We’re heading south today for a road race in San Ardo. I love heading down this way since it feels like I’m headed to San Luis Obispo to visit Nick. It’ll be a busy day with a long race for Gabe, and a nice long ride in the hills nearby. Mack and Matt take off first and we’re hoping for a great placing. Gabe is off next after rollout with Ryan. I don’t think they’ve raced together for quite a while. Gabe is jazzed about his chances today. ...

After our few short days in Germany we started to make our way down towards Italy. On the way though was Austria. We drove through miles of countryside and finally the Alps. It was beautiful driving around the countryside of Germany, and Austria. Here unlike the USA, towns are scattered, rather than having a large city that fans out into countryside, it seems like hundreds of little towns were plopped down in the middle of nowhere without purpose. ...

Munich, Germany was the first destination on our European trip and what a place. On this gray rainy day, the city seemed extremely somber. Being a Sunday, all the shops were closed and the city was extremely quite. Silence and quietness are something that seems prevalent in Germany. The people seem to enjoy their silence. Not in a rude or snobbish way, they just appear to be a more silent people who keep many thoughts to themselves. As if they contemplate each word or sentence that comes from there mouth, they seem to keep most words inside as if to spare us if any of the words are not entirely worth hearing; in total opposition to many people I know in the US who talk simply so silence is never heard. It is a calm and almost serene silence but the grey sky brings a sadness to this great city. ...

A couple of days ago my grand adventure around Europe came to a bittersweet end. Back in the USA now I had one full day at home before being shipped off to Michigan. So here I am sitting in my grandmother’s beautiful library addressing you. I have seen so many amazing things and of course I desire to share all of it with you. But I would like to share a brief preface before the fun begins: ...

For those of you who are not aware, I have been in Europe for the last week. I have been without internet and will soon be again, so I will just give a quick update. We started in Germany with a flight to Munich, after several days there we left for Venice, on the way we also stopped in Austria. We had a magical stay in Venice and have just finally moved on to Tuscany where we are currently staying in Chianti, a very small wine village right between Florence and Siena. After a day trip to Florence today tomorrow we are moving on to Siena and ending our day in Vinci, Italy. ...

Gabe is racing Elite 4 at the Burlingame Criterium today with Mack. It’s the first big elite field criterium Gabe has signed up for, and he’s been looking forward to it. Mack did a very nice job of attacking throughout the race, but unfortunately the field was plenty fast and no one was going to get away today. Gabe hung in the pack nicely for the entire race, while managing to avoid getting into any trouble. Sorry to see Justin and a few others go down, but I don’t think anyone was seriously hurt. ...

Time for the Central Coast Circuit road race again. Not much wind, but it’s a typical cool, foggy morning as Gabe and Mack get ready to roll in the Elite 4s. Charlotte and I hike out towards the other side of the course, and catch a glimpse of them coming down the hill before we continue up to the top. There’s a pretty cool lookout at the top of the hill, but Charlotte confirms that yellow jackets are swarming just like the warning sign indicated. Time to head back down the hill. ...

Last year in Horseshoe Bend I found an amazing looking lizard while out hiking. This year since we returned to the same spot I was hoping to again find a lizard like that. To do this we began a lizard hunt. We found several different types of lizard, the most common was this little guy with the black banded neck. We also spotted a nice small red lizard. He was enjoying his sun spot and was extremely good at camouflaging himself. ...

Gabe’s frame was recently cracked in a minor car accident, so it’s bad news for my wallet, but good news for the bike racing crazy junior. He was convinced the Specialized S-Works SL3 was the way to go, but we were both hooked on Cervelo once we checked them out at Spokesman in Santa Cruz. Gabe got the S3 with Roval wheels and S-Works shoes. Now that’s a racing machine! ...

Even now at 4:30 in the morning in Death Valley, it is near scorching. It is an ungodly heat, but for the beauty in this sparse land, it is worth it. We woke up really, really early in the morning to catch the sunrise and get a little hike in before it was too hot out. So we headed over to the Mesquite Sand Dunes to watch the sun rise over this sandy wonderland. ...