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The Valencia airport has that "Up In The Air"
movie poster feel to it.
So I really botched it when it came to blogging nightly at the BMC Racing Team training camp. Blame the lack of photo possibilities. Or at least the lack of "fresh" photos – because food was still an option. Here's a smattering of pics from my final 24 hours in Denia.

Check out this stair-less escalator in the airport.

At the Madrid Airport, these signs tell you how much
of a walk you still have to go to get to your terminal/gates.

This cake looked delicious. I didn't have a piece, though.

Pizza and spaghetti for my last meal. Yum.

Soigneur Freddy Viaene took a photo for Danilo Wyss.

Check out the artistic trimming on these bushes.

Surprise From Olivia

Playing Catch-Up

Now this is food heaven. Friday night's dinner.
I'm a bit perturbed with Blogger and its new interface. It's old one was nothing to shout out. But enough about the issues that erased 10 minutes' worth of writing.

Today's entry focuses on food. I was able to enjoy a cheeseburger and fries Friday night after having my heart set on skipping that meal. Fortunately, I took a trip through the restaurant and discovered a veritable American meal right before my eyes. Yum.


Of the pictures above and below, can you tell
which two plates are mine from lunch Sunday?


Of course, the fingernails in one of the photos – and the shrimp – are a dead giveaway that that photo isn't one of my plates. Surprisingly, there was no rice for the taking for the first time since I arrived. (And believe me, I looked.) You'll see from the small photo at right that the offerings for dessert are pretty vast. Sundays are brunch days here at the hotel, complete with live music. It's a nice atmosphere. And it's only 30 Euro. (I guess that's a good deal if you like the food). Two more food pics and then I'll close the book on that topic (for now).

This was my dinner (and lunch) Saturday.

This was the birthday cake for Mathias Frank Friday.
A few odds and ends:

- Note to self: I need a new computer. My MacBook is about on its last legs. This one is from 2007. It's a workhorse, but yikes, it is sloooow.

- I made another trip to the Valencia airport this morning. I'm beginning to get used to that drive. And I got a few FourSquare check-ins in as well.

- The weather here is sunnier than yesterday, but not quite as warm. It's 63. Wednesday looks the best – with a high near 70.

- I watched a bit of the Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer ("football") game last night. Real Madrid scored 25 seconds into the match on the way to a 3-1 win. They love their soccer over here, as you might know. Like really, really love it. Like more than cycling. And that's a bit disappointing. But times change.

- Marcus Burghardt mentioned Princess Olivia in a tweet (shown below), which was really nice. I hope she likes it when she reviews her timeline.

An Early Morning

Smoke billows across the road from an open burn.
One day after one of the hardest days of exercise I have experienced at a training camp, I didn't make it to the next morning's workout session. That's because I offered to drive a few people to the airport in Valencia. I'll have to make up for it at the night session, I guess. Overall, my eating habits are good, though I snuck a can of pop Friday night to help stay awake.

The BMC Racing Team vehicle (caravelle) I drove has some type of funky satellite radio system that allows you to receive text messages. It kept chirping at me that I could send a message up to 64 characters (pictured at right) that was kind of annoying until I figured out how to turn it off.

The other thing I saw on my 90-minute drive (each way) back from the airport was an abundance of opening burns. Smoke billowed in some cases. The first time I took note of it was without any sign of smoke. I thought I was driving with the emergency brake on it smelled of rubber so much.

Also on the way back, a road was closed. That made for some fun, including a detour the GPS couldn't handle. Ultimately, I checked in with my buddy Chris De Vos, who steered me the right way.

Weather-wise, Friday was perfect (sunny, low 70s), but the weather Saturday turned a bit cooler (low 60s) with a lot of cloud cover. I'm not sure about the rest of the week. From what I understand, it's bone-chilling cold in Omaha. I'm not complaining about 60s or even 50s.

It's Saturday afternoon as I write this and I still have a ton of work to do. Let's hope the rest of the day is as productive as the first party.

When One Picture Will Have To Do

And what a doozy it is. Straight out of a "Gunz" catalog.
Those are Advent calendars in the picture above. Yes, the kind with the little doors you open to find chocolates behind. Crazy, huh?

Anyway, on to business. Thursday can be summed up in one word: busy. With lots of meetings. But productive.

In other news, it was the feast of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. In Spain, that means everything was closed. My fulfillment of the holy day of obligation was done via Internet at this new website I found earlier this week. Online, streaming masses. Much better than the YouTube (48 minute) mass I'm so used to watching when I can't find a church or get to one.

That's about it for today. Good weather continues. I'm trying to eat healthy (though I didn't have dinner tonight) and am working on my fitness and mental health as well. I am not missing the snow that was falling in Omaha tonight...

Day Three Features Food

A rare photo you'll see from training camp.
So I'm writing today's entry at 12:30 a.m. Not exactly what I planned, but I want to keep my commitment to blogging going.

I took a few photos for one of the team's sponsors today (to ensure they met our guidelines for this training camp) and they turned out pretty well for the amount of time (less than two minutes) I spent snapping them. The one you see above and to the right are two of about 15 I shot and sent off. Obviously a shoe sponsor...

The highlight of the day was probably when the Christmas lights on the outside of the hotel somehow caught fire, knocking out power to my wing of the hotel. This set me back a bit, as you might imagine.

The weather continues to be terrific and the two hours I spent working outside not only completely drained my laptop battery, but they also started turning me a little bit brown. We'll see how long the great weather trend continues and how much of a "base tan" I can bring back to Nebraska later this month.

Todd Herriott, a fellow Mount Michael graduate, is here teaching core exercises (no secret, since he's done it the past two seasons). I'm equally impressed with his new Herriott Sports Performance logo and kit apparel (pictured at right). Very, very pro. He also has custom-embroidered logowear from lululemon. Again, very professional.

Today's blog entry focuses a bit on food. Specifically, what was for the taking at lunch. I showed up at 1:30 p.m. to eat (riders were scheduled at 2:30 p.m.) and everything was ready. So I sat down to dine, fully expecting fellow staff to show up. Nearly forty minutes later, I was still the only one eating. I left at 2:15 p.m. with no sign of staff or riders. So the food they ate had been sitting out for a long time. I hope it was as good as it was when I enjoyed it. And yes, there's always lots of water on hand. I prefer the "natural" and not sparkling.

That's all I've got. Time for bed.

That bowl of salad greens is my starter dish daily.

Reverse angle of the "starter" offerings.

Rolls: white and wheat.


That's soup on the left and rice on the right.


Vegetables on the left, pasta on the right.


Lasagna - wasn't bad at all.

Pecan pie for dessert.

My dessert: squirreled away from breakfast.

First Full Day In Spain

Not much to report back on today, simply because details about training camp – other than personal stuff – can't be shared publicly. And, with much of my activities being related to team stuff, there's not much else to share. At least today. I have some ideas for tomorrow.

Another sunny, 70-degree day here in Denia, Spain.

These little mirrors are put up near driveways to help cars
entering blind curves along the highway.
Probably not the safest place to stand...

My 45-minute run took me toward these mountains.

Much of Europe received some type of precipitation Monday,
including the first snowfall of the season in Switzerland.
But, as you can see, Spain or Portugal stayed dry.

Postcard perfect conditions at the hotel upon my arrival. 

It's amazing what a change of scenery can do for your mind and body. Fewer than 24 hours ago, I was enduring sub-freezing temperatures and ice and snow (pictured at left). But when I took a half-hour walk upon arrival in Denia, Spain, birds were chirping, the sun was shining brightly and green, leaf-loaded trees had me thinking it was April, not early December.

Temperatures in the lower 70s are too cool for swimming, but the pool sure does look inviting, doesn't it? On my to-do list is to ask for a key to the workout room (adjacent to the spa, which has its own entry and pricing), which may give me entry to the exterior hot tub (because I did bring a swimsuit).

I've never flown Iberian Airlines from the United States. So that made the eight-hour flight from Chicago to Madrid "fresh." But the newness wore off quickly when I figured out there were no individual TVs in the setbacks (like on many Delta and United trans-Atlantic flights). Fortunately, I would be sleeping on the eastbound leg.

The flight was surprisingly not full. Probably about three-fourths of capacity. This made it pretty comfortable, especially since I was able to get an empty seat next to me. Once on the ground in Madrid, I had 40 minutes to clear customs and complete a 22-minute walk to my connecting gate. While I was waiting for a train, I heard a woman having a conversation with a board behind me. I quickly snapped a picture of the "Back to the Future 2" moment (photo above) featuring live video conferencing. Crazy.

- Back to the subject of in-flight entertainment, the TV screens on board my flight showed an exterior, forward-facing view from a camera mounted on the tail. It was one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Unfortunately, it is only active on taxiing during takeoff and landing.

- The two in-flight meals were good, though the "chicken" I requested looked a lot like beef. It tasted like chicken. There was some cold seafood thing in one of the containers (along with a tomato) that I steered clear of due to my apparent allergy to fresh fish. Not yet seen on a U.S. carrier in coach - warm rolls delivered on a tray.

Not the best picture, but the Madrid airport lists "walk times"on its location signs. The "K" gate where I was going is six minutesfrom where this photo was taken. When I started walking, it said "22." 

My view from row 33. Look closely at the TV monitor for the "tail view" mentioned in a bullet point above. 

Finally, my TV started "chirping" at me with a "message notification." Turns out the hotel ran out of hot water this morning and this was the apology to guests – with a promise to have the problem fixed. Well, here's hoping since at least 40 more people are checking in today.

Here's a few more photos ... as I work to learn how to use the new Blogger interface. Ugh.

My flight out of Omaha had to be de-iced by this guy.

The last time I flew over this stream near Eppley, it was out of its banks.

Chicago didn't have any snow on the ground.

Wow, two blankets for each seat (plus a pillow).

No need for Lauren to translate what's on the left.

Check out the guy checking me out taking this photo.
Probably thought I was an "American tourist." Yep, that's me.

The in-flight magazine shows "The Office" as a TV series choice.
But not the U.S. version.

Take note of the "real" silverware.

Here's breakfast. Croissant with ham (or was it turkey?),
fruit cup, pastry and a Kit Kat bar.

Soigneur Stefano Rubino was my driver for the ride to the hotel.
I was the first of his two airport pickups today.

I'm taking photos of signs and landscape for Lauren's Spanish class.
Nothing like getting two American fast food institutions into one photo.

The obligatory room photo. Nice balcony view of the pool.
But not much afternoon sun.