food so we stopped at this thing. I have on quite the outfit. 

 

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. It's a dog's life.

 

We were living large in the truck on the way down. 

 

Winston too with his mandana

 

Here is a shot of Gilby doing the walk of shame on the golf course. 

 

OK, that's enough pictures for today. Rude and Zach M flew from Belgium to Mallorca yesterday for a week and half of island sunshine. Rude was going to call it a season after the Euro camp ended but was happy with how he is riding and decided to stay in Europe for the last 2 WCs. Instead of freezing in Belgium the whole time they decided to go to the Euro training mecca for a few days. 

It's going to be interesting to see how the different US guy's preparation for Worlds goes. I don't think Rude will make the team unless he has an incredible ride at 1 of the next 2 WCs, they might have already picked the team anyway. But all the US riders should be there for the last WC before Worlds I think and all will have had different buildups. 

Page does it the best way, he lives there all year and does all the races but it's the toughest too. 
Powers went over for the camp and then went home for a week or two before coming back for Worlds
Driscoll went to the camp and I think he's staying over there until Worlds
Treboohoo and Johnson both skipped the camp but will be there for a few races before Worlds. 

It takes a long time to figure out how to prepare best for yourself, what works for one doesn't work for another. Everyone was pretty close all year though so we should have a good idea who figured it out in a few weeks. I think if I were to try and do Worlds I would go over to Europe in the fall and do the first 2 WCs so I got some race experience over there and some points. I would then go back to the US and race only here through Nationals. From there I would probably go over to the Euro camp and do the WCs and some other big races up to Worlds. You wouldn't have to start in the back at the WCs because you would already have some points from the races you did earlier in the year so you wouldn't go to your first build up race to Worlds starting at the back b/c even you have a great race you probably won't get that good of result and thats tough on the head. OK, this is too much analytical race talk. Did you see I got the new banner up? 

I wonder who is gonna be at burger night.....