Bank of America Preparation...

Hey y'all, we are in Charlotte, North Carolina, getting ready for one of the richest races we will ever ride in. We have spent the week recovering from Tour de Toona, and then trying to get the sprinting legs ready. The weather is relatively hot, and just a tad humid, so there has been a bit of time spent at the pool, and indoors. We have found the time to get a bit of sightseeing done, and Teddy and I took advantage of some awesome photo opportunities the other day...

This sculpture was just begging for a photo, and the bike hanging off it, along with me sitting on it, really captures the true spirit of this sculpture. I am told it is actually a very common photo, for cyclists to hang their bike here, and get a similar picture for the photo album!

This photo below is not interesting for Americans at all, i wouldn't think, aside from me being in it! We don't have these newspaper/brochure dispensers back home in Australia, so i got the photo to show the family really. They have heaps of these on nearly every intersection through downtown in any city.When i was getting the picture with the newspaper stands, this dude walked past and looked like a professional athlete of some description, well, maybe just a linesman of some football description is all he could have been! I ran up to him and asked if he was a professional athlete, and he said he played fourteen years with the New York Giants, as an offensive linesman - a photo was a must. There is a prize for whoever can tell me who he is! A hint is "L.... Smith"At the launch of the Bank of America criterium, we were set up at tables, to sign stuff for people and all that jazz. We were unfortunate enough to be sitting right beside Team Toyota, who have last year's winner on their team, so pretty much just looked at them getting a heap of publicity. We were also the only team to show up in our cycling gear, so it was a bit of a laugh for us. You may be able to see the team beside us are all dressed up nice, and us just in the spandex! It was probably good for our clothing sponsor, Giordana to have us in the team gear though...
This car was in a parking lot. It doesn't need much explanation, mainly because there is none!
A very proud moment for me, and Rich too. He did a crit on Thursday, so we made a real big deal out of it, and made him feel important. We couldn't stop laughing but i needed a photo with him because it was such an honour to actually get to meet him and chat with him!

Well anyway dudes, it has been a fairly uneventful week thus far. Hopefully the legs are good tonight, and i can contain my excitement long enough to get to the start! I am pretty pumped for the race.

We actually raced last night too, in a crit. I managed to crash, so that sucked arse, but i am ok, just more fired up to go well tonight. I ended up finishing ok, but it was good to have a hit-out the day before the race, and get the muscles firing.

Ok, we have to go and register for the race now, so i hope you have enjoyed the update.

Laters dudes...