Sean YD Cafe

Late Night, With Fireplace

2012-02-12T00:09:00.004-06:00

Working late into the night at the BMC-Hincapie Sportswear Team camp in Greenville, S.C., was a bit easier thanks to the lobby fireplace.

Dining With The Princesses

2012-02-08T13:40:00.005-06:00

Scrambled eggs and toast were on the breakfast menu.
A rare weekday of dining twice with the princesses – breakfast with Julia, Olivia and Veronica at the house and later, dinner with everyone (plus Aunt Bridget and Uncle Jon) at Hollywood Diner.

Good times...

The girls – especially Julia (right) loved the good start.

Check out Veronica's clown sundae.

Veronica thought her coat and hat made a cute "person."

Julia got in on her own share of the clown sundae action.

Veronica put her mark on the freshly-fallen snow.

Cyclocross Nationals: The First Day

2012-01-05T07:24:00.012-06:00

We took our officials crew picture before we left the hotel.
Verona, Wis. – Another quick entry, as the long days of officiating simply clash with my ability to get client work done.

So, in no particular order, here are the highlights (and lowlights) of the opening day of the USA Cycling national cyclocross championships:

- I broke the bell (the clapper flew off in mid-ring), which required an in-race fix-it job (photo at right.

- The venue is a park somewhere near our hotel. I'm not sure how far it is because (like all officiating crews do) we stopped for coffee on the way there.

- Parking is $5 or $15 for the duration of the event. No admission is charged. Team space is $200.

- It was cold in the morning when we first arrived, but warmed up nicely. But shortly after chief referee Carla Geyer shed one of her layers, the sun went behind the clouds, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped.

- The pizza parlor we drove to in Madison was nice. It made up for the lunch of a single bean burrito (with nothing to drink because the burrito was $6 - the entire value of our meal voucher).

- Simply sitting or standing outside for eight hours sure takes its toll. I felt like I had been through a 10-round prize fight when we got back to the hotel.

- There were tons of Post Grape-Nuts cereal boxes at the team hotel. And they were giving it out (with milk) in the food tent as part of the sponsorship deal. I wonder how long it'll be before we grow tired of hearing about it. It's really a natural sponsorship, as is UnitedHealthcare (though we're waiting to hear the extent of involvement on that one).

This photo was shot before we lifted the plastic windshield
on the judges tent. The lap counter and bell were my responsibility.

Ice had to chipped off the finishing straight.

Readying the finish line truss – which shows off the new
major sponsors of USA Cycling (unveiled this week).

Photo for Julia. That's ice melt in the portalet reservoir.

Distributing radios was our first task once on-site.

Tom Schuler (left), my former boss at Team Type 1, is the
event director. It's always great to work with him. I have him
to thank for introducing me to the BMC Racing Team.

Dave Fowkes and Carla Geyer at the rider staging.

And here's what staging looks like moments before the start.

This guy, in the last race of the day, and to run his bike
the last kilometer or so after something on it broke.

A look at my paltry scoring sheet for the women's singlespeed.

Pizza for dinner. This wasn't mine. (I had pepperoni.)

So This Is Madison

2012-01-03T16:04:00.009-06:00

Here's the view from my hotel window. Not exactly Denia.
I'm on the road again. This time for the USA Cycling national cyclocross championships. I don't know that I've been to Madison, Wis., before. But I am sure I will get to know it because I'm spending nearly a week here. Temperatures are expected to be cold, but not too cold (30s and 40s) and there's no snow in the forecast.

Hopefully I can keep the entries coming daily, as I did when I was officiating cyclocross nationals in 2009 in Bend, Ore. (See my gallery and report from that year here.)

The YD Christmas-turned-New Year's letter is going out today.

I threw the airport shuttle guy for a loop when my flight showed
up an hour early at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison.

Epic System Corp's Intergalatic Headquarters are in Madison.
Amazing campus and buildings. Read up on them here.

Yes, my room has a doorbell. (Insert your own joke
about it being the "room for handicapped.")

I'm not sure why my bags were tagged "priority" but I'll take it.

Here's the room I'll be sharing for six days. Good wifi (and free).

This is a big change. No black in my closet.

My roommate, Rich Weiss, showed me his scoring system.
He got his official's license in 1975. I was eight.

Each guest at the hotel gets these
directional sheets when they check in.

We had our first officials meeting tonight in the lobby.
That's chief referee Carla Geyer on the left.

The late Reggie White's jersey hangs in the sports bar
across the street from my hotel.

Heading Home

2011-12-18T16:12:00.008-06:00

The Valencia airport has that "Up In The Air"
movie poster feel to it.
So I really botched it when it came to blogging nightly at the BMC Racing Team training camp. Blame the lack of photo possibilities. Or at least the lack of "fresh" photos – because food was still an option. Here's a smattering of pics from my final 24 hours in Denia.

Check out this stair-less escalator in the airport.

At the Madrid Airport, these signs tell you how much
of a walk you still have to go to get to your terminal/gates.

This cake looked delicious. I didn't have a piece, though.

Pizza and spaghetti for my last meal. Yum.

Soigneur Freddy Viaene took a photo for Danilo Wyss.

Check out the artistic trimming on these bushes.

Surprise From Olivia

2011-12-12T19:38:00.000-06:00

Playing Catch-Up

2011-12-11T07:41:00.013-06:00

Now this is food heaven. Friday night's dinner.
I'm a bit perturbed with Blogger and its new interface. It's old one was nothing to shout out. But enough about the issues that erased 10 minutes' worth of writing.

Today's entry focuses on food. I was able to enjoy a cheeseburger and fries Friday night after having my heart set on skipping that meal. Fortunately, I took a trip through the restaurant and discovered a veritable American meal right before my eyes. Yum.

Of the pictures above and below, can you tell
which two plates are mine from lunch Sunday?

Of course, the fingernails in one of the photos – and the shrimp – are a dead giveaway that that photo isn't one of my plates. Surprisingly, there was no rice for the taking for the first time since I arrived. (And believe me, I looked.) You'll see from the small photo at right that the offerings for dessert are pretty vast. Sundays are brunch days here at the hotel, complete with live music. It's a nice atmosphere. And it's only 30 Euro. (I guess that's a good deal if you like the food). Two more food pics and then I'll close the book on that topic (for now).

This was my dinner (and lunch) Saturday.

This was the birthday cake for Mathias Frank Friday.
A few odds and ends:

- Note to self: I need a new computer. My MacBook is about on its last legs. This one is from 2007. It's a workhorse, but yikes, it is sloooow.

- I made another trip to the Valencia airport this morning. I'm beginning to get used to that drive. And I got a few FourSquare check-ins in as well.

- The weather here is sunnier than yesterday, but not quite as warm. It's 63. Wednesday looks the best – with a high near 70.

- I watched a bit of the Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer ("football") game last night. Real Madrid scored 25 seconds into the match on the way to a 3-1 win. They love their soccer over here, as you might know. Like really, really love it. Like more than cycling. And that's a bit disappointing. But times change.

- Marcus Burghardt mentioned Princess Olivia in a tweet (shown below), which was really nice. I hope she likes it when she reviews her timeline.

An Early Morning

2011-12-10T06:30:00.006-06:00

Smoke billows across the road from an open burn.
One day after one of the hardest days of exercise I have experienced at a training camp, I didn't make it to the next morning's workout session. That's because I offered to drive a few people to the airport in Valencia. I'll have to make up for it at the night session, I guess. Overall, my eating habits are good, though I snuck a can of pop Friday night to help stay awake.

The BMC Racing Team vehicle (caravelle) I drove has some type of funky satellite radio system that allows you to receive text messages. It kept chirping at me that I could send a message up to 64 characters (pictured at right) that was kind of annoying until I figured out how to turn it off.

The other thing I saw on my 90-minute drive (each way) back from the airport was an abundance of opening burns. Smoke billowed in some cases. The first time I took note of it was without any sign of smoke. I thought I was driving with the emergency brake on it smelled of rubber so much.

Also on the way back, a road was closed. That made for some fun, including a detour the GPS couldn't handle. Ultimately, I checked in with my buddy Chris De Vos, who steered me the right way.

Weather-wise, Friday was perfect (sunny, low 70s), but the weather Saturday turned a bit cooler (low 60s) with a lot of cloud cover. I'm not sure about the rest of the week. From what I understand, it's bone-chilling cold in Omaha. I'm not complaining about 60s or even 50s.

It's Saturday afternoon as I write this and I still have a ton of work to do. Let's hope the rest of the day is as productive as the first party.

When One Picture Will Have To Do

2011-12-08T22:54:00.003-06:00

And what a doozy it is. Straight out of a "Gunz" catalog.
Those are Advent calendars in the picture above. Yes, the kind with the little doors you open to find chocolates behind. Crazy, huh?

Anyway, on to business. Thursday can be summed up in one word: busy. With lots of meetings. But productive.

In other news, it was the feast of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. In Spain, that means everything was closed. My fulfillment of the holy day of obligation was done via Internet at this new website I found earlier this week. Online, streaming masses. Much better than the YouTube (48 minute) mass I'm so used to watching when I can't find a church or get to one.

That's about it for today. Good weather continues. I'm trying to eat healthy (though I didn't have dinner tonight) and am working on my fitness and mental health as well. I am not missing the snow that was falling in Omaha tonight...

Day Three Features Food

2011-12-07T17:13:00.013-06:00

A rare photo you'll see from training camp.
So I'm writing today's entry at 12:30 a.m. Not exactly what I planned, but I want to keep my commitment to blogging going.

I took a few photos for one of the team's sponsors today (to ensure they met our guidelines for this training camp) and they turned out pretty well for the amount of time (less than two minutes) I spent snapping them. The one you see above and to the right are two of about 15 I shot and sent off. Obviously a shoe sponsor...

The highlight of the day was probably when the Christmas lights on the outside of the hotel somehow caught fire, knocking out power to my wing of the hotel. This set me back a bit, as you might imagine.

The weather continues to be terrific and the two hours I spent working outside not only completely drained my laptop battery, but they also started turning me a little bit brown. We'll see how long the great weather trend continues and how much of a "base tan" I can bring back to Nebraska later this month.

Todd Herriott, a fellow Mount Michael graduate, is here teaching core exercises (no secret, since he's done it the past two seasons). I'm equally impressed with his new Herriott Sports Performance logo and kit apparel (pictured at right). Very, very pro. He also has custom-embroidered logowear from lululemon. Again, very professional.

Today's blog entry focuses a bit on food. Specifically, what was for the taking at lunch. I showed up at 1:30 p.m. to eat (riders were scheduled at 2:30 p.m.) and everything was ready. So I sat down to dine, fully expecting fellow staff to show up. Nearly forty minutes later, I was still the only one eating. I left at 2:15 p.m. with no sign of staff or riders. So the food they ate had been sitting out for a long time. I hope it was as good as it was when I enjoyed it. And yes, there's always lots of water on hand. I prefer the "natural" and not sparkling.

That's all I've got. Time for bed.

That bowl of salad greens is my starter dish daily.

Reverse angle of the "starter" offerings.

Rolls: white and wheat.

That's soup on the left and rice on the right.

Vegetables on the left, pasta on the right.

Lasagna - wasn't bad at all.

Pecan pie for dessert.

My dessert: squirreled away from breakfast.

First Full Day In Spain

2011-12-06T16:53:00.003-06:00

Not much to report back on today, simply because details about training camp – other than personal stuff – can't be shared publicly. And, with much of my activities being related to team stuff, there's not much else to share. At least today. I have some ideas for tomorrow.

Another sunny, 70-degree day here in Denia, Spain.

These little mirrors are put up near driveways to help cars
entering blind curves along the highway.
Probably not the safest place to stand...

My 45-minute run took me toward these mountains.

Much of Europe received some type of precipitation Monday,
including the first snowfall of the season in Switzerland.
But, as you can see, Spain or Portugal stayed dry.

2011-12-05T11:03:00.001-06:00

Postcard perfect conditions at the hotel upon my arrival.

It's amazing what a change of scenery can do for your mind and body. Fewer than 24 hours ago, I was enduring sub-freezing temperatures and ice and snow (pictured at left). But when I took a half-hour walk upon arrival in Denia, Spain, birds were chirping, the sun was shining brightly and green, leaf-loaded trees had me thinking it was April, not early December.

Temperatures in the lower 70s are too cool for swimming, but the pool sure does look inviting, doesn't it? On my to-do list is to ask for a key to the workout room (adjacent to the spa, which has its own entry and pricing), which may give me entry to the exterior hot tub (because I did bring a swimsuit).

I've never flown Iberian Airlines from the United States. So that made the eight-hour flight from Chicago to Madrid "fresh." But the newness wore off quickly when I figured out there were no individual TVs in the setbacks (like on many Delta and United trans-Atlantic flights). Fortunately, I would be sleeping on the eastbound leg.

The flight was surprisingly not full. Probably about three-fourths of capacity. This made it pretty comfortable, especially since I was able to get an empty seat next to me. Once on the ground in Madrid, I had 40 minutes to clear customs and complete a 22-minute walk to my connecting gate. While I was waiting for a train, I heard a woman having a conversation with a board behind me. I quickly snapped a picture of the "Back to the Future 2" moment (photo above) featuring live video conferencing. Crazy.

- Back to the subject of in-flight entertainment, the TV screens on board my flight showed an exterior, forward-facing view from a camera mounted on the tail. It was one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Unfortunately, it is only active on taxiing during takeoff and landing.

- The two in-flight meals were good, though the "chicken" I requested looked a lot like beef. It tasted like chicken. There was some cold seafood thing in one of the containers (along with a tomato) that I steered clear of due to my apparent allergy to fresh fish. Not yet seen on a U.S. carrier in coach - warm rolls delivered on a tray.

Not the best picture, but the Madrid airport lists "walk times"on its location signs. The "K" gate where I was going is six minutesfrom where this photo was taken. When I started walking, it said "22."

My view from row 33. Look closely at the TV monitor for the "tail view" mentioned in a bullet point above.

Finally, my TV started "chirping" at me with a "message notification." Turns out the hotel ran out of hot water this morning and this was the apology to guests – with a promise to have the problem fixed. Well, here's hoping since at least 40 more people are checking in today.

Here's a few more photos ... as I work to learn how to use the new Blogger interface. Ugh.

My flight out of Omaha had to be de-iced by this guy.

The last time I flew over this stream near Eppley, it was out of its banks.

Chicago didn't have any snow on the ground.

Wow, two blankets for each seat (plus a pillow).

No need for Lauren to translate what's on the left.

Check out the guy checking me out taking this photo.
Probably thought I was an "American tourist." Yep, that's me.

The in-flight magazine shows "The Office" as a TV series choice.
But not the U.S. version.

Take note of the "real" silverware.

Here's breakfast. Croissant with ham (or was it turkey?),
fruit cup, pastry and a Kit Kat bar.

Soigneur Stefano Rubino was my driver for the ride to the hotel.
I was the first of his two airport pickups today.

I'm taking photos of signs and landscape for Lauren's Spanish class.
Nothing like getting two American fast food institutions into one photo.

The obligatory room photo. Nice balcony view of the pool.
But not much afternoon sun.

The Front Page

2011-07-25T21:36:00.005-05:00

His first Tour de France victory brought Cadel Evans some front-page treatment Down Under. Here's the scoop.

Not The Best Days

2011-07-24T08:00:00.003-05:00

This crude broadcast is how I watched the Tour today.
When Greg LeMond won the 1986 Tour de France, he crossed the finish line shortly after 9:30 a.m. CDT. The race wasn't shown live, but CBS did do a tape-delay type broadcast, beginning at 11 a.m. But get this, CBS affiliate KMTV did not choose to show it.

So, I called my senior year roommate at Mt. Michael, Matt Schmidt, who lived in Bennington. He said his TV was able to pick up 10/11, the CBS affiliate broadcasting out of Lincoln.

So I packed up a new VHS tape and drove the 35 minutes to his home. And that slightly static-filled broadcast is what I have to show for today.

Flash forward 25 years and here I sit, trying to watch the final stage of the Tour de France again. Only this time, my cable connection to Versus is not working – just like it didn't work yesterday.

Here's my view of the race:

Harry Potter Night

2011-07-14T23:36:00.000-05:00

I helped Aksarben Cinema with media relations
for its Harry Potter premier night.

Fourth of July In Austria

2011-07-04T12:37:00.005-05:00

Not sure what this sign at the hotel says, but it looks cute.

Quaint little hotel. Good wifi, too.

My fourth of July dessert. There was a chocolate fountain.

Ice cream ... and obviously not much left.

This is the view at the mountain top. Many watching the Jumbotron.

Greg Van Avermaet in his King of the Mountain jersey.

Photo of dinner in Switzerland. The fries were very good.

This is the menu. Yes, on a clipboard.

Hallway of my hotel for pre-race and Stage 1. Pretty cool.

Straight out of "Tron": Now that's a BIG door.

You've heard of "Happy Picnic," how about Happy day juice?

Welcome To Austria

2011-07-02T19:52:00.006-05:00

The row of team buses at the Zurich airport.
A quick entry because it's way late. But first impressions of Austria are very good. Beautiful views, good food and the wifi at the hotel is working (for now, right?).

Ski lift right in the middle of downtown. Crazy.

The list of everything that's in the equipment truck.

Mauro Santambrogio's runner-up trophy was on the bus.

That's a flat screen TV on my desk. And a cordless phone.

One of the most unique bathrooms I've seen.

Check out the view of the room from the tub.

My room key. Julia won't be getting this one.

View from my room. Right beside a huge mountain.

They really go all out when it comes to making the beds.

I Like Robin Meade

2011-05-27T06:56:00.000-05:00

This made my day.

Twenty-Five Years Ago Today

2011-05-03T06:17:00.003-05:00

I still regret making a grammatical error
in the cutline I wrote for this story.

A Dreadful Tuesday

2011-04-05T18:33:00.005-05:00

At least dessert was good tonight.
This will be quick. It's 1:20 a.m. and I have a race to staff on-site today. Plus, it was a long and very stressful day.

I supervised no fewer than seven interviews. It would have been seven, but I couldn't be two places at once. That alone was taxing. But we also had a few media-related issues to work through. Oh, and did I mention I covered a race in Spain? Yep, I started working at 7 a.m. and didn't meet with anyone (visiting) and here I am, still working.

Today's highlights:

- They fixed the light that was out in my bathroom. And the one over my desk. Then they pulled the door shut and locked me out.

- Chris De Vos and Freddy Viaene, team soigneurs, shared some type of dessert/cake loaf with me. I guess it's super high in calories. I had a bite and it was awesome. I skipped lunch today but can say I've eaten pasta at nearly every lunch or dinner. In four days, the team went through 20 kilos. (You'll have to do your own conversion.)

- Wednesday is a big race. I'll be riding in the team car. Hope to get some good video or photos. Thursday, we'll be doing reconnaissance on the cobblestones for Sunday's race. Friday we move to France. Saturday is the team presentation. And Monday I fly home.

- I still need to get my picture/blog post up from Sunday's race.

- It rained here. Nearly all day. The high temperature couldn't have been more than 50. This was what I imagined Belgium was like.

- The Quiznos Pro Challenge in Colorado (in August) is no more. Actually, it's still happening. But it's now the "USA Pro Cycling Challenge." Quiznos is apparently still involved. It's all confusing. What I do know is that it looks like the race is on shaky footing. And the people doing the marketing and public relations have a long way to go before they understand the sport. They're obviously outsiders to the sport or just plain bad when it comes to doing their job. Or both.

- Taylor Phinney is not doing Paris-Roubaix (Sunday's race). I didn't announce that, which led to some of the stress today. But it's all good now. Everyone knows now that he won't be there and they'll mob George Hincapie and Alessandro Ballan instead.

I wish I had some fun stuff to share today, but it was all business.

Marcus Burghardt did an interview via Skype.

This might have been my mistake – coffee for breakfast.

BMC Racing Team Chief Mechanic Ian Sherbune (left)was interviews by Nick Legan of VeloNews.

Check out the tags on my lululemon pants. (Click to enlarge.)

A Long Day On A Monday

2011-04-04T18:36:00.009-05:00

Yes, that's a parking ticket.
While I was walking around outside by the team bus this afternoon, I noticed a woman with a small phone-like device. She held it up and took a picture of one of our vehicles. But then she used a pen-like device to tap on the screen. I watched her make her way to the front of the vehicle and it quickly became apparent she was a parking meter reader. Problem is, our vehicles are parked in the hotel parking lot. Or so I thought.

It turns out, we're in a public lot. And we're just eating the tickets every day. If you look at the one photo of the cars, they didn't get tickets. That's because they're parked in the driving lane of the lot. Crazy. I saw the meter reader ticket at least two more cars before she disappeared around a corner. What I don't know is how much the tickets cost because the entire text is in Flemish. And somewhere in the lot is a place to pay, but I'm not readily seeing it.

When I'm in Europe, I frequently think "globally" when it comes to what is happening. It's most evident just by watching my Facebook wall or Twitter feed.

People in California are getting ready for bed about the time I am waking up. It's not until about noon or 1 p.m., that people back in Omaha begin stirring – and showing up in my Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Things really get going about 7 or 8 p.m. and continue right through to the middle of the night. So if I want to be active on "U.S. time" it means staying up to 2 or 3 in the morning. I did this at training camp in Spain and it was a real headache. Unfortunately, I'm doing it again on this trip. It's not fun. But work has to be done.

I hope to get out and check out the city we're in - since I'll be here through Friday morning. When Freddy Viaene (BMC Racing Team soigneur) invited me to go pick up pizzas with him after the race Sunday night, I jumped at the chance. It was the first time in three days that I'd left the hotel and who knew there was a Pizza Hut right across the street from an Italian "Pizza Parlor"?

So today was crazy busy. Crazy. But I also wasted some valuable time, looking back. It wasn't all a waste, actually, but I always feel if I'm not working I'm wasting time. It's not the case, of course, because conversations and meetings can be memorable – much more memorable than the volume of work that comes with my job. Sometimes, the only thing that makes work memorable are the photos I take (like the one at right of George Hincapie and directeur sportif John Lelangue).

Today, I took time to meet with friends. Ed Beamon was the former long-time director of the Navigators Insurance team. He gave me my first job in professional cycling. You may be scratching your head at that because obviously I got my start with Toyota-United. But Ed actually offered me a job to do PR for his team in January of 2007. And I accepted. It was only part-time work and before I could even get a task list to him, Toyota-United called me up and offered me a full-time job. I jumped at the chance, but anguished over the call I had to make to Ed to tell him I'd taken another job – after I accepted his offer. UGH. I've had to do that twice in my career and those calls are not pleasant. Ed hung up on me. He knew – more than I did at the time – what he was missing.

Not more than a year later, I did get the chance to work with Ed – with Team Type 1. It was a real privilege to work with such a veteran director. He also helped nurse me through the rough patch that was 2008 and 2009. He wasn't with Team Type 1 in 2009, but I remained in contact and in 2010, he helped land me some project work with the Fly V Australia team he was directing. Today, Ed is between gigs and he's hoping to get back on the circuit. I hope so, too. I consider him and his wife to be good friends (plus, we went to mass together at the 2008 Tour de Georgia).

After meeting with him, I met up with Allen Bean, who goes back to my days with Rock Racing in 2008 and 2009. Again, we spent some time reminiscing and catching up. It was a nice break, actually, from the grind.

But then the grind began in earnest. A press release on an upcoming race, a race to cover in Spain, a press release about a U.S. race, a press release about a U.S. race series, photos to post, tweets to put out, etc. Before I knew it, it was well past midnight. So here I am, still typing away. And I haven't even written about Sunday! Nor have I posted any race pictures to Facebook.

We'll see what tomorrow holds. It's shaping up to be busier than today.

From the notebook:

- The hotel had me listed as checking out this morning. That was strange.

- I didn't eat dinner tonight. But I did raid the nutritional area of the motorcoach for a few energy bars. There's a few really, really nice tasting bars out there. Wow.

- The weather here today was pretty good. Sunny and in the low 70s. I heard it was super windy in Omaha with grass fires burning outside Lincoln.

- Tonight (or this morning) is the national basketball championship game. But it doesn't begin until 9:21 p.m. EDT. Ouch. That's 3:21 a.m. my time. Not that I would have watched it, but geez, it won't end until after midnight on the east coast.

The morning training ride left at 11 a.m.

Marcus Burghardt got new shoes the day after he crashed. Wow.

The Day Before The Big Race

2011-04-02T17:37:00.008-05:00

This will be on the front page of Italy's largest newspaper.
Kortrijk, Belgium – Where did I leave off?

Instead of blogging at the end of the day, I resolved to do it earlier in the day on this trip. Well, it's 12:20 a.m., so I guess I'm ahead of myself (and only one day behind).

Another resolution I've taken up on these European trips is to get as much rest as possible. That means going to bed by 10:30 or 11 p.m. Of course, that's not the case tonight, but it is my goal. So last night, I went to bed at 11, but took a sleeping pill – just to make sure I didn't wake up in the middle of the night. That's a frequent occurrence when you first arrive because your body is still seven hours behind.

Well, the 5:30 a.m. alarm came too early. So I reset it for 6 a.m. After that, I don't have a clue what happened. I woke up to bright sunlight shining into my room. I grabbed my phone and saw a horrifying sight – it was 9:15 a.m.! Good thing it wasn't race day.

I only missed breakfast, which wasn't a big deal. But getting your day underway about three hours later than you'd planned means condensing everything. I hustled to do a video shoot (for a video that's uploading right now) and shot tons of pictures before the 10:30 a.m. training ride. Then I battled for the next 90 minutes with the wifi on the BMC Racing Team motorcoach. What I didn't realize was that everyone else was having problems with it.

I also tackled a project from John Lelangue – install his company e-mail on his Outlook mail (which was in French) on a laptop that has a European keyboard. Somehow, I got that task accomplished (faster than getting the bus wifi to work, in fact).

And, not to be forgotten, I spent about two hours working outside. No, not lawn work or washing cars. Because the motorcoach has wifi, I'm able to sit outside and work. That was nice.

Other things I did today:

- Got a new pair of lululemon pants and a collared shirt (I thought we weren't doing collars this year). Great stuff. And yes, it's all black.

- John Lelangue and crew had a little fun at my expense, shoving a bunch of empty dessert containers in front of my plate after dinner - and then tweeting it. If you want to see more pictures of the BMC Racing Team from my official capacity, check out this gallery.

- Searched for a church. As you can see from the masstimes.org map (at right), there's nothing close. So I'll be watching that 48-minute mass on YouTube tomorrow, like I usually have to do on the road in Europe.

- Attended the staff meeting where Jürgen Landrie laid out the behind-the-scenes plan for this race. It's amazing the logistical planning that goes into covering the riders on all the cobbled sectors. There are four support cars the team will be using, with two people in each car.

- How big is this race? Well, 20,000 people rode their bikes over the course today. And they had some terrific weather too. It was in the low 70s and sunny. Tomorrow is supposed to be much colder with rain.

- I'm referring to this race as the "Super Bowl of Belgian Cycling." It's that big. There's a 36-page race program, separate parking passes for the team vehicles for the start and the finish lots and the major newspaper inserted a huge map of the course into its Saturday editions.

All day, people congregated outside the team hotel.

Special sticker on all BMCs to remember the people of Japan.

My credential, map and numerical race roster.

This is not a posed photo. These guys are serious.

Check out tonight's dessert. I only ate one, not six.

Back In Europe

2011-04-01T05:23:00.011-05:00

It doesn't get more Euro than this (lobby of my hotel).
So I'm back in Europe. Seems like I never left. And it's nice to be back.

My trip out of Omaha was a bit hectic. Lots of errand-running (thanks, mom!) and then a delayed flight as we sat on the tarmac for 22 minutes waiting for other planes overhead to clear. When I got to Chicago, I didn't have much time. About 25 minutes to make my connection, in fact. But I made it – and even managed to get an important e-mail sent out.

That important e-mail distribution was kind of funny, actually. I had to rush to send it and they were already boarding. They had done a "final boarding call" and I was still waiting for the distribution to wrap. But the friendly gate attendant asked to see my boarding pass and said I had "plenty of time." And get this – she even switched me to a row where no one was sitting next to me. Wow. Fantastic. I love United Airlines.

Though the pilot didn't turn on Channel 9 (so you can listen to cockpit communications), the flight was good - and short. Only a little more than seven hours. I ate dinner (even had time to watch "Spinal Tap"), then went to sleep. It wasn't entirely uninterrupted sleep, though. We had a lot of turbulence and I needed to go to the restroom somewhere over Ireland. But everything else went well. There were even some Americans going to the race, which always makes it fun because they knew all about the BMC Racing Team.

Speaking of knowing about the team, the border patrol agent asked me about the nature of my travel. I told him I was here for a "bike race" - thinking he wouldn't have a clue. "The Tour of Flanders?", he asked. Wow. Not only did this guy know, but he knew all about Greg Van Avermaet (the Belgian rider on the team) and the BMC Racing Team. Only in Belgium, right? It's a cycling crazy country. Think Nebraska football for Nebraskans.

Following an hour-long drive to the hotel, I had lunch, followed by some interviews to moderate (one with Alessandro Ballan show at right). Everything up to this point has gone smoothly. Let's hope it continues.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is supposed to be extremely warm (up to 25 Celsius, which is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit) and sunny. But get ready for Sunday: rain, cold, wind. That should be epic. And yes, I did pack my own rain jacket this time.

Notebook:
- Best moment of the flight? When the purser came on this morning and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning. We will soon be landing in London. Please begin stowing away your electronic devices. (pause) And happy April Fool's Day."

- My room is huge. Seriously. But there's a lot of wasted space, too. And only two outlets (one in the main room, one in the bathroom). But there is (good) wifi.

- Here's a look outside my room. The city where we're staying (Kortrijk) is actually where Greg LeMond lived for most of his cycling career. I haven't seen much more of the city than what you see here. And that's usually how it goes. I do know that our truck is parked out back and that we are one of two teams staying here (Lampre is the other one).

- It might have still been March, but the movies were already switched over to April on the plane. We didn't have a guide, though, so it was a matter of trying to figure out what was on each of the nine channels. One had the "Tron" sequel, but I've seen that movie three times already.

A look at my room.

The invitation on the right is for "Americans only," according to the hotel.

My "Belgian phone" which was issued upon my arrival.

Parking passes in the car, leftover from the race that ended yesterday.

Julia won't be getting a key card from this hotel.

The pool area has a dungeon-like feel to it.

Julia, the restroom has its own room.

2011-03-29T08:40:00.002-05:00

This is what my dashboard looks like when I cover races.

The Final Kilometers

2011-03-19T23:23:00.004-05:00

Post-race shot from the chopper.
Media swarm the winner on the right.

Watch the final kilometers of the race.