Time in California...

So what have I been up to recently – let me see... At the moment I'm in California drumming up contracts for my new software consultancy company (similar to Edgespace) and enjoying some of the sunshine (but not the cold). As usual, I took my road bike with me and, as usual, the fine staff in Heathrow Airport decided that it is best not to put the bike on the same flight as me. That's 4 trips in a row that my bike has sat in London for at least an extra day! Ahh well, maybe BA will bump me again...

Sun!!!

Seeing as I wasn't going to have a bike/helmet for the first day (or two...) I picked up a new Giro Atmos from Performance bike shop at the fine low price of $106 and headed out on my brothers LeMond – it's a lot more comfortable then my Aluminium S-Works E5 road bike but not quiet as stiff – I think I would rather something a little more comfortable for the 100km+ rides on Irish roads. My bike arrived 28 hours after me and since then, when not working, I've been going on long, reasonably steady spins. Probably the highlight of which was Wednesday's group ride that consisted of male/female pro's and the independently wealthy unemployed. A very steady 135km with a coffee/pan au chocolate stop half way around :) If was cold, but the sun and dry roads made it my kind of winter riding.

The long group ride

My brother, Kieran, also roped me into taking part in my first Cyclocross race. There was me thinking I had finished racing for the year, let alone racing in shorts and a t-shirt and then this opportunity arose. I had been trying to give myself a rest from racing but it was just too tempting to give it a miss – I also dearly miss the buzz of racing. The race itself was pretty good fun. About 45 minutes of pain with 50 other people - a terrible start from the back row meant that I had a lot of passing for the remainder of the race and as I did a 4 hour mountainous spin the day before my legs had no snap, but I still enjoyed it in some twisted way... I guess I'm going to have to take part in the Irish National CX champs on January 6th. There is also a race on December 30th pretty close to my home town which I might try to get to.

Kieran

It was faster to run - honest ;)

Tomorrow I'm heading with my brother up Mount Tam and the surrounding area and on Sunday I'll be doing the Alto Velo A-Ride... After that, it's back onto a plane for the long flight home.