Back To Spain

The view from my third floor balcony.
Callela, Spain – It's not very often that you leave Omaha in mid-March for southern Spain and it ends up being cooler at the beachfront hotel. But that was the case Saturday when I arrived for the Volta a Catalunya.

To bring you up to speed, I left Omaha Friday morning after one of the most hectic pre-flight packing sessions of all time. That's because my wallet turned up missing when I was double-checking that I had everything. Re-tracing my steps, I came to the conclusion that I lost it sometime Friday afternoon, either at the bank, Arby's, Pepperjax (downtown) or at Omaha Central. To make the longest of stories extremely short, it turned up in someone else's possession and made my day stressful, hectic and downright awful.

Anyway, I arrived in Atlanta hoping to complete my Trusted Traveler application for the Global Entry program. No such luck. First, you need an appointment, which I could not secure since they were all taken. Secondly, I would have needed my driver's license, which I didn't have. I did, however, get to go through metal detector again since the GOES office is located on the other side of the airport's security screening area.

The flight from Atlanta to Barcelona was scheduled for a bit more than eight hours. For some reason, we sat on the tarmac for about a half-hour after leaving the gate about a half-hour late. So add another hour to that, plus a restless night of trying to sleep in an aisle seat and I was ready to get off the plane when we landed at 7:45 a.m.

Kevin Grove picked me up at the airport, which was nice because he's one of the BMC Racing Team's American mechanics and it's always nice catching up on him. He was at Paris-Nice last week so I got to hear some of the behind-the-scenes details. Upon our arrival at the hotel (at 9 a.m.), I was actually able to check into my room. Try doing that at a hotel in the U.S. I think they might've been a bit confused at the desk, too, since they had us down as the "BCM Racing Team" at our dinner table.

The rest of my day was spent covering Milan-San Remo, a race I attended last year. It was a bit strange watching it on TV this time. But everything went smoothly once the race came on Eurosport in my hotel room. Up until that point, I was a bit frustrated watching it buffer on my laptop – so much so that I wasn't able to discern George Hincapie from Marcus Burghardt. They are both wearing yellow/green shoes this year.

Later on TV, there was a bizarre go-cart racing thing on TV. I couldn't understand a word of it (I think it was German) but it was fun to watch. (See screenshot at right.) I also stumbled across an episode of "Knight Rider" while channel surfing.

The rest of my night was spent working on photos and this week's race preview. Fortunately, the hotel wifi is good (fingers crossed) and the partying in the streets that started around 10 p.m. didn't keep me up too long.

Check out the ice cream at dinner.

"K.I.T.T.! Get me out of here."

Bathroom photo (for Julia).

Not too shabby.

Part of the drive to the hotel was along the coast,
which reminded me of Highway 1 in California.

We even came upon a group of cyclists.

Lobby of the hotel. Nice. I'll be doing work here.

Pasta, green beans, rice and french fries (not shown).

A nice, sunny day in Atlanta for my departure.

What a ride

Julia, Olivia and Veronica enjoyed warm monster cookies on the ride to school today.

Bieber Fever ... In The Van

Julia enjoyed a Justin Bieber video on the way to school.

Faster Entry

My list when filling out a form for faster passport entry.

What A Ride

Julia got to ride on the Zamboni after the UNO hockey game.

You can tell from this photo that Julia had a great time.

Late Night, With Fireplace

Working late into the night at the BMC-Hincapie Sportswear Team camp in Greenville, S.C., was a bit easier thanks to the lobby fireplace.

Dining With The Princesses

Scrambled eggs and toast were on the breakfast menu.
A rare weekday of dining twice with the princesses – breakfast with Julia, Olivia and Veronica at the house and later, dinner with everyone (plus Aunt Bridget and Uncle Jon) at Hollywood Diner.

Good times...

The girls – especially Julia (right) loved the good start.

Check out Veronica's clown sundae.

Veronica thought her coat and hat made a cute "person."

Julia got in on her own share of the clown sundae action.

Veronica put her mark on the freshly-fallen snow.

Cyclocross Nationals: The First Day

We took our officials crew picture before we left the hotel.
Verona, Wis. – Another quick entry, as the long days of officiating simply clash with my ability to get client work done.

So, in no particular order, here are the highlights (and lowlights) of the opening day of the USA Cycling national cyclocross championships:

- I broke the bell (the clapper flew off in mid-ring), which required an in-race fix-it job (photo at right.

- The venue is a park somewhere near our hotel. I'm not sure how far it is because (like all officiating crews do) we stopped for coffee on the way there.

- Parking is $5 or $15 for the duration of the event. No admission is charged. Team space is $200.

- It was cold in the morning when we first arrived, but warmed up nicely. But shortly after chief referee Carla Geyer shed one of her layers, the sun went behind the clouds, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped.

- The pizza parlor we drove to in Madison was nice. It made up for the lunch of a single bean burrito (with nothing to drink because the burrito was $6 - the entire value of our meal voucher).

- Simply sitting or standing outside for eight hours sure takes its toll. I felt like I had been through a 10-round prize fight when we got back to the hotel.

- There were tons of Post Grape-Nuts cereal boxes at the team hotel. And they were giving it out (with milk) in the food tent as part of the sponsorship deal. I wonder how long it'll be before we grow tired of hearing about it. It's really a natural sponsorship, as is UnitedHealthcare (though we're waiting to hear the extent of involvement on that one).

This photo was shot before we lifted the plastic windshield
on the judges tent. The lap counter and bell were my responsibility.

Ice had to chipped off the finishing straight.

Readying the finish line truss – which shows off the new
major sponsors of USA Cycling (unveiled this week).

Photo for Julia. That's ice melt in the portalet reservoir.

Distributing radios was our first task once on-site.

Tom Schuler (left), my former boss at Team Type 1, is the
event director. It's always great to work with him. I have him
to thank for introducing me to the BMC Racing Team.

Dave Fowkes and Carla Geyer at the rider staging.

And here's what staging looks like moments before the start.

This guy, in the last race of the day, and to run his bike
the last kilometer or so after something on it broke.

A look at my paltry scoring sheet for the women's singlespeed.

Pizza for dinner. This wasn't mine. (I had pepperoni.)

So This Is Madison

Here's the view from my hotel window. Not exactly Denia.
I'm on the road again. This time for the USA Cycling national cyclocross championships. I don't know that I've been to Madison, Wis., before. But I am sure I will get to know it because I'm spending nearly a week here. Temperatures are expected to be cold, but not too cold (30s and 40s) and there's no snow in the forecast.

Hopefully I can keep the entries coming daily, as I did when I was officiating cyclocross nationals in 2009 in Bend, Ore. (See my gallery and report from that year here.)

The YD Christmas-turned-New Year's letter is going out today.

I threw the airport shuttle guy for a loop when my flight showed
up an hour early at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison.

Epic System Corp's Intergalatic Headquarters are in Madison.
Amazing campus and buildings. Read up on them here.

Yes, my room has a doorbell. (Insert your own joke
about it being the "room for handicapped.")

I'm not sure why my bags were tagged "priority" but I'll take it.

Here's the room I'll be sharing for six days. Good wifi (and free).

This is a big change. No black in my closet.

My roommate, Rich Weiss, showed me his scoring system.
He got his official's license in 1975. I was eight.

Each guest at the hotel gets these
directional sheets when they check in.

We had our first officials meeting tonight in the lobby.
That's chief referee Carla Geyer on the left.

The late Reggie White's jersey hangs in the sports bar
across the street from my hotel.

Heading Home

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