Todd Wells

Nada

Well I guess TT is actually shoveling the snow. But ti looks like the driveway instead of the sidewalk. 

I think Madeline(our fat cat) took this picture of him. He has good form with that shovel I think. 

They say when Times are tough, people go drinking in Durango. 

We head south of the border for that. 

I'm getting bored of sitting on the beach all day. I have to find a new hobby down here. I like to get bored on vacation though, that's means my batteries are getting fully recharged. I'm going to need it for this season. 

I'm thinking of doing the UCI race in Costa Rica before heading to Chile for the Pan Am Championships the next weekend. This is all in the middle of March before doing the first US Cup in LA if it happens and then off to South Africa for training. Or, I could just race on the road in AZ for those few weeks, not travel and then head to camp. Decisions..

I wonder if these waves are going to eez up today....

Chill'n

I'm doing a lot of nothing right now. Although, I rode my bike for almost 2 hours today. Try not to ride at all for 3 or 4 weeks at the end of the season but I had to find this trail to Sayulita. This guy offered to show it to me so how could I refuse. Plus it is cloudy today so it's not so hot. It was cool and we only got chased by one dog. Not bad for a day of tropics riding.

Meg and I are hanging on the beach solo today since our Willow and Riche went to Talum and our other friends headed south. Brian and Lera come in a few days so we should have some company soon. 

We went to the art festival last night in town but Meg wasn't feeling too well so we came home pretty early. A guy we like to hear sing was playing but we didn't make it out that late. 

This guy has a lot of hats

OK, the scene at the beach is starting to pick up. I'm going to trade my chair at the palapa for one in the sand. Rude had a pretty good race today. I forget what he got but was just under 3 minutes down. He said that none of the US guys got there correct UCI call up b/c the promoter doesn't like people from the US. That sucks to spend all the money to go over there and not get your correct call up since it's fairly important for cross. Lame.

OK, I wonder if the sun is going to come out today... 

Phew

I had quite the birthday down here in San Pancho. It started at the pool bar and in early afternoon and ended at the beach palapa in the late evening. I'm still recovering 2 days later.

These guys made it up to visit from Sayulita.

They took a boat up to town, how cool is that? Well Meg was here but Riche and Willow took a boat up. 

Even Winston got to go the party...

We have been hanging out with some people we met down here in San Pancho a lot the last few days. They made it out with us along with Finnbar and Devin. They have been my beach buddies all week. They leave today though so I don't know who I'm going to play ping pong with and body surf all day..

I leave you with this paparazzi style shot of Meg. We want to start a cycling publication like US Weekly and just have paparazzi shots of the all the MTBers...

Heard about the Jonathan Page deal today. I have to say it's super lame there is no consistency with how you are notified. Sometimes there are chaperones and sometimes there aren't. It seems like when you need them most they aren't there and when you remember to check the boards they have grabbed you before you even stop pedaling. 

Well the waves are calling. 

I wonder if it's ever going to stop snowing in Durango....

Merry Christmas

Every year Christmas rolls around and I get one year older. That's right, Christmas is my birthday. Well yeseterday we spent the day doing this

Jet skiing at Anclote was fun but it is a big process. First you have to load everything up, drive out to the marina, launch the skis, then one was messed up and we had to reload it. It takes hours. At least I was just hanging out in warm clear water in the marina all day. 

Meg usually doesn't like motor sports too much but she was getting after it on the jet ski. Plus she had a really cool life jacket on. Winston even went in the water. A little. 

The weather has been incredible and the hardest thing I have to do all day is not drink too much and not get too sunburned. 

I have been watching the weather and Durango has been getting pounded. I'm glad I'm here and not there. 

Well I think I've written enough for today. I'll leave you with shot. I think I should work in advertising, take a look at the picture. If that doesn't make you want to come to the Mexican Rivera nothing will and I don't even like Margaritas.  

I wonder if Powers really does get a shout out on the new Clinton Sparks radio show.....

Sayulita

We did more of this today

But then we went to Sayulita for some of the best fish tacos anywhere. Willow's finace, Riche Shley told me he had something on the menu there but we never saw it. Today we saw his quote on the front of the menu. They also have a picture of Tony Hawk hanging up there now from when he was there last year. They said he was a really cool guy. Go figure. 

Winston is usually all over Meg but today he was hanging out with me exclusively. What a fickle fellow.

Tomorrow we're hoping to go jet skiing with California Chris and Pam down in Anclote. I'm sure I butchered that name but who cares. The waves were super chill today and should be tomorrow as well which is good for the jet ski. Sometimes at the house they are double overhead and super heavy so it's nice to actually be able to swim out front. 

Looks like Treboohoo and the US crew got worked over last weekend. It's amazing how hard it is racing in Europe. It takes so long to figure out how to get it right, when you do though it's incredible. To perform well in front of so many people that know the sport so well is awesome. There isn't much pack fill over there, either you're legit or you don't even line up. 

I met a kid in Sayulita named Aaron who does MTB tours today. He is going to show me some good trails on Sunday so looks like I'll be testing out my new Specialized shoes sooner then I thought. 

I wonder if TT is shoveling the sidewall right now.....

More of the Same

I finally took some pictures the other day. Nothing great but here goes. 

Meg and Winston on la playa

This thing was taking off and landing on the beach on Saturday and Sunday. It's called something like "a super light aircraft". Not sure exactly but it drives Winston crazy so he runs after it and barks like mad. 

You can see the beach is pretty chill, just how we like it. 

The pool bar is sweet. But what pool bar isn't? 

Finally, the sunsets have been awesome. We still haven't seen the green flash but one of these nights we will. Until then this isn't so bad.

That's pretty much it. I have the same pictures every year but that's basically all we do. I have been drinking some capuchinos lately. They're good down here. The new golf course in town is done but it's some guys personal course so no one can play except his friends. I gotta become friends with that guy. 

Oh yea, Bob(Meg's dad) met Phil Mickelson yesterday. He was in his bar in Avon(Bob's Place) watching the Chargers game. He said he was super nice and left the bar tender a huge tip. I guess when you're the #2 or 3 ranked golfer in the world you can tip big. 

I wonder what I'll do today......

San Pancho!!!!

Man that is a long drive. We made it to our final destination yesterday after 5 more hours in the truck. Winston was in the groove and didn't even pant that much. The weather here is awesome, 85 and sunny with a good breeze during the day and probably low 70s at night. The wireless internet is rocking out here under the palapa. Meg is tanning it up on the beach and I'm looking at flights for the Pan Am Champs in March. 

I haven't been taking many pictures because I think my camera might be broken. It all started after it got really dusty in Moab this fall. Imagine that, dusty in Moab. Oh well. 

Winston has been really brave walking around in the water. He usually runs away from the ocean but this year he is walking around it the foam. He still isn't swimming but he's getting closer. 

I met a cyclist from Guadalajara in the market last night. This is a tiny town and I've only ever seen one other cyclist here so it was cool. I thought he might ride bikes since he was a guy, had shaved legs, sock tans and was buying bananas. Meg's friends, Lera and Brain get here on the 27th and then Rude and some girl get here in the beginning of January. Willow and Riche are also getting to this area today for a wedding a few towns south so we're hoping to see them as well. It's going to be a crazy vacation. 

I wonder if I'm going to buy that unlocked Iphone in Tucson when we get back.....

Driving

Made it from Tucson to Mazatlan yesterday, 14.5 hours of driving. That's a looooonnnnnggg day. Today we're hoping to make it to our final destination of San Pancho. It could be as short as 4 hours but it is Mexico so you never really know. 

Hit 1K with United this year. Found a way to buy 41 elite qualifying miles that I needed to make it happen so maybe Wally won't harass me about it anymore. 

I wonder how long we'll be in the car today....

Hot Tub Blogging

We made it out of the Durango snow storm and are in balmy Tucson. I'm sitting in the hot tub right now after just having dinner at the frog with the Shultz Man crew. The drive took forever since we had to drive in 14 inches of snow from Durango to Farmington. Then the road from Globe to Tucson was closed so we had to take an alternate route there as well. 

We spent the day in Tucson recharging, looking at condos and getting a tire replaced since it had a nail in it. We also had to get Dan(the guy we live with here) a new gingerbread house since Winston got hungry last night and ate his. 

Tomorrow we are hoping to leave at 5am and make it to Mazatlan. 

I wonder if Timmons is shoveling our sidewalk.....

It's a Wrap!!!!!

Man this weekend sucked. While, the weekend was good, just the race was a bummer. It's amazing how 1 minute can make or break your day. 

I have some OK pictures from the weekend but I'm too worked to put them up right now. Sunday morning when I went for a spin in the morning it was 60 degrees at 10am. When we raced at 1:30pm it was 25 degrees and when we finished 1 hour later it was 20 degrees. That's cold. 

It wasn't happening for me and I finished off the podium for the first time ever at cross Nationals. Oh yea, not the kind of PR I was looking for. When I finished I had ice on my hair, eye brows and eye lashes. 

Hear that Myerson and Baker got in a fist fight out on the course. Didn't get to see it but I heard it happened right in front of Proctor and Gully. Saw Page's mechanic get jumped by two guys right after the race and punched in the face multiple times after being tackled on a bunch of Richard Sachs bikes. That was the high light of my weekend. We had a great time at the post race party but nothing too crazy. Got to hang out with the family too this weekend since we haven't gotten to spend XMas/my birthday together lately. 

I have to say the cross vibe is by far the coolest of any I have ever felt. All the riders are awesome, everyone gets along and it's always so much fun to hang out with everyone. If the races were easy like they use to be that would be even better. 

Meg and I are suppose to leave for Mexico tomorrow morning but we have 4 inches of fresh on the ground and it's suppose to snow another 4 tonight and keep snowing through the weekend. It's a huge drive to begin with but add in a blizzard for 400 miles and it's even longer. 

The FLC crew's van broke down this morning and they got stuck in Kansas City waiting for it to be repaired for the morning. Now they're going to hit this big snow storm and most of the kids have finals this week. 

OK, Winston and I are tired and have a big drive ahead of us in the morning. 

The 08 season is a wrap and although cross nationals were a low light, the season as a whole was incredible. I hope I can have that good of a season next year. 

I wonder if we'll start driving tomorrow or blow it off for a few days and go snowboarding ......