Premanon 1.1

Russell took some photos during our ride this morning. Thanks Russ!

Rolling out as a big group.

Riding through downtown Saint Claude.

The beautiful Jura region.

Jacob(left) from Denmark was very strong today!

Premanon 1.0

After a long day of traveling, I have made it to my new home in Premanon, France where I will be participating in an elite cyclist altitude study for the next two months. There are 18 athletes total in the study, including friends from Seattle, Russell Stevenson and Ian Terry.

This morning I went out for my first ride which was incredible to say the least. The roads are amazingly twisty through beautiful countryside in the Jura mountains. We are fed three meals per day in addition to endless snacks, coffee, riding food, wine, you name it... So far, the quality of the food has been very good, especially the comte cheese(the local specialty) and loads of bread!

Ride #1

I will do my best to keep my blog updated with my latest rides and experiences.

The lodge where I will live for the next two months.

The lodge is the French National Training Center for nordic skiing!

View out of my window. The grass is our soccer field.

Outdoor ping-pong!

The riding is very hilly!

Summer freedom

Over the last couple weeks I've been able to really enjoy summer without the thought of racing. Rather than writing a bunch, I figured I would post some photos to show what I've been up to lately...

17.5 mile point to point hike on the Tiger Mountain Trail.

Wildflowers on the TMT.

Riding near Paradise, Mt Rainier with Andy and Russell.

Whitney hiking the very steep trail up to Labyrinth Mountain.

Minotaur Lake and Labyrinth in the clouds.

Labyrinth summit. Cold and cloudy.

Looking back towards Lake Wenatchee where we camped two nights.

Leavenworth bouldering. "The Sleeping Lady" V2 above Icicle Creek.

"Drugstore Cowboy" V3 at Mad Meadows.

Rainy monday morning = trails all to myself.

Alpine meadows on Church Mountain.