Jittery Joe's Training Camp

Howdy!

We have been kicking it at our training camp in San Diego, California for the last week, and have been having a ball, getting all our new gear, and most of all, getting in some great training. Our team mate, Neil Shirley lined up accommodation for everyone, and also the training routes for each day, which was great, because there were thirteen people who had to be looked out for!


Last Wednesday, i met Cesar the Fijiian, and headed off to the airport. We met in a car park and picked up our car for the drive, some fancy BMW, which was brand new, which made the 1 degree celsius, 5am start to the day seem somewhat alright! It was good to get to have a chat with the Mexican, and get to know him a bit better (Cesar made a name for himself when he beat Lance Armstrong up the Brasstown Bald hill top finish in the Tour of Georgia a couple of years back).


Here is the Beamer we got to drive. It went about 200 miles per hour when we went hard.

Here is a picture of the crew for 2007, minus Aussie Chris Jongewaard. This isn't actually the team photo, just taken while we were getting ready for it. The sun was pretty bright, and it was early morning, so that could explain the squinting eyes on everyone!

I am sure all pro (i use that term loosely) riders will agree, it is always exciting to get the new team kits at the beginning of the year! We all got a wheelie bag full of gear, with nothing spared. It is a complete change of colours for me, from green to orange, but i think i will find the transition smooth, seeing as i now have a complete orange outfit! This is such a professional team, and it is going to be a great year working with such organised and professional staff, and such a great group of guys.

Neil organised a long ride for day two, which turned into an epic. We did a climb called Palomar, which it 16 miles long, or something like that! It was an hour and two minutes from bottom to top, going fairly solid. The view at the top, and the descent made it worthwhile! Unfortunately i didn't get a photo of the great view, but i did get one of the snow at the top. It was freezing up there, which you might expect after climbing for 20km or so! For those back in Melbourne, it was about twice as steep as the 1:20, just for three times as long, it was too hard to do in the big ring!

Here is a picture of the standard views we get here in Southern California. This was actually a wicked good view, and the photo really doesn't do it justice! We got to do another bunch of great climbing on day four, and we were also joined by some dude Floyd Landis, which was pretty huge for us. It's not every training camp you go to where you have a tour de France winner join you for a ride!

We have been doing heaps of stuff on the training camp, like photo shoots, team meetings, and meeting up with sponsors, and lots of great dinners too! This is the first time i have been on a training camp like this before, and it is such a great thing. All of our rides have been together as a group, and we have really come together well as a team. We haven't raced together yet, but if it goes anything like camp has, we should kick some arse, big time!
Here is a familiar sight back in Australia, which i haven't seen much of since being in the States - ocean views! I try not to take it for granted while riding up and down beach road, and it certainly helps appreciate it more when you see it anywhere! Riding up and down the coast between San Diego and Carlsbaad makes for some great beach riding, very similar to Oz.

Skipper Wilson, showing off his time trial position, will be leading Jittery Joe's for 2007 as team captain.

Here i am showing off my time trial position, i will be hoping i can improve on my time trialling from last year, and i have no excuses for bad rides this year - i have my own time trial machine! Today was the first time i have ever ridden a time trial bike on the road, and i have to say, it feels so fast! I only hope i can ride as fast as the bike looks and feels!

Here is the rig, just without the disk wheel and aero front wheel.

Here is an interesting road sign i have definitely never seen before. You may have to click on the picture to enlarge it, but it is actually a surfer carrying their surfboard on top of their head (which means it is a long baord)! Just across the road is the surf, obviously!

Here is a nice sunset photo taken from the backyard of where we're staying, very pretty huh?! That is one thing good that can be said for the SoCal smog, consistently beautiful sunsets!

So that's where i am at after the first week with the new team. I am really enjoying this, and am sure that that will continue through the year. I am also itching to start racing, which is coming up this Friday with the Central Valley classic in Fresno. Last year it was cold and wet, even snowing, so hopefully the warmer weather is turned on for this time round!

Hope everyone back in Oz is doing well. Hopefully i will speak to you soon. Also, you may see that i have made some alterations to the blog, which included adding all my new team sponsors, as well as personal sponsors, so feel free to check them out. I have spent hours trying to put a new photo up on the header, in my new outfit, doing the same thing (only better), and can't seem to get it happening, so we'll have to bear with the current (old) one for a little bit till i can figure it out. My team mate Austin King has a cool website, so i may try and get one of them...

Laters...