It’s raining outside. We were supposed to set off at nine this morning in order to beat the rain. But unfortunately it has beaten us.

We’re currently in La Molina, a little ski resort in the Pyrénées about 120 km from Girona. We rode up here on Saturday after spending a couple of days at home. Before that we had been in St. Moritz where we had travelled to directly after the Giro. When I say we, I mean the hardcore four: Christian, Dan, Ryder and myself. This has been part of JV’s grand plan for us since the beginning of the year. Complete the Giro, aka ‘Hardest Race In The World,’ and spend as much time between the Giro and Tour at altitude.

Hanging in Molina
Phase one of this was St.Moritz. Willy our chef works in a restaurant on the slopes up there during the winter and so is well connected. He had a lovely hotel opened a few days early for us on the top of a mountain. So along with our better halves we passed ten days of post Giro recuperation. It was wonderful. The weather wasn’t exactly on our side, but we weren’t doing that much so it wasn’t a big deal. It’s an odd place St.Moritz. Certainly beautiful, but definitely bizarre. You’ve gotta love the fact it was the birth place of the “Skeleton,” a 60 second head-first plunge down an ice slide on a sledge. Dress code: tweed jacket, plus fours. Created by the British obviously…

So now we’re in La Molina. Currently the Three Musketeers (above) and Dr. Lim are in our apartment discussing the merits of the US Track Team’s selection process. A strange and somewhat random event that has taken place these last two days in LA. The original reason for this gathering together was to decide our plan for the day as it’s still raining outside. As we’re on the top of a mountain and we’re planning on dropping down and riding back up four times, we could do with slightly better weather. We have accepted a rain delay and are going to leave at 2 pm, unless it’s still raining. Then we’re calling a rest day and replacing tomorrow’s rest day with today’s training. That decision is a few hours away though. Now Christian is telling stories of the Vandedrome in Chicago…

So yeah, this is Team Slipstream hard at work in the mountains. Much sitting around so luckily we get along well. We’ve been living in each others pockets now since the first week of May. Mission Tour de France is in full flight…

Now that I’m back in the spirit of writing, I will keep everybody a little more updated as to what we’re up to. Sorry for the absence. Now that the mental and physical damage from the Giro is repaired, I will be more communicative.