|
Sunshine in Girona and Never a Dull Moment
Written by Steven Cozza
Monday, 11 September 2006
Flew into Girona the other day after the USPRO Championships and just love it here. Upon arriving to our place here, I did not know what to expect. There are two riders' houses. One is an old OLD Hotel like building and the other is a new place right down the street from a cathedral. So, we hopped out of our ride from the airport and Danny Pate showed me the way to the building. Having a bike bag and a humongous dufflebag was a trying idea since we live on the second floor and the place has a spiral stair case that goes up about 6 floors. Our pad is a 6 bedroom place and we all get our own room. It's so cool! We wash our clothes in a washing machine and then hang them over the balcony to dry which they do in about 30 minutes (since we're in Spain). Directly below is a youth hostel and we constantly see backpackers from all over the world coming in and out. Below my room, there is a little square, so I enjoy going on the computer looking down at the people below. It's like being on vacation here all the time. We are located in a great part of the city. Just a block down from us is a cathedral, an art museum and the rambala where all the people go shopping and strolling later at night. From what I see, the majority of the people here are happy and it seems like 80 percent are women. The other day, we went for a good ride through the awesome landscape and road through fig trees, orange, walnut, olive, peach and pear trees. We stopped for some pears and they were quite good. Then later,during the 3 hour ride, Tom and Danny taught me this game they play on the bikes. I started the game. The trick is to attack the rider and try and get up the road. Once you get out of site you look for a place to turn off or hide like behind a bush or down a dirt road or behind a car. Then you wait 'til they pass. If they see you and noticed that you stopped at that point, then they attack you or not but you don't get points. If they don't see you though and you ride up behind them, then you get a point. It's quite a funny game when you stop and hide near a person's yard and the whole family is standing out front wondering what the hell a skinny guy in spandex and a helmet is doing squatting behind one of their bushes. It was even funnier for me to see a former World Champion -Danny Pate squatting in the bushes on a training ride hiding from us to score some points. By the end of the ride, I ended up being the "victor" totaling up with 3 points, 1 point to Tom and none to Danny. Rookie luck I think - haha. Since the people of Spain are totally cycling friendly, the only real hazard that you have to worry about is the Spanish dog situation. Damn, they are quick. I got chased by a pack of 4 the first ride I did here by myself. They don't let up either. I was in a full-out hard interval for about 5 minutes just to shake these little scraggly beasts.
Next up, on our team's agenda over here, is that we fly out to a race Saturday morning in France. The race is on Sunday and then we fly home Sunday night - so short and sweet. It's an HC pro 190k race in the north of France so it should be rolling and fast. I guess Robbie McEwen won it last year, so it may suit the sprinters.
So far so great in Girona. I can see why a lot of the American pros live here and train.
|