Living in Minnesota as a biker is not easy, and by February I start to crave riding in a warmer climate…to satisfy this craving, I have two trips planned this spring. They could be called training trips but really they are just vacations.
The first trip will be to Queenstown, New Zealand. I am leaving Feb 16th and am staying for 2 weeks. The best part of this one is that it is on Seagate’s bill (Seagate is where I work if I didn’t make the clear earlier). Every year Seagate selects ~200 employees worldwide to go on this week long team building adventure race in New Zealand. The main reason we do it (besides the fact that it is reasonably effective) is that our CEO is a big fan of adventure racing, and well, he is the boss. The plan for the week is each day Mon-Thurs we spend half the day in class and half the day learning a skill (white water rafting, orienteering, rappelling, and mountain biking). They have professionals come in and teach us. I look forward to learning how to mountain bike=) Then on Friday, we combine all 4 skills in a point to point race. Last year they had Sir Edward Hillary talk after the race…pretty cool! After the work training, I am then extending 4.5 more days to see the countryside on my Fuel. That’s right, the Fuel is going to the other side of the globe with me. I will be sure to post some pics while I am there (the Lord of the Rings was filmed nearby Queenstown, so there should be some cool stuff to shoot).
The second trip is to Las Vegas in late March. We are staying at Paris right on the strip. I know you are thinking that we are going to party the night away and gamble like we have lots of money, but, actually the Strip is only about 10-20 miles away from great riding. Throw in lots of great sites, a really nice pool, plenty to do at night, and you have a great warm weather training destination. Jen Meyer and Chris Fisher are joining us which going to be awesome! Fisher and I are going to need lots of caffeine to keep us awake after the amount of riding we will be doing.
Between these two trips, I will get my fill of warm weather or at least a fix until things improve here.
Does anyone watch Mad Money with Jim Cramer on CNBC? He talks a lot about carbon fiber and how it will be in high demand because it is used in windmill blades (and alternative energy is HOT). I think he should also mention the bike industry…we have to be sucking up a decent amount of the carbon fiber supply. I know that I am trying to do my part….