A little vacation, a little time to reflect, a little time to look forward to things to come. this last year has been spectacular, i have a beautiful healthy baby boy, life is brought into perspective and becomes a new thing to experience. next year promises continued growth, i can't wait to get started, to see who my boy will become, to see how my season will progress, to see what new suprises lay is store. i have not felt such excitement at the prospects of another year, here's to things going well.

to health, family, love, dreams and resolutions. happy new year.

Here's the big news.  The press release:

Chicago (December 23, 2005) - On the heels of its recent commitment to support grass roots road events in North America, SRAM will debut its much-anticipated new professional-level racing technology on the North American continental race calendar with the Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team. The 12-member squad will be SRAM’s sole U.S.-based road team with a multi-year agreement that begins in 2006.

 SRAM’s recently revealed DoubleTap shift technology will lead the list of the SRAM group components mounted onto Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada’s custom race bikes.

 1990 USPRO Champion, former SRAM test pilot, and Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Operations Manager, Kurt Stockton, stated, “We are in a great situation with SRAM’s new road group. I think the form, function, and quality of this componentry is going to shake up the industry in setting the new benchmark in road technology as well give us more opportunities to win.”

 “This is an exciting time for our team and we have a great opportunity in being first the U.S. professional squad to ride what is easily the biggest component story in cycling this year, the new SRAM road group.” Sprinter, criterium specialist - Dan Schmatz, 31, Longmont, CO.

 “I was able to race prototypes in Downers Grove; it was exciting to ride what is such an innovative product. Also, we are proud to be supported by a company that respects our input and listens to our feedback. The function of the road group is really super smooth and balanced with advanced materials; this new componentry has truly elevated the team’s confidence.” All-arounder - Ben Jacques-Maynes, 27, San Jose, CA.

 “This is really something new and innovative, and the elegance at the lever will be an obvious advantage. It’s obvious the quality and attention to detail that SRAM has for MTB componentry has transferred to the road componentry. And the one lever shifting gives you less to think about and allows the rider to react faster on the bike, whether it’s up or downshifting. I’m excited.” Domestique, all-arounder – Jesse Anthony, 20, Beverly, MA.

The rain finally came in, making for a fun little slide through the mud and a good spackling for all. Barb blew doors, she should race with the guys just to get the training. It was about the same course as CCCX #2 from this Oct., but somehow even with a layer of grease and fresh rain to really slicken things up, there was more traction in the wet, as all the sand bogs turned tacky and all the former fast sections were mud bogs.

A big Kudos to CCCX and now Team Santa Cruz for extending the CX season into January, now's when the real weather comes, and I know I can get out for an hour if it's CX, as opposed to an early bird Crit where the chances of crashing are exponentially high. I think some CX, skate skiing and weights are going to make me super strong and hopefully help me go that much faster come late Feb.

After a long ride sat, 5+ in the rain and wind and about to shiver the whole time, and then a sandy, muddy CX Sunday my eyes are scoured and I'm having a hard time focusing. Too much grit. No glasses are going to keep it out though.

There's still many new things that we got to see this week, Adidas brought
their new road shoe, very light and cool. the Mavic Ksyrium ES is a great
wheel, I ran then at SFGP last year and I thought they were great, looking
forward to having them all year. We're back on Specialized helmets and
glasses, the Decibel helmet fits my head straight out of the box and the Arc
at 14 grams is a silly light Optical wonder that you barely know is on your
face. There's tons more, I need to see if I can tell you or not, it's been
top secret until now.

So guess who our new team director is? Yes, Jonas is working with us, and a
new buzz of energy just went through the riders at camp. Jonas brings so
much to the team I'm still not sure what it's going to mean for us. As in,
I don't know if we just doubled or tripled our potential for the year.

Sickness in the management camp means he's moved into my hotel room, and
I've had a few opportunities to talk to him, Jonas is a cool guy, pretty
mellow and I think he's going to fit in with us well.

I'm up in Chico at the SN brewery for our "Beer Camp" we're meeting new teammates, getting the program together, meeting sponsors and learning about the companies we're representing. it's good fun, we're team building tonight, making dinner for 30 sponsors. we ride every morning when it's nice and cold, then get lunch, meetings all afternoon and dinner and shenanigans with the team all night. i think we have a great team coming together, the new riders are experienced and motivated, and all the guys returning i know just what they're capable of.

we also have big big news but i can't tell you yet, maybe a bit later in the week. i'll keep you updated.

Did I mention my baby's cute?

Except when he cries for 2 1/2 hours straight.

He'd see me and be screaming and try and smile at the same time. I've taken a picture and photoshopped out the crying part.

Manchester WC Team Sprint Finals
 
Gold
 
1 New Zealand                                    4.08.142 (58.031km/h)
  Jason Allen
 Hayden Godfrey
  Timothy Gudsell
  Marc Ryan
2 Recycling.Co.Uk                                4.08.345 (57.983km/h)
  Mark Cavendish
  Rob Hayles
  Paul Manning
  Chris Newton

One, that’s wicked fast.  Two, that’s my teammates doing it.  

I just went on a 5 hour ride, beautiful sunshine, took the warmers off it
was that warm. Nice.

KODAKGALLERY.COM/SIERRA NEVADA PRO CYCLING TEAM ANNOUNCES  2006 ROSTER
 
 Smartville, Calif. (December 8, 2005) - With both Kodak EasyShare Gallery  and Sierra Nevada extending their co-title sponsorship of the Kodakgallery.com/Sierra  Nevada Pro Cycling Team into the 2006 season, Principal Sports Management  Group LLC has finalized the team's 12-rider roster for the coming season.  
 
Six team members will return from the 2005 campaign, along with six newcomers including three first-year professionals.

 Veteran climber and former Canadian National Champion, Dominique  Perras and Ben Jacques-Maynes, a former collegiate  national champion and overall winner at the Nature Valley Grand Prix in  2004, headline the returning riders.
 
 They are accompanied by Pete Lopinto, a solid support rider and criterium specialist, Dan Schmatz, a veteran sprinter with a strong leadership presence, Jackson Stewart, another sprinter who looks to continue improving to his climbing and overall riding, and Scott Zwizanski, who placed 2nd overall at the Bermuda Grand Prix in September 2005.
 
 New to Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada are Kiwi sprinter Jason Allen, who joined McGuire-Langdale during the 2005 season, Jesse Anthony, winner of six U.S. cyclocross championships in the junior and U-23 ranks, Skyler Bishop, who made his pro debut with Health Net in 2003, Mike Dietrich, a standout on the highly regarded  Fiordifrutta amateur team, Martin Gilbert, a stage winner at the Tour du Beauce in August 2005, and David Robinson, who makes the jump from the TIAA-CREF development team.

The team's equipment sponsors will be announced in the coming weeks.

The 2006 Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team:

 Athletes:
 ALLEN, Jason / August 17, 1981 / Blenheim, New Zealand
 ANTHONY, Jesse / June 12, 1985 / Beverly, MA
 BISHOP, Skyler / May 23, 1983 / Del Mar, CA
 DIETRICH, Mike / May 29, 1981 / Tucson, AZ
 GILBERT, Martin / October 30, 1982 / Chateauguay, Quebec
 JACQUES-MAYNES, Ben / September 22, 1978 / San Jose, CA
 LOPINTO, Pete / September 1, 1980 / Boulder, CO
 PERRAS, Dominique / February 11, 1974 / St-Lambert, Quebec
 ROBINSON, David / December 21, 1983 / Bend, OR
 SCHMATZ, Dan / May 21, 1974 / Longmont, CO
 STEWART, Jackson / June 30, 1980 / Los Gatos, CA
 ZWIZANSKI, Scott / May 29, 1977 / Downington, PA
 
 Staff:
 STOCKTON, Kurt / Operations Manager / Smartville, CA
 ZELLNER, Robin / Racing Manager / Larkspur, CA
 FUSCO, Joanne / Soigneur / Bellevue, WA
 KADIS, Josh / Marketing Manager / San Francisco, CA

I got some more damn poison oak from the 'cross race, and it's keeping me up
at night.

And he is learning to smile whenever he sees the camera. What a good boy!

I think 'cross is just about done for me, which is perfect cuz the season's
about done too. I did the BA Super P races at SFO Flight path point, won
them both and then rode home Sunday. I also found out I won the Velo Bella
series, thanks Sabine for the prizes! 'cross has been good to me this year,
I've won some races, but it's time to get focused on some road stuff, get
the miles in. I've been ramping up the hours and did my first 5+ day
yesterday, 175k and I was cold the entire time. Cuz I'm a CA wimp, it's
actually super nice here this week and hopefully next week too, I'm going to
Chico for beer drinking, er, I mean team camp where we meet new teammates,
find out what stuff we're running, bond, all that. And ride too, but that
part's usually pretty low key every year.

I might do the next few CCCX races, but I'll have to ride there and that
might kill my ability to race hard. We'll see about the motivation,
planning and weather.