Not much sleep last night so getting up while it was still dark this morning was not easy. The plan was to meet early at the Nytro bike shop then head out and catch up with some huge group ride. A lot of my teammates have caught bad colds and weren't all feeling great this morning so some of them cut the ride short and turned back at Del Mar after about 8mi or so. We'd ridden down the coast and then things turned inland at that point. I kept going straight toward La Jolla by myself. I decided after about 10min of riding on someone else's wheel that I wanted to do my own ride today - longer, do some hill work at my own pace and keep my route along Hwy 101.
There was a fair amount of up and down to be done on my route of choice and some fantastic scenery along the way so I just rode along in my own world. I passed through Torrey Pines while heading back up the coast and stopped to watch some of the golfers at the Buick Invitational on the practice tee. I rolled up to the fence and right in front of me was Tiger Woods - taking his practice swings along with Stewart Cink (god that guy is tall), Rory Sabbatini, Kevin Streelman and Aaron Baddeley. I think I could have just camped out there all day and watched/listened to them all. Amazing.
Following that stop I rolled on heading up 101 toward Oceanside, my turnaround point before heading back to the house today. Things started out a little cold early on this morning but by the time I hit Carlsbad the temp had to be in the low 60s with the sun shining in a cloudless sky. There were tons of surfers out and cyclists everywhere. My legs were really getting tired at that point - exactly what I wanted. I thought so many times to myself that there aren't many places I'd rather be today. It was great to ride along, take everything in and love being on the bike one last time before I have to put it back in the box and be on the way home.
My week at team camp has been very positive and productive in a lot of ways. The girls on the team are all very dedicated athletes who work extremely hard. We are all fit, strong and looking to make more of an impact on the national racing scene for 2008. I have no doubt that we will do well this season and earn the respect that our team deserves.
That's all for now - I have to go take apart my bike and get it ready for the trip home. Thanks for reading - I'll see you all soon!
