Wow, what a first week over here in Australia.  Before we could even get here, things started from the get go in LAX with having are flight overbooked and having to stay a day in Los Angeles.  Made the best of it and saw Avatar in IMAX and 3D.  Not much to say about the movie, but the 3D affects were great.  Next morning, went up to the Santa Monica Pier and walked around town.  Later, it was back to the airport and try to get on the flight again.  Success, we made it on the flight and we're off to Australia, we landed in Brisbane and then caught a connecting flight to Melbourne.  Once there, we were pleasantly greeted by Henk Vogels to pick us up for a1.5 hour drive down to Ballarat for the Australian National Championship.  Got there Saturday afternoon, and Sunday Morning it's off to the races.  I had no idea that was on the plan for me, so Henk and I drive over to the race, and who other than Phil Liggett comes up to Henk and has a talk.  The more I hang out with Henk, the more I learn that he was quit the cyclist, and not just in Australia, but the USA as well.  So all the riders start to show up and I have to say, I didn't really know many of the names, but you could tell, this race is as big as the US PRO Championship in the USA.

So the race is on and I'm in the back seat of the Team car waiting for anything or something to happen?  Did two wheel changes, but that was it for the day.  The big game plan for this race was just to stay cool.  The heat was 36C and these guy's had 16 laps of a 10.6km lap with each lap having a 2.7km climb right out of the start line.  We had one of our boys, David Kemp get second on the road. (click the link for the race report)  It was a great start with one of our boys also winning the Criterium a few days before.  But it seemed that as soon as the race started, it was over.  The award ceremony, the random drug testing, and then just like before, back to the hotel, pack up and another 1.5 hour drive back to Melbourne Airport for a flight to Brisbane and then another 1.5 hour drive over to the Gold Coast.  So our day started around 6AM and didn't end until we got to the Hotel around 1AM that morning.  The room accomadations were great, and now it's time to spend a week of just hanging out with the guys and getting to know each other.

Okay, so here we are, finally at the Gold Coast and it's as pretty as everyone had told me.  However, we were so busy each day that we didn't have any time to just be a tourist and enjoy the city.  This trip was all about Team building and Media photos.  I did get a few short (40km) rides in while here, but like I said, it was all about Team building and trying to sort of the bikes and get the guys ready for the year ahead of us.  In between some of the day's we had the chance to and actually go and sit to have a cup of coffee.  The best part about getting the coffee, is we went to the coffee shop that Robbie McEwen owns, and just in case you're wondering, yes, Robbie was there getting in a last bit of training before heading down to the Tour down under.  Now I know I'm larger than most cyclists, but Robbie is a bit smaller than most.  For that reason, I decided to stay sitting down.  What a nice guy though, and I would highly recommend you stopping in at his shop for a cup of coffee, it was probably some of the best I've had, and Starbucks could learn some thing from his shop.  So after our short Saturday morning ride, it was back to the boys house and pack up again and head back to Brisbane for the last week of the Team building but for the staff this time.