February 27, 2000 Update

"Did you see Richard Virenques bike today?" this is what I asked Kevin Livingston durring our race in Almeria (today) it has his name across the top tube..... the entire length and is is white with red/pink poda dots.....funny guy....

Aside from Ricchaaard, the race was very fast in the first hour 45kph ave , then we were like tourists for quite some time, due to the headwind. In the final we kept Julian Dean towards the front for the sprint.... I led the peloton into the last turn with about 500m to go. To be really effective we need the entire team lined up.... but this is easier said than done.... The spaniards are riding incredibly well and we are in a build up phase.

Tour of Murcia (March 1-5) starts in two days..... personally I will ride trying to keep Redlands in mind...It is still early in the year for me but I plan to give Redlands a 100% effort. A few of us could be flying or dying.... I think that will depend on how the flight affects us. We fly to California on the 6th out of Madrid Spain... we will arrive late in the evening: Redlands starts the next day.

Years ago I rode the Tour of Solidarity in Poland, flew to the east coast the net day and placed 3rd in Landcaster behind Tyler... it was a jet lagged blurr, but the legs were strong. Anyway , Redlands will be similar .

Chow,

Marty