At the OTC
February 10

The season starts. From Albuquerque, I flew to San Diego for a National Team Camp at the OTC. Karen Kurreck and some young ones are here: Casandra, Elizabeth, Megan, Brandi. And some track people, mostly guys. We all go out at about 9AM for a ride. Other than that, we eat at the cafeteria, very well stocked with food and hang out in the dorm rooms.

My roommate is Brandi, an excellent espoir-age triathlete who has also been at National Team camps for each of the three individual sports. She spends most of her time on line talking with friends. She hangs with Megan, who started doing touring with her Dad and brother at age 8 or something like that. She is now 18 and racing. I met her at Worlds in Italy last year.

Today, Megan and I were at the gym here and saw the craziest thing. One of the athletes hung from a chinning bar, lifted his feet to his head and then started rocking his feet back and forth all the way to 90 degrees in both directions (east and west, if his head were north) -- as if he were a windshield wiper. If this doesn't sound crazy to you, try just the lifting feet to head part.

I love coming to the OTCs. For one, I am no longer the one eating dinner earliest. Everyone eats by 6PM. Second, there's all these great athletes around doing crazy stuff. The gym room is always a trip.

This afternoon some of the riders went to watch the softball team do their stuff against the Canadians. Those women can play softball. No joke. The Canadians, who are good, looked like a grade school team. The USA women were so smooth and in tune, using minimal effort to make the plays.

Tomorrow I fly to San Francisco for the Charles Schwab Training Camp. Our first race will be McClane Pacific, mid-February.