A beautiful winter day in Solvang – crispy cold in the morning and balmy warm in the afternoon. The wrenches were busy assembling the new Trek bikes – a low stress day before the chaos of the first ride tomorrow. Two new wrenches, both from Belgium, Nick and Jeanick (I may be incorrect with the spelling of his name). Both great guys who seem to fit in real well. The camaraderie of the Discovery Team staff is always amazing…

Most of the riders arrived this afternoon, after a twenty-hour plane ride. Much to Geert’s dismay, many of their rooms were not ready. The guys looked pretty pooped out, so I didn’t get in their faces with my camera. I’m on the third floor - when I got in the elevator, I saw a rather forlorn suitcase sitting there, with the name White on it. I just rode up and down with it until the elevator doors opened on the second floor, and Matt popped in with a big grin and a kiss on my cheek and said, “I’ve been chasing this damn elevator for five minutes”. Trent Lowe was standing there laughing away.

Saw Tom Danielson bouncing across the parking lot, looking pretty lively, but then his flight was many hours shorter than most of the guys. I’m told that Johan and Popo will arrive tomorrow. We’ll all go out for a fairly mellow ride tomorrow morning.

You can check out just a few of my photos from today by following the Link below to my smugmug gallery.