February 15, 2007
Written by Steven Cozza

It's been way, way, way, too long since my last update-so finally here is one. I hope to give "little updates" along the route of the Tour of California, every chance I get. Then again, I might be so tired that I won't even be able to lift a finger. Quite a bit has gone on since my last update of me being over in Girona. After my short, month-long break in October that was filled with doing many of the things I can't do during the racing season like running, fishing and eating bowls of ice cream from time to time, I got straight back to business in November with some heavy base miles. Along with doing lots and lots of base miles on the local roads that surround my life here in Petaluma, California, I worked part time 3 days a week as a receptionist at the local Joe Hamer Salon and Academy. This was unusually odd work for me and different from what I had done the winter before, working in construction with my best friend Jeff. The women stylist in the salon flat-ironed and picked at me one too many times. I think that is the last job I'll ever take other than racing my bike haha. Seriously, the stylists were great fun and really brought some change into my everyday life of riding, resting and hanging out with my friends, girlfriend and family. On the other hand it really made me appreciate going out to train and smell the fresh air after answering phones, breathing in hair products and getting pushed around by 40 year old women having mid-life crises over their hair balding or starting to thin. Nothing will ever get me flustered after working a job like that! haha. Finally, working as a receptionist had to come to an end because my team's training camp was quickly approaching. I needed to get super focused at this point and start to get my feet back underneath me. So, my girlfriend Callie and I headed up the coast to Mendecino where we hit up the bed and breakfast and to do some training. I knew before long that I would be leaving for training camp down in Julian, Southern California where I soon learned that the nights get as cold as 5 below zero and the apple pie flows like water which we did not have because the pipes froze every night. I road from my house in Sonoma County and met Callie along the side of the road up in Mendecino where it poured buckets of pacific coastal storm water on me. She scraped me off the side of the road and we headed for our room in Mendecino. I did some pretty cool rides up there. One of the days Callie was going to meet me up about 80 miles north of where we were in a town known as Honeydo. I had picked a road off wonderful Highway 1 for us to meet on just before Honeydo. Little did Callie or I know that the roads around this place were goat trails. On the map it looked like a highway but really they were freak-en goat trails everywhere. I took the one we said to take, not knowing if she would find it since the name of the road was spray painted on the street. I was hoping she would spot it. Little did I know, she missed it. I headed down this lost coast goat trail going deeper and deeper into "No-man's" land or "pot farmer's" land. It was actually pretty creepy. It felt as though someone was following me the whole time because I was surrounded by huge California redwoods. The dang goat trail ended up having a gate across it after an hour's worth of riding down it. I thought, "Oh great! Well, I'll just head back and hopefully run into Callie." I didn't know that she missed the road and decided to take the main Highway 1 and then the 101 to Honeydo. I pieced it together and without cell phone service anywhere, started riding the way I though she might have gone. Well, 7 hours later, YES, I said SEVEN hours later, we finally met up in a town called Dumbsberry, from what I remember. I sat in a deli and ordered all I could with the 3 bucks I had. I ate fries and a meatball and used their phone to call her. It was one brutal day for me but even more b r u t a l for Callie. She had stories and stories of where she had ended up, getting to Honeydo and how it was like the movie Deliverence. After this rugged day, we decided to stop at some nude hot springs on the way home. It was a little odd at first, but with time I got use to the nakedness of the hippies. After that, I packed my bags and drove down to Slipstream,s training camp picking up Taylor Tolleson along the way. The camp was a great three weeks of hard training with my other teammates. With lots and lots of climbing each day, we headed out to the Salton Sea and other desert areas. Julian, where we stayed, was considered high desert at 4500 feet elevation. Finally, the camp ended and here I am now 3 days away from the Tour of California. It is so awesome to be able to race right past where I live in such a big race. I believe our team has prepared to the very best and are 100% ready to take on the finest in the sport. More reports will follow soon from the race. And lastly, I would like to shout out a great big thanks to Ronnie Lenzi and Louis for helping me finally get a great web site up for all of you to follow my adventures with my team throughout the year. Without their support, this site would be nothing.

Thanks for reading, and supporting a 100% clean athlete,

Steven