Arrival In Spain

The view from my corner room on the sixth floor of the NH Hotel in Bilbao, Spain.

Sunny skies and warm weather greeted me upon my arrival in Spain today. I'm hearing it won't stay like this for long. But for one day, it was pretty nice.

Dominik Nerz had this waiting for me. Very thoughtful.

I landed in Bilbao and immediately got to work catching up on the Tour of Flanders. Fewer than 70 kilometers remained. And fewer than 40 by the time I made it to my hotel. The BMC Racing Team bus was nearly full of riders and staff watching the race (in Flemish), so I opted to use Tether to stream it on my laptop in my room.

Things went fairly smoothly on the race report front. I wish the hotel Internet was better, but the hotel itself is awesome – save for not having a workout facility – and we will be here several nights.

The rest of my day was meeting with the riders, setting up some interviews for later this week, arranging to get a helmet so I can ride the BMC urbanchallenge UC01 (my helmet is on the other bus), and meeting as a staff to go over the game plan for Monday's opening stage.

On to the photos of my (super nice and well-lit) room:

Elegant pattern on the shower door thingy.

"Living room" area of my room. Very nice and airy, especially with the window open.

Not shown on the right: a foot washer with a cover.

This part of the bathroom is open in the hallway.

Check out the TV built into the wall directly across from the bed.

Mini-bar photo. Not very well stocked in comparison to some I have seen.

Best feature of the closet? The little lights. Very cool. The right side has a safe.

My room overlooks the BMC Racing Team vehicle compound.

Another view looking out from my room.

Nice bed. Let's hope it is soft.

Lots of color-coordinated amenities. But no slippers.