I'm back in sunny Portland. I took a 4:30am shuttle from Pasadena to LAX, caught the 6:30 flight to PDX, then commenced my crazy-guy-with-all-the-luggage routine on the MAX. I had a bike travel bag, a roller bag, a duffel bag, and a backpack with me. The longest part of the trip was the two block trudge from the MAX station, across Burnside, and up the hill to my apartment carrying all of that stuff. But, as always, it's nice to be home.

Unfortunately, the last day of the Tour of California didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped on a personal level. I really wanted to get into the break, but I ended up missing it again. It wasn't for lack of trying though. I was the first guy to attack at kilometer zero, and a break of seven of us formed right away. But it just wasn't quite the right mix and it ended up coming back together before ultimately splitting again. I missed that second split, but my teammate Mike Creed managed to make it. George Hincapie got in the break as well and they held off the field by about 10 seconds at the finish. Mike was 4th behind Hincapie. It was a great ride for him. For the rest of us, it was another long cold day in the rain. I think everyone was happy to get that stage race behind us.

Jonathan Maus ran a great summary of the week over at Bikeportland.org. Check it out. Thanks Jonathan.

Afterward, there was the customary post-race chaos in which everyone tried to gather up the stuff scattered between the team cars and the bus, pack their bikes, and coordinate airport shuttles for the next day. It always amazes me to see some semblance of order emerge from all that chaos. It wouldn't be possible without the hard work from the soigneurs and mechanics. We also had a great team dinner before calling it a night. In true Michael Ball style, there was Dom Perignon in the champagne flutes. A guy could get spoiled.

So now I'll be focusing on recovering and getting ready for the next big race. I'm not sure yet if it'll be Redlands or Tour of Georgia, but either way I intend to be ready. In the meantime, I'll be training here in Portland and maybe making another trip down to northern California for a weekend of racing. The Banana Belt race this weekend at Haag Lake is a near certainty. It'll be fun. Thanks again for everyone that followed along this past week. All of the notes of support and the kind words at the races were appreciated. That's all for now.

I shaved the beard off last night hoping it'd make me faster today, but it didn't really work. Today was rough. Mike Creed and I were on early break duty, but after covering a bunch of failed moves, we both ended up missing the one that finally went away. I almost made it, and actually spent about 10k chasing, but ultimately I didn't get there. That was frustrating. Then, in the finish, things got ugly. Just before starting the second of three 5k finishing circuits, all five of us were bunched near the front when someone touched wheels just in front of us. Of the five of us, only Victor managed not to get involved in the ensuing chaos. I had some road rash and I was pretty shaken up, but I was ok. I never made it back to the bunch though. Mario had some road rash as well and ended up using the car to help him get back to the field, which ultimately got him relegated from his top ten placing. Mike didn't actually fall, but was just stopped momentarily and ended up finishing five minutes back with me. Fred was the most banged up of all of us, barely finishing the stage. Apparently he'll be making the decision tomorrow on whether or not to start the day.

Sometimes days like this happen, but today was especially rough. Thankfully, my dad was in town and my brother, Ryan, drove up from Pasadena. We got out for a nice dinner at a local Argentinian place this evening, and getting to hang out with them made me feel a lot better. A good bottle of Malbec helped as well.

Yesterday's TT stage was a bit better. For me, there was no pressure to go fast, which made it a pretty relaxing day. The course was a lot of fun too. Strangely though, I got a better result riding without pressure than I generally get when I really go for it. What does that mean? But time trials against these top guys always amaze me. No matter how hard I might have tried, I can't even imagine going two and a half to three minutes faster than I did out there. Amazing.

The lack of pressure yesterday gave me a chance to truly enjoy my unusual surroundings a bit. The outside of our team bus has been a complete zoo every day, and yesterday was no exception. I got about 50 autograph requests before the TT started, but 49 of those were just people asking me to have Cipollini sign something for them. I think the one guy that actually wanted my signature just felt sorry for me. That Mario's one popular guy.

After I finished the TT, I had the obligatory drool, snot, and sweat stuck to my scraggly attempt at a beard. When I got back to the team bus to change and clean up, I discovered that it had transformed into the podium girl dressing room during my absence. So there I was, the absolute epitome of repulsiveness, surrounded by four gorgeous models putting on makeup and discussing their clothing. They were quite nice and tolerant of my presence. Troopers, those podium girls are.

So now only one more stage remains. It might snow in the mountains on the way to Pasadena. Even if it is another nasty day, knowing that it's the final stage will provide some extra motivation to try to do something special. Hopefully we'll all have a bit better luck than we did today.

So today was probably the most miserable day I've ever had on a bike. It was definitely the longest, both in terms of miles and time ridden. We left Seaside, which is adjacent to Monterey, at 10:00 am and finished in San Luis Obispo at 5:30 pm, after covering 217km along the Highway 1. The official race time was just shy of seven hours, but that doesn't include the 30 minutes or so of neutral riding before we were officially started. It rained nearly the whole time, and the headwind was unbelievable. I spent basically the entire day wondering why, exactly, I've decided to make my living as a bike racer. The funny thing is though, as soon as it was over, it didn't seem nearly as bad. I suppose that sort of selective memory is the only reason any of us can keep going in this sport.

Beyond just the sheer amount of time spent out there, the effort was quite big as well. According to Mike Creed's SRM, we did about 5,300kj of work today, and that's just sitting in. For those that don't know what the numbers mean, the conversion factor to nutritional calories is about 4kj/cal, and a well trained cyclist is about 25% efficient. So just during the time we were on our bikes, we burned almost 5500 calories. That doesn't include the rest of the day. I can't even imagine what it was like for the guys in the break, or the Astana guys riding on the front to protect Levi. Dominique Rollin, a Quebecois on the Toyota-United team, won after spending nearly the entire day in the break. Incredible. I rolled in with the first chase group and went straight to the team bus to wolf down pizza and hot tea. It was excellent.

I should also mention that I got to chat a bit with Damian Schmidt, Barry Wicks, and Ryan Trebon before the stage today. It was great to catch up with the Oregon crew a bit. I kept thinking during the stage about how warm and dry they probably were right then.

Yesterday was an extremely hard day too, but we lucked out on the weather. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to stay with the leaders up Mt. Hamilton, which was the second to last climb of the day. By the time the group I was with got over the last climb, Sierra Road, and back to San Jose, we were almost twelve minutes behind the stage winner. Fortunately for the team, our Colombian rider, Victor Hugo Pena, made it into the lead group and finished 10th, which gives him a shot at a good overall placing.

Tomorrow is the TT, which will be a nice break after the last two days. Not that a time trial is easy, but at least it's over quickly.

So those are the basic, boring racing facts. Other than that, it's been a chaotic blur of buffet meals, transfers to and from the stages, massage, and generic hotel rooms. Oh, and fashion models and a ride in a Rolls Royce too, but that's a story for another time. Crazy as it all is, and as miserable as today was, I'm glad to be here racing. Below is a photo from Sierra Rd that a photographer by the name of Chris Hovey was kind enough to send along. Thanks.

Check out the beard:


Time for bed now. Thanks to everyone that's been checking in over the last few days.

I'm writing from Sacramento after another crazy day here at the Tour of California. Thankfully, things have been crazy for much more typical reasons. That's just how stage races are. It hasn't left much time for checking email and writing here, though. But I'm taking advantage of the rare free internet here to get a quick update up before bed.

We've had three days of racing so far. After Sunday's prologue, there've been two mostly flat road stages. I've been charged with looking after Fred Rodriguez and Mario Cipollini, bringing bottles up and taking jackets and whatever else. As for Cipollini, I have to admit that it's been pretty cool getting to be teammates with such a legend in this sport over the last few days. I wish I could say I'd actually helped him and Fred in the sprints, but I pretty much just get out of the way in the last few kilometers. Regardless, both of them have been up there. Cipollini managed third today, which is pretty great considering that he hasn't raced in three years.

I had a little scare on the first big downhill today, It was rainy and slick and I lost traction under my front wheel and hit the ground at about 35mph. I'm ok though. Moments like that are always scary.

Tomorrow's hard and hilly. It'll be the first chance to really see how I'm riding. There's a chance of snow over the top of Mt. Hamilton, which is the big climb of the day, so it could be a long, cold day. Hopefully not.

Sorry for the dry post, but I'm tired. There's a long transfer after tomorrow's stage, so I may not have time to post, but I'll try.

According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, a prologue is "an introductory or preceding event or development." By that definition, we've endured an extremely long and tumultuous one so far, and there's a still a 3.3km time trial to deal with this afternoon.

I won't go into the details of the last few days, but if anyone hasn't been following things online, cyclingnews is the place to start (yes, that's me in the backseat). The end result is that five of us will be starting the race: myself, Mike Creed, Victor Hugo Pena, Fred Rodriguez, and Mario Cipollini. That last name is not a typo. Tyler Hamilton, Santiago Botero, and Oscar Sevilla will not be allowed to start. It's not my place to judge anyone's past, and I certainly wouldn't be qualified to do so anyway, but I will say that all three of those guys are great people and it's tough to see them treated like this. The reasons for exclusion seem ambiguous at best, and it just feels wrong. Regardless, I have a great deal of respect for all of them for their willingness to stand aside and support the remaining five of us as we go forward with the race. That, I think, is a real display of character.

With all of that happening in the last few days, it's been a little difficult to focus on the upcoming race, but it's time to get to it now. I'll be the second rider off in the prologue at 1:01 this afternoon. We had an unfortunate shipping snafu that kept the TT bikes from arriving here, so I'll either be on a borrowed TT bike or a road bike with clip-ons. Neither is ideal, but it's such a short event that the time lost should be minimal. After that the focus shifts to road racing. I'm excited. I have a lot of pent up energy to burn off.

That's it for now. Thanks again for all of the notes of support. I'll try to keep updates coming throughout the week.

Thanks to everyone who's left comments and emails in the past weeks wishing me well on the Tour of California selection. I'd been holding off on posting here, waiting for an official Tour of California roster to be released by either Rock Racing or the race organization itself, but it starts in four days and I still haven't seen anything. So I'll just come out with it: I'm going. It'll be great to finally get to start what has quickly become the largest, and possibly the most important race in the US. As much as I might have said otherwise, it's been difficult to be at home the past couple of years and not taking part. This year would have been no different. But I probably would have lied about it again.

Actually, because I'd been basing all of my training since November on trying to get ready for this one race, missing it this year would have been an even more bitter disappointment. On Health Net, I was always told far in advance that my season would start later, and that I shouldn't worry about trying to prove anything at training camp. This year, I was told to get ready for Tour of California as far back as October, but it became progressively more clear as the off-season progressed, and the roster continued to grow, that it was anything but a given that I'd be going. So it's a relief to know that all of that hard training wasn't wasted. Now I get to see how well prepared I actually am. I won't promise daily updates here, but I'll try to get as much posted as possible. If anyone has any specific questions you'd like answered, or any particular angle that you'd like to see me discuss, just leave a comment. I'll do my best.

Here's an unfortunate tale, though. When I arrived home from training camp I found that my brand new, as yet unridden DeRosa bicycle had been broken on the airplane. Look at this heartbreaker:

As much as I'd traveled with a bicycle over the years, I've had incredible luck in avoiding this sort of thing. But considering the treatment that the [poorly] trained apes in the baggage department routinely give to our luggage, it really isn't surprising that it happened. What was also unsurprising was the dismissive attitude I was treated with when I initially reported the damage. The story took an unexpected turn, however, when a representative from Rock and Republic made a call on my behalf and politely mention the L word. One whisper of 'team of lawyers' into their ear, and a compensation check and note of apology was quickly dashed to my doorstep. Moral of the story: don't roll over when this sort of thing happens.

Other than that, things have been great since I got home. The weather's been kind of crazy, but not so much so that I haven't been able to get the training I've needed. There's also been plenty to do off of the bike. This past weekend, I made a trip to the handmade bike show over at the Convention Center. There was some amazing stuff on display. Jonathan Maus at BikePortland did a great job of covering the show, check it out if you weren't able to be there in person. My friend Sacha White also got some personal attention on Velonews. I had the good fortune of getting to know Sacha when he was just getting started in the bike building business, and I've been the proud owner of one of the first Vanilla cyclocross bikes he ever built for the past seven years. His waiting list is apparently in the five year range now, so I'm lucky to have gotten in when I did.

I also made a trip to the Bagdad Theatre on Hawthorne last night to hear Michael Pollan speak about his new book, In Defense of Food. His last book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, was one of the most interesting books I've read in some time. If you haven't already read it, do so. Start tonight. It'll change the way you think about food, but in a constructive way. It's not a gross-out book and it didn't turn me into a vegetarian. It just made me a lot more conscious of the types of food I eat, and where those foods come from. Especially meat. Based on his talk last night, I expect this new book to be equally good.

There's plenty more I could write about now, but I'm going to go ride my bike instead. Below are some pictures I've taken over the last couple of weeks. More posts will come soon, I mean it this time.