Greetings from...where am I these days, New Zealand, California, no- Boise, Idaho. After a lovely three months living the good life in New Zealand this past November to January I shuttled back over the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco for a couple days of acclimation before heading up to St. Helena in Napa Valley to celebrate, I mean train, with this year's Colavita/Sutter Homes presented by Cooking Light men's and women's team. After ten days of living it up in Napa, getting spoiled by the generous folks at Sutter Homes, I have moved to Boise for at least the duration of the 2007 season. For the first time this winter I am now seeing snow and feeling cold, I of course cannot complain as I did manage to avoid the bulk of the winter season and will head back to California by the beginning of March to race the first circuit of NRC races with what promises to be an incredibly strong Colavita/Sutter Homes women's team.
New Zealand was a really positive experience and provided an ideal setting to put in more winter training then I have in previous years. For the most part I spent long days doing nothing but getting lost in the rural settings outside the small town of Cambridge. For a visual watch this little known indie flick called Lord of the Rings. Much of the Shire shots were from the area that I spent most of of my time exploring. A friend came over from the States in December and we ventured down to the South Island where the scenery is much more dramatic with the intention of touring the island by bike. He unfortunately was harboring chronic fatigue syndrome and my bullying him onto his bicycle didn't help his condition much. In the end we went with the more sensible solution and rented a vehicle, threw the bikes in the back and drove the route, riding when we stopped. It was quite memorable, great for training, and a trip I would highly recommend to anyone who has the slightest interest. The rest of my time was spent working at a cafe, helping in the garden, collecting the daily eggs from our chickens, enjoying Kiwi bbq's on the finer evenings, riding around town on my little scooter trying to stay on the left hand side of the road and being as useful as possible to my host family. Though not at my own home, it was still great down time in between race seasons.
As you may have seen announced on Cyclingnews a while back, this year's Colavita/Sutter Homes team is registered as a UCI team. This means we will be ranked internationally, not just nationally. What that also means is that our team will start to incorporate a broader scope and higher level of races into our calendar including World Cup events and the women's Tour of Italy. It's an amazing opportunity to be on this team at this stage in its development. My teammates include two National Champions and some of the finest climbers I have ever seen. After riding alongside and sometimes behind these women I am anxious to see how the season pans out. We definitely have the talent to dominate North American racing and with the support of the management company, Team Sports, a professional staff of soigneurs and mechanics and generous, enthusiastic sponsors we have the infrastructure to support our efforts.
For the record, the men's team is looking pretty flash(New Zealand term) too. So for those of you who keep an eye on results, I think you should see us near the top on an regular basis. For those of you who are more like me and tend not to keep up with the sport on a daily basis, I will drop a line to let you know what's going on out there. Four members of the women's team will be in Australia in a couple of weeks and the rest of us will start up in California the first weekend of March. Until then, I wish you happy and successful indoor time trialing.
Sarah
