Team Camp 2014 Slulu Style!

When the early season jitters start, you know its team camp time!  This year our camp was in Los Osos California (close to San Luis Obispo), which I was thrilled with!  Last year camp was in Portugal, which was incredible don't get me wrong, but I gotta admit that being able to drive to and from team camp (the way my Euro teammates are often able to drive to and from races) was lovely!  One less trans Atlantic flight for the year is always a good thing!  And who doesn't love California sunshine! :)  Evie and I drove down the 101 and the adventure began...I'll tell the story through pictures/captions because thats much more fun than me jibber jabbering!

One of the first things I do when getting to camp is try to sneak a peek at our new bikes!  I still get butterflies when I get a new bike!  This year did not disappoint!

Meet Pearl, yes I named her, isn't she purrddyyy!!  In the back the one and only James Stanfill executes the perfect bike photo bomb!;)

Ronny, our fearless leader modeling our new kit...tee hehe!

Riding through Morro Bay State Park.  Our two national champs Trixi and Elise :)

Riding along HWY 1, ocean to the left, zebras to the right...wait zebras on the coast of CA?? Yep!  We had to stop to take a picture! 

San Simeon State Park

Re-gram from James in the car, riding up what felt like the never ending climb! 

Riding through the eucalyptus trees with Carmen and Trixi.

And then it was off to Morgan Hill for a few days at the Specialized Headquarters! 

Meet and greet in the lobby.

Team presentation time with all the Specialized peeps!

Awwww Lisa! 

One of the greatest people I know, our team manager Kristy Scrymgeour.  Got a lot of love for her.

And then us Slulu girls got ahold of the Specialized fire pole...

Then Trixi did what Trixi does best...she climbed UP the fire pole! No one rocks the term "badass' quite like Trixi!

Signing time!

Then it was time for the infamous Specialized lunch ride/race ;)  I sat back and watched the madness happen!

Next up, glamour shots for Pearl in the wind tunnel!  Click here to see the article/video abc 7 did with me and the team in the tunnel.

Our new team mascot!

Evan Borders of KTVU did a great piece on our team at the Specialized HQ.  Click here to watch the video Evan put together with footage from goPRO cameras he placed on my bike and his!  Click here to see the gallery of his images from the day.  He got some great photos of us at team presentation, riding and doing yoga of course! :)

Booww-chickkkaa-woooow-wooowwwww!

Yoga time!  Yep in our chamois...what, thats not normal? ;)

My not so pro attempt at 3 legged dog...tight hamstrings! ;)

After the Specialized HQ visit we had a night out with the amazing people at lululemon!  Sushi first, YUM!!

Then they took us to a San Jose Sharks Game!  

Now back to Los Osos!! 

We rented out houses, which meant cooking together...or ordering take out!;)  This is what take out for 11 girls, 6 staff, and 5 sponsors looks like!

We had the privilege of being serenaded by the amazing Andre Morton on the diggeridoo!  Love this guy!

And then it was team Photo shoot day at Avila Beach!

Katie Sue from Specialized came for hair and make up reinforcement! ;)

Hair and make up check...shameless selfie, check!

Ohhhh Ronny!:)

Chantal and Ally lookin purrddyy!:)

Lululemon sure makes us look good!

Looking at the ocean never gets old.

Chantal was my photo shoot buddy for the day!

Oh just chillin, pretending not to be posing for the camera ;)

Mmmmmm Osmo!! 

WCA Ride Day!

We were lucky enough to partner with the Women's Cycling Association for a community ride around San Luis Obispo on Sunday the 26th.  If you haven't heard about the Women's Cycling Association please take a second to check out their website (click here).  WCA President Robin Farina (former US National Champion), along with the other incredible women on the WCA board of directors, have already accomplished so much in the growth and development of women's cycling in the very short time since the WCA was established.  If you are passionate about women's cycling and want to help, please become a member of the WCA (anyone, male or female, can join!) Click here to help build the future of women's cycling! 

There was a great turn out at the WCA/Specialized Lululemon ride which started at Art's Cyclery in SLO.

Myles lovingly had a camera in my face for two days so I thought I'd return the favor!;) Hehe

Riders came from as far as North Carolina to ride with us and members of the WCA!

Oh no, Robin got a megaphone, watch out!:)

Smiling faces from the front of the 50 mile loop!

Gotta love riding knowing there will be a  food truck at the end of the journey!

Super hero, and WCA board member Sophy Lee announcing the raffle.

Lalena Daigneault from SLO made these incredible brown butter cookies for the ride.  All the girls were raving about them so she showed up at our house the next day with another batch, plus blondies! Naturally she is now my new best friend!:)

The last week of camp was all business with lots of miles in the saddle!  Ina took us on some incredible rides around SLO, I loved it!

At the top of Santa Rita, if you are in SLO it is a must ride dirt climb.  Click here to check out my Strava and see all the routes we took!

Dirty descending!

Cookie selfies are totally acceptable! ;) I had to send it to Lalena to say thank you! 

On the German train :)

Trixi's cappuccino was literally as big as her face!

Carmen and I drank A LOT of cappuccinos last year in Lucca...they were just three sizes too small!;) 

Birthday Party time!!

Celebrating Elise's 25th Birthday!

Party time!!

Teaching Elise how this piñata thing works, I don't think they have them in France! ;)

Hehehe!

Gettin ready for our last ride, Ina made it an epic one! Love these girls!

Riding up Black Mountain with Ina and Ally, such a cool climb!

Near the top of Black Mountain, incredible views!

And then after two weeks of good times with my incredible teammates, staff, and sponsors the adventure came to an end!  Stay tuned for the next adventure, racing starts soon and its gonna be a kick ass season! 

2014 Team design sneak peek!

The Specialized Lululemon crew are changing things up this season! 

January is that time of year when nervous excitement starts to build up like crazy! It all about the coming season, the off season is officially over, team camp comes with new teammates, new bikes, new kit, and new motivation!  It's day 3 of team camp and our official new design for 2014 is still under wraps...but I wanted to give you all a little sneak peek!  It will be officially released on Tuesday at our team presentation at the Specialized Head Quarters.  Stay tuned for more posts and pics from camp! :)  

Coast Ride Adventure!

Last January Olivia and I did a coast ride from San Francisco to San Luis Obispo over two days and I loved every second of it!  I have been itching to do another coast ride nearly every day since!  Olivia is the queen of adventures and came up with the bright idea of riding the coast to the North of us, rather than riding South again.  Wind plays a big factor in which way you want to ride, and North to South always makes the most sense (or makes you feel the fastest :) so we decided to Drive a rental car up Eureka from Marin, drop it off and ride South from there! (Did I tell you Olivia is brilliant;)  

Last year we rode with just cookies & credit cards in our pockets, and then shipped a change of clothes to each of the places we were staying so that we didn't have to carry backpacks.  This half worked out as one bag arrived and the other didn't, leading to an impromptu shopping spree in San Luis Obispo!  This year my Dad wanted to join our adventure and agreed to drive to Eureka (all the way from Salt Lake City I might add!) and do sag for us.  Having him there was incredible, he drove ahead of us with our bags and got in a mountain bike ride or walk/run along the coast while we rode to meet him.  Then we'd all meet up for dinner (in which I ate scary amounts of food...a whole pizza, bison burger w/ sweet potato fries, to name just a few;)

For all you fellow adventurers out there, here is a short link to the route we took: http://goo.gl/maps/cVRE0

And so the adventure begins!!

Taste!

We drove the short but beautiful way up the 101 to Eureka and stayed the night in a great Air BnB with hosts Kath and Tom!  Definitely recommend that as a place to stay, we were close enough to Old town to walk to dinner and explore the amazing victorian architecture, Kath and Tom were beyond hospitable, and it was VERY affordable.  While exploring Old Town we found this great place called Taste (see pic above). They combine local wine, chocolate, cheese, meat, and oyster tasting with the Humboldt County tourism center!  Really cool idea and a really fun place to get a feel of everything local.  After that we had sushi at the Bayfront restaurant and it was delicious!

Gluten free zucchini bread makes dang good ride food!  See recipe section of my website for details! :)

Day 1!

We started day 1 with one on my favorite things in life, a BIG breakfast!  Then we headed off (with zucchini bread in our pockets this year in place of cookies...check the recipe section!) down the 101 briefly before turning off towards Ferndale.  We were headed toward the lost coast and had no idea what we were in for but it was a day I will never forget!  Ferndale is the cutest little victorian town and was definitely the "calm before the storm" or I should say the flat before the (steep) climbs! At the end of the town of Ferndale you take a right and then quick and steep left hand turn under a large arrow pointing to the town of Petrolia.  Then its straight up a narrow, windy, climb for what seems like forever but honestly you don't care because its beautiful!  Just when you think you are at the top, they tease you with a screaming downhill (be careful the roads are really bumpy and riddled with potholes) you see a little glimmer of the ocean and then its back up again, and I mean straight back up!  You get some beautiful false flat at the top, making it feel like you are riding through the rain forest, and then you descend down to the lost coast which is phenomenal!  So rugged, so wild, with black sandy beaches, dunes, and huge waves!  Sadly you are only on the coast for a brief (but gorgeous) time and then you head up towards Petrolia.  From there its up and down through Petrolia until you hit the town of Honeydew which has a small market (cash only) to refuel at for the next climb up King Range.  Sadly we didn't have any cash so a broken hearted Olivia had to walk away without her bag of pop chips (we were craving salty!) and we were also out of water (yes you should always carry cash!;)  There is a great descent after the King Range climb and then you ender the Humboldt Redwood State Park which is spectacular!  HUGE Redwoods line this one lane winding road, I'm still speechless!  Once you hit the 254 you take a right and the last 12 miles is through the Avenue of the GIants, more redwood magic!  We ended day one in Miranda, a tiny tiny place in the middle of nowhere but we loved it!

Even the bathrooms in Ferndale were cute!

The descent after the first nasty climb, it was rough stuff but the views were incredible!

Bridge from the town of Honeydew to the King Range climb.

This was taken in the last ten miles of day 1 in the Avenue of the Giants (on the 254, it parallels the 101 but is much more scenic). 

Day 2!

We stayed the night in Miranda Gardens which were these cute little cabins in the Redwoods, I loved it!  There was a restaurant and organic coffee cart right across the street so we were set.  After day one I ate a whole pizza, after 7 hours and a lot of climbing and ate every bite without an inkling of guilt, it was great!  Of course we started day 2 with another big breakfast, a bunch of coffee and a bit more rain gear than the previous day.  We started off in the rain but it cleared up pretty quickly and then was gorgeous with the bits of fog spotting the mountains and everything green popping!  We made our way down the 101 getting off in Redway and Benbow for long stretches and then hopping on the 271 for a bit before getting back on the 101 heading into Legget where we hopped on HWY1.  HWY1 from Legget to the coast was a blast!  Little climbs, twisty turny descents and of course more beautiful scenery!  Once we popped out on the coast I was in heaven, it would be all coast riding from there!  We stopped off in Westport at a great little store (cash in hand this time).  To Olivias dismay there was no pop chips but we did manage to devour an entire bag of Kettle Chips, two coffees, and zucchini bread!  25 miles left till Mendocino and we were definitely fueled up!  As we passed the Mendocino town limit sign and took a right we spotted my Dad on Gunther (that is what he named his Mountain bike ;) cruising around so we caught up with him and did the little loop around Mendocino.  I was so tired but seeing Mendocino totally re-energized me, that little town is incredible!  It juts out into the ocean and is surrounded by rocky cliffs and rough surf, once again I was in heaven!  We stayed at the Hill House Inn which was great.  After we showered up we grabbed coffee at Moody's and explored the little town, walking up and down each street and trying to take in just how great this place really was.  We decided to eat at the Irish pub in town called Patterson's and it was just perfect!  Lively atmosphere, YUMMY food, and super cozy!  I ate a bison burger and sweet potato fries, again with not an ounce of guilt, it was delicious!  Then it was off to bed (after I washed the bikes in the shower...shhhh don't tell :)

This was the first spot of the Coast we hit on day 2 after a kick ass descent down HWY1 from Legget!

Me and my Dad at Bigfoots place!;)  Loved having my Dad along for the adventure!

Who is the edjit in the tree (Irish for idiot, or so Olivia says!;)

This was our view on HWY 1 just after descending the beautiful road from Legget!

This is one of the Western most points in the United States!

Day 3!

We started our morning with...I bet you can't guess...a biggggg breakfast!  We ate at the MacCullum house and had a gorgeous view of the ocean while we had breakfast.  We all contemplated postponing our coast ride and spending the day in Mendocino, it is so hard to leave a place like that.  Once we were done stuffing our faces yet again we did one last quick loop of Mendocino, took in the scenery and then took off down HWY 1.  We quickly realized that the entire day was going to be filled with breath taking views of the coast.  It was a clear day, the surf was crazy, and I couldn't help but think about how lucky I was to be exactly where I was in that very instant.  It went on like this for miles and miles of ooohhh'ing and awwww'ing!  We made lots of stops on day 3, both to take pictures and to eat more yummy things!  We stopped in Point Arena for a coffee boost and Stuarts Point for yet another bag of kettle chips and an Izze Soda.  We found a great little coffee shop in Jenner with the best homemade pretzel I've ever eaten and hand poured coffee...once again heaven!  Then it was just ten short miles to our destination in Bodega Bay!  My Dad was there waiting for us, sitting on the back of his truck and taking in the views!  I was immediately bummed as we rolled into Bodega Bay because I hate when adventures end, but I also thought back to the last three days and how I'd never forget them and I had to smile.  Spending three days doing what I love, with the people that I love, in a place that I love...life doesn't get much better than that!  Until the next adventure... :) 

Walking up the steps to breakfast! Coffee in hand as always!

We did a quick loop around Mendocino on the mourning of day 3, we had a very hard time leaving!

Day 3 was ALL on the coast and all stunning views!  We oooooohh'd and awwwwwww'd for 6 hours straight!