I was thinking today about the Discovery Team - I mean the whole team, not just the riders. The soigneurs and the wrenches who were with us in Solvang and Ojai are a super bunch of guys - the camaraderie among them, and between them and the riders is incredible. These two groups of support staff bear the brunt of the workload for the logistics of supporting and transporting the team and the vehicles. This is a hard-working bunch of guys who have the best attitude - no whining, no bitching. They all pitch in to get whatever needs doing done. They do a lot of joking and kidding around, and it is clear that they all are good friends, too.

Vince Gee drives the team truck wherever it needs to go to in the US from where he lives in Sacramento. He does these incredible marathon cross-country trips to get the vehicle to races. Dave Bolch, from Austin, also does some marathon driving with team vehicles. In the off season, Dave used his carpentry skills on the team truck and created a little space with built-in storage cabinets and a washer and dryer right behind the cab. Nice work, too!

Dave is also a photographer, and has some nice stuff up on his website. He borrowed my D70 for the day in Solvang - he took the pic of the windmill and rainbow in my gallery. He usually works with a large format camera in black and white. We could stand around and talk photography forever, but this guy is always on the run and does so much for Lance and the team. He’s really a great guy.

I am receiving the coolest emails from folks who follow this blog. Thanks! It’s so nice to know that fans actually read and like what I write! In answer to your questions, I’ll tell you a bit about what I am doing now. I’m in the final phase of co-authoring a Tour de France for Dummies book, along with Phil Liggett and James Raia. I think that my photos will be used in the book - Cool... I was contacted by the Acquisition Editor at Wiley and Sons Publishing last August about working on the Tour book. It is already listed in Amazon, but publication date is scheduled for the end of May. I may also have photos in Michael Barry’s upcoming book, tentatively titled, “Inside the Postal Bus”. And of course, zee leetle Podium Girl Gone Bad book, thong and other merchandise is still selling well. I have a couple of other book ideas that are on the back-burner for a few weeks.

I am always on the lookout for writing gigs, so all of you keep our eyes and ears open for me...