Greetings from the close of day 1 of team camp!

Today's ride can be described as nothing short of epic. Team member Ben Stern's knowledge of East Bay rides led to a trek from Discovery Bay, where we are making our home for the weekend, through Morgan Territory, over the Diablo saddle and back again. All 13 of us made it out for camp and we were joined by Mike’s Bikes co-wner Matt Adams for 90+ miles of climbs, descents, and attacks through sun, fog, and, towards the end, rain. Below is Hank's ride data: While my extreme exhaustion prevents a detailed account of all the impressive, strong riding I witnessed today, I can tell you succinctly that this team is coming to race this year. The attitude around the house this evening is unbelievably positive. Somewhere, between the smell of Matt Talbott’s coffee and Maurice Monge’s piano overtures, we are definitely coming together as a team and are ready to wreck house!

A bit of a plug here....one of the most impressive points of today happened before we even had turned a pedal on the street. Matt Adams gave a short overview of the Mike’s organization and he went over in particular detail the Mike’s Bikes Africa Project which is focused on setting up self sustaining bike shops in African countries (so far Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe), largely through donations from folks here in the States. If you haven’t perused the Mike’s Bikes website, jump over there and take a look at the link for this project. I, for one, was really impressed by what I found out and am very proud to be involved with an group that puts such value on reaching out in this way.

Ok, I have to put my legs up if I’m supposed to follow anybody tomorrow. Enjoy the pictures and I hope you’re having as much fun riding this weekend as I am!