Oh Boy! The week before Jerez.

Time for a gentle break this evening as I prepare to travel to Madrid and then drive to Jerez. Think I'll be listening to The Jerez Race Song, to get myself in a good frame of mind before the madness ensues. There's something so nice about the chords in this song, and the Koto really moves me. Reminds me of an old song by Hiroshima - One Wish. I've had music on my mind for the last few months, and I'm thinking about picking up a guitar as soon as I'm able to. I sold off or gave away all of my old guitars before I left the states, and I really miss being able to pick one up and zone out for a bit, just writing something or jamming away with a good progression - it's so easy to loose track of time and touch that magic when you can get into that state of mind. Part of the problem is that I've been listening to more guitar-based rock recently, and after listening for a bit, that old itch has got me. I know I can play the same stuff, I want to strum and start wrting my own music again. The more pressure I get from work, the more I'm looking into ways to unwind and disconnect, in healthy ways. So, how did I spend my week?

I came back fighting off the rest of my cold, so I spent most of Sunday and part of Monday sleeping and recuperating. It's amazing how the body can just shut-down and do what it needs to do, and it helps that the room I'm staying in doesn't have access to natural light. That means it could be 4AM, or High Noon, and I wouldn't know the difference. When I sleep - I really sleep! But, when I'm awake on a nice day in Barcelona, I like to hop on the bike and go for a nice ride. About ten minutes after I took this shot at the Arc de Triomf, it started pouring cold, hard rain. The winds picked up significantly, enough to slow me and the bike from 20MPH to a dead stop. No matter, I kept going.

Riding through Barcelona is the best way to see and smell everything, and there's always something new to stop and look at. I appreciate the excercise, and the chance to see cool bikes like this beautiful Yamaha RD in Factory colors.

The styles of riding are so different here, and sometimes little things get lost in the translation. I always gear up with Snob before I go on a big ride!

You see a lot of cool bicycles, too, like this ancient free-style bike. Note the rear disc brake and etched rear rim. Strange and beautiful - but you wouldn't catch me riding something like this!

I'd much rather be riding something like this . . . . . . And maybe one day I will be!

Generally, the week was spent answering emails, sending emails, and re-structuring my files to better control the situation with the team and our supplies. Most days I tried to start off with a small ride (no sense pushing it and not recovering fully before Jerez), just to get my blood pumping. I went to a nice birthday dinner on Saturday with my roomate, and tonight will be a long one because I have to leave for the airport at 5AM. I spent some time at the bike shop checking out the green machine, because it's time to change things up a little bit for '07, and managed to get some good pizza at my favorite place. The time away from the racetrack was refreshing, reinvigorating, and now I'm ready to get it started in Jerez and see if we can't put our boys in a better position than they were in Qatar! The team mechanics continued working in Qatar after the GP, on a special project for the boss, and this weekend they were working again in Jerez finalizing all the gear in the semi-trucks before they took off today for Jerez. I can't wait, I can't wait to get to the next race. With more than 200,000 people expected to show up, it's going to be a total Riot. Let's get it on!

Posted by Liam on March 19, 2007 05:24 PM | Permalink