The Tour of Qatar begins tomorrow, Sunday. Trudi and the BMC Team flew to Qatar Thursday afternoon from Paris. She has done the race the past two years, so it isn’t new to her. I think a lot of people are ready to get the races going. It is amazing how much travel and work is done at training camps, ect. before a Pro Team ever even clips in. I’ll keep you updated as much as possible to the inside happenings over there.

The Chinese New Year started Thursday too. The year of the rabbit. Chinese year 4708 on the Chinese calender. It’s a pretty big deal for them. There are 1.3 billion Chinese people. Maybe we should be paying more attention to their holidays/celebrations.

Waiting for the Team Presentation.

Team Presentation area.

It's not always so glamorous. Lots of waiting around.

I guess the hotels are always crazy nice at this race. They are moving from a Ritz-Carlson to another Ritz-Carlson today.

Dessert buffet at the hotel. My kind of hotel.

Lots of sport watching this weekend. KU basketball was on yesterday afternoon after the ride. Now today, I’ve already watched the race in Qatar and the Superprestige Cyclocross in Hoogstraten. Plus, the Super Bowl tonight. I would qualify as a couch potato today.

It is not that cold out right now. In the 30’s. I’ve been getting in okay miles the last few days. But, it takes its toll. Riding in the cold zaps you pretty good. Napping is mandatory. I spray my bike off after every ride. If I didn’t, it would go the way as my brake lines on my van. There is so much salt on the roads.

Not sure what I’m doing riding wise today. Yesterday we got in nearly 3 hours. Bill and I are pulling pretty much the whole time. It was pretty windy, as usual in Kansas. Michael Fatka once told me “it’s not the temperature, it’s the wind”. That is so true. Windchill is a made up thing, but I’d much rather be walking around at -15 degrees with no wind, than at 10 degrees with the wind blowing 40mph. Bill and I did that a few days ago dog walking in the country. It was nearly unbearable walking into the headwind.

Okay. Routing for the Packers. I have too many ties to Wisconsin not to be.

I have no idea who buys these, but I've been observing the display the last few days at the store and they are disappearing quickly.

If you ate enough cheese balls, this is what you'd ultimately end up like.

Bill on the dog walk.

What most of the roads in the country look like. Completely white with salt.