Dress Like Usmo

Now you too can wear official Richard Sachs Team apparel! Check out the ebay auction with lots of team gear at this link.

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Sorry for the three-day lapse in blog updating... aside from the usual bike riding, there hasn't been too much going on in the world of the A-Team! We've been doing important things like filing taxes, grocery shopping, and accumulating Facebook friends. The last few days have also been fantastic weather days, and we're not missing the string of nor'easters back home at all... not one little bit!! ha. This warm California sunshine is good for the body and soul atmo.

Miles Ridden Today: 37

Miles Ridden 2008: 878

Home Again

We've finally returned home to our beds and our computers after a few days following the Amgen Tour of California down the coast. Our friends on the Slipstream-Chipotle team took home the team omnium title and a fat check at the end of the week long race... congratulations on a stylish win guys!

Alie and I watched a rainy finish Thursday in downtown SLO, a mostly sunny time trial on Friday in Solvang, then took a day off the race following to visit Alie's family in Chatsworth and get our nails done with her cousin, Rachel. Sunday we were back on the trail of the race, and our own ride coincided with part of the race route at the top of Big Tujunga Canyon. After watching the guys go by, we were freezing cold 20 minutes later and luckily got a ride back down the mountain from one of the many bike-friendly spectators that had driven up the canyon to watch as well! We scurried over to the finish area at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and arrived just in time to join the crowds watching the finishing laps of the race and see George Hincapie take home the final stage win in pouring rain and cold conditions.

Post-race activites included finding dinner in Pasadena:

Once we found dinner with the help of the map, we also found Justin Spinelli! Congrats on finishing a tough race and looking good atmo. After celebrating a love of robots and having a few drinks that may or may not have been purchased by a super-pro cyclist, and then having a few more drinks, we eventually turned in for the night and said goodbye to the Tour of California.

Sighhh... back to the routine here at home.  We may or may not correctly recall our mileage during the last few whirlwind days, but we're estimating at...

Miles Ridden 2008: 744

Tour of Cali, Solvang Time Trial

Today marked the first day of the winter where Alie and I set an alarm to wake up in the morning. We headed down to Solvang to watch the Stage 5 time trial of the Tour of California. After saying hi to the Slipstream-Chipotle team, getting an autograph from George Hincapie, and nearly good-gaming Mario Cipollini, we hung out at the start area for a while, and saw the starts of Tim Johnson, Stuart O'Grady, Cipo, and our favorite racer Justin Spinelli. Above is a picture I snagged of David Zabriskie, 5th place finisher in the race today.

JUSTIN SPINELLI, Man of Steel atmo

Mr. Justin Spinelli himself, warming up in the car after a SEVEN HOUR DAY on the bike in Stage 4 of the Tour of California - he finished with the best of the best today in what had to be one of the most miserable rainy days you could have for a 135-mile race along the California coast. CONGRATULATIONS JUSTIN!!!!! Our hero...

Rainy Day

OK, so today may have been a rainy day in the morning, but it sure turned into a beautiful afternoon.  Not much new to report from here on the central coast.  After an exciting weekend, we spent the last two days doing some biking and a lot of shopping.  We bought so many stylish clothes, you may not even recognize us when we get back to the east coast!  Don't worry, I still bought more than one dorky t-shirt, we're not actually turning into California girls.  For now, we both still have brown hair :)

Tonight, we prepare to spend a few days watching the Tour of California, which comes to SLO tomorrow!!!

Miles Ridden Today: 33.5

Miles Ridden 2008: 646.5

Awesome Weekend!!

For the first time in a while, you get to read about something we did other than ride bikes this weekend!! We were graced with the presence of both Kristina Eaton and Alie's sister, Marina. On Saturday after a delicious sushi dinner, we met up with Rebecca and her two weekend guests, Shawn Milne and Jesse Anthony. A night and early morning of bar-hopping and dancing ensued as we hit a few hot spots in downtown SLO.  There are lots of pictures, so check out the album linked here.

On Sunday, the warm temperatures lured the four of us girls to Montana de Oro State Park near the ocean for a hike. After hiking/scampering/racing into the clouds to the top of Valencia Peak, we ran into a random boy with a guitar who took this picture for us: 

After racing back down the mountain (so much for a day off the bike!) we made our way to the town of Edna for some afternoon wine tasting at the Edna Valley Vineyard with Shawn and Jesse as well. A trip to a second vineyard was sufficient to complete the afternoon of wine tasting. We wrapped up the day with a homemade veggie lasagna at Chateau-duh-A-Team annnnd more wine with the whole crew, and watched the movie Capote.  More pictures are here.

On Monday morning, Marina headed home for San Francisco, Kristina went for a jog, and the two of us got back on our bikes for what seemed like the first time in days. After a solid ride, we came back to rescue Kristina from her studying and headed down to Pismo Beach for the afternoon. We dropped off Kristina at the airport this evening and have been moping ever since :(

It looks like it's back to the routine for the A-Team... until the Tour of California comes to town this week!!!! Stay tuned...

Miles Ridden Today: 45

Miles Ridden 2008: 567