Calling It

This is a lazy post.

It was a good day, but a long day. I woke up slightly before 5am and I wasn't too excited about it. I didn't have my suitcase, so I couldn't put on clean clothes, work out or do much. Instead, I got to put on the still damp, a bit stinky clothes I'd worn the day before, sink washed in hotel shampoo and hung over the air conditioner in an attempt to dry. It was underwhelming at best.

It's now a quarter to 10pm and I'm crawling into bed. I would say from a work perspective, I worked full gas for a solid five hours and then off and on for the next seven hours, so plenty was done. But I also felt like I was able to decompress and be normal. I went outside, went to shops, spent more money than I should, got excited by all the options and choices and then got overwhelmed by American. It's way too easy to spend money here.

Now it's time to snooze and hopefully wake up sometime after 5am. Maybe I won't be the first person at breakfast waiting for them to put the coffee out at 6:30am. At least it was a damn good hotel buffet breakfast.

A girl can dream....

Continuous Motion

I come from a big family, and we traveled a pretty impressive amount for our large numbers. When I was little, we owned a Volkswagen bus that my dad had taken the benches, rotated them 90 degrees and bolted back so they lined the sides and faced each other. The VW symbol was flipped upside down.

We went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina frequently and once a year did a trip to Florida, typically to Disney World. Once the first minivan came out, our trips got upgraded and we hit the Florida Keys and did ski trips. I also got to ride the train and do at least an annual trip to Washington DC or New York City. This sense of wanderlust was ingrained in me early. I remember one thing that I really loved the most was when we’d travel far enough that the weather shifted or that the trees/scenario changed.  I loved trying new foods and remember my first tastes of raw oysters on the half shell, sea conch soup, a real Ruben sandwich, and on and on.

I started working around 16 and saved my money and started going on solo trips. I do appreciate that my parents let me fly, take the car or ride a train solo throughout high school. As long as I checked in, paid for it myself and didn’t have any problems, I was allowed to keep doing these trips.

When I reached college and needed to pick a career, I knew I loved to travel. I tried to come up with a career where someone else would pay for me to travel the world. I wanted to see it all. So Political Science with a concentration in International Relations seemed the most likely. During college, I got to study abroad in France and did a humanitarian trip to Honduras. Immediately following graduation, I headed to Europe and backpacked for three months and went to 15 countries. My wanderlust has only grown and spread since then.

When I take a moment to slow down and appreciate my life, I feel so spoiled. I live in Belgium. Last week, I spent part of it in Italy, and now I’m on a plane to the US for a few days. It never gets old. Even returning to the same races or same places doesn’t feel redundant. I get excited about a little reflection of familiarity that’s mixed in with the hope of a new restaurant or adventure.

One day this will all slow down, and I want to be a place that I embrace that when it happens. Until then, I’m going to go big and always say yes to the extra glass of local dessert Sicilian wine that the waiter tells me I must try or extend one of my work travels by a day or two (which rarely happens but I aim to do it when I can!) to wander around and explore. More is more.

Impending Travel Days

I've lived out of a suitcase and on the road for several years, but it still amazes me how the transition throws me off every time. When I'm home, I get a little nervous about leaving. When I'm about to head home, I get anxious about all the free time and basic tasks like grocery shopping. Either way, I transition so quickly and seamlessly that it makes me slightly bemused that this still happens.

I'm heading out tomorrow for about 10 days but that'll include quite a few flights, time zone changes, and two contientents. It should be a great few days of work and I'm excited for what's to come. Food is the only thing that even brings me concern. Will I have access to food that I can eat? For the past few trips, I've packed a lot of backup food with me (cans of tuna, bags of lentil, protein powders and bars) but I'm kind of wing it for this trip. I'll throw in some protein powder and a few bars but otherwise, I'm going to figure it out on the way. That's all part of the adventure, right?

Living For the Weekend

It's pathetic, sad and I think a great glimpse into my life. When I'm on the road, I have no idea what day of the week it is. Sure, I know it's Stage 2 or 3, but if that falls on a Thursday, Sunday or Tuesday is totally lost on me. I also have no clue when I see my partner again, and that's equally okay. 

I grew up in the typical American household and was spoiled to have my dad at dinner most nights. I worked a corporate job and lived my own adult version of a 9-5 life for six years after earning my Masters degree. For those that know me from then, remember Happiness Awaits? I struggled for a long time to find my place in this world---that delicate mix of happiness combined with drive and determination. Apparently, men's professional cycling was what I need. Additionally, my team is special, and we don't adhere to the same rules, goals, and expectations as other teams. We've set our own markers for success, and I truly feel that environment has allowed me to thrive. 

Month-after-month, I clocking a ridiculous number of hours not just traveling but also simply doing the day-in, day-out tasks of my job. Sports compete on weekends, therefore I don't get weekends off. Normal business life work happens on weekdays, so.......that means I'm basically always working.

I feel spoiled, and I love this job. But at times, it can still be work. As in, I've spent two days traveling home from Abu Dhabi after 10 days of 12+ hour workdays. It is a Tuesday and I desperately need/want a day off but at this point in the season, that simply isn't an option. Maybe this weekend? Again, we race so maybe.

Additionally, this year has proven to be a comedy of 'errors' when it comes to my relationship with the Roommate. I went to Spain and upon flying out, he was already on a flight to Spain. No overlap. I flew to Dubai and he flew to Oman the day I was slated to return. When he flew back from Oman, I was on a plane to Abu Dhabi. Leaving Abu Dhabi, he's already driving to Strade Bianchi and spending nearly a month in Italy. 

It isn't the weekend work that's hard. In our world's, last minute schedule changes are what break you. You believe you have a day off or a weekend together that you desperately need and then suddenly watch it disappear. It's hard and it can be a deal breaker in many relationships. It works for us for two reasons:

1. We are both in this world. We know what the insides look like and how it works. We also understand that our schedules aren't actually our schedules. They are suggestions that neither of us have real control over. 
2. We are absolutely spoiled rotten to have these careers. We have amazing jobs that carry us around the world. It is exciting, dynamic and adventurous---all things most people would love to claim at their jobs.

So if not seeing each other for a few weeks or even in this case, a few months is the worst it gets, I still feel like we are ridiculously spoiled and fortunate for the life we lead. And even more so that I've got a partner to enjoy and commiserate with through it all. 

Places You've Been ✈️

I hear this list is floating around on Facebook and my mom and sister thought it'd be fun if I did my version. Apparently most Americans only have eight. I have 66 and that definitely isn't a complete list. I have many places that aren’t even on this list. Like the text message I got today:

I’ve also been to Poland, Turkey, Sweden, Portugal, Poland, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Cape Verde, Monaco, Andorra and a few other places that aren’t listed. And here I am looking at the list below as an outline for places I need to prioritize and get to soon.

That list has 99 places, so I've hit roughly 67%. Obviously, I need to get that into the 80th percentile at a minimum simply as a bucket list item.

Being the Biggest Adult

I'm sure shifting into being a real adult is more recognizable for people who are raising children, but the fact I'm typically the main, 'real' adult keeps catching me off guard. 

When situations go astray, like when my flight to Italy on Sunday was rerouted to a different airport and all the taxis were on strike, my first reaction was to look around for someone to solve the problem. Then it dawned on me that I was the biggest adult and I needed to figure out getting a rider and myself across Milan and quickly.

I've had a variety of these scenarios over the years traveling with athletes. Their duties are to perform in a race. For the staff, we each have our own roles and responsibilities, but at the end of the day, our jobs include making life as easy as possible for the riders. 

This means problem-solving on the fly, often in foreign languages and with limited knowledge of the area. While my first reaction when problems arise is to look around hoping that someone more senior than me is around, I've learned things always work it. It might not be pretty, you'll probably be exhausted and need a few glasses of wine, and it will cost something, but things always work out. And humans are much friendlier, kinder and more helpful than we give them credit. More times than not, random strangers help. 

Remembering that helped me stay calm while trying to navigate across Milan late at night without any clue as to what was going on. And guess what....it all worked out.

Heading Back to the UAE

On Sunday, I head back to this UAE for another 10 days. This time, I'll be in Abu Dhabi, which is somewhere I've never been before. I could be wrong, but I'm heading in with the assumption that Abu Dhabi is very much like Dubai---hot, dry, (hopefully no sandstorms), luxury hotels and extremely expensive. 

My hotel room was absolutely amazing in Dubai but our hotel food left much to be desired. It was boring, redundant and featured none of the foods you'd want in the Mideast--hummus, olives, etc. Eating out wasn't a real option because everything was so insanely expensive. Instead, it was all race buffet. Breakfast was 2 to 3 hardboiled eggs and that was it. Lunch proved to be impossible to eat gluten and dairy free and they kept throwing in peanuts to really keep me on my toes.

I don't really want to be traveling with this much food (added weight) but I also want to stay on my good eating habits. It is going to be redundant but at least I'm prepared. I'm really not that excited to eat a can of tunafish every.single.day but I don't know how else to travel with protein and not completely survive on bars and powder.

In addition to the above (that's Julian Bakery Vanilla Nut powder, which I ADORE), I'll throw in some Julian Bakery bars, RXbars, coconut milk powder and hopefully some true lemon and true lime packets if I can track them down in Belgium. I'm planning on race buffet dinner being fine, so all this is to just supplement breakfast, lunch and snacks. I'm hoping there will be fresh cut veggies and salad that I can steal in the evenings to make snacks for the next day. Just need to remember to pack some sort of tupperware.

Hopefully, my bag won't weigh too much.....this is a bit ridiculous.

Dubai Eats

Eating in Dubai has been...fairly boring. I ate race buffet 90% of the time, which means the same exact meal, every time. It's simply too expensive to eat elsewhere when food is provided. Thanks to being gluten and dairy free, this definitely limited my choices and I ended up eating basically the same thing every day. It wasn't very inspiring.

• Breakfast: 2-3 egg whites and to just try and make it exciting, some pickles, mustard, pickled onions, and capers. I know...it wasn't good and my stomach hated me for it. I'm in no hurry to repeat this meal. Except that I ate it for a week straight. Ugh.
• Copious amounts of coffee and tea until I left for the race. My hotel room had a Nespresso machine and the first thing I did when my alarm went off was to make an espresso. I really should think about installing one of these on my bedside table at home....what's this silliness of walking to the kitchen?! Also, I skipped all faux-dairy products for the week. Eager to get back to coconut or almond milk. Basically desperately. 
• Lunch: I went to a grocery store and bought a few cans of no-drain tuna that were actually quite tasty and a few avocados. Every evening, I would fill up a plastic container with lettuce and some veggies (typically cucumbers, mushrooms, and peppers) from the race buffet and then add in the tuna and avocado at lunch time. I topped with some of my travel oil and vinegar packets. It wasn't exciting but it got me through.
• Snacks: Cashews, almond butter or beef jerky. Not my finest moments. Probably didn't need all those nuts, fats and calories.
• Dinner: Typically a that I would top with grilled (typically with too much oil for my liking) vegetables and some kind of protein.

And that was it. The same nearly single day, especially for breakfast.

So, by this morning, I'd hit a wall. I was staying in Dubai for an extra day to do some additional work and there was no longer a race buffet. I did a fancy dance, a full-on celebration and loaded up my plate. What you see above isn't everything I ate. It got a little out of control, quickly. There was another plate of veggies and then some scrambled eggs. I was so excited for the variety that I couldn't hold myself back.

Tomorrow--I head back to Belgium for a little bit. I already have all my meals for the next week worked out in my mind.

Do Anything as Long as it Feels like an Adventure

Living out of a suitcase and constantly moving around the glove is a lifestyle that wouldn't suit many people. Combine that with your only home being a strange foreign country and I'm basically always living in total chaos and tackling the unknown.

After nearly 10 hours of straight work and more still to do, I snuck down to the beach to read a bit and watch the sunset.

I think a common phrase said within the bike racing community is, "this isn't a job for many could handle, but for those of us who can, we are the luckiest people in the world." 

I'm grateful and spoiled that I have a job where when I tell someone sitting next to me on a plane what I do, their eyes expand and they immediately tell me how jealous or lucky I am. Trust me, I know.

Who knows how long I'll do this for. I'm applying the advice of Neil Gaimon, "I tended to do anything as long as it felt like an adventure and stopped when it felt like work.”

Right now, Dubai feels just right. It's an adventure; it's strange; it's fascinating and I'll be happy to be back on the move come Monday and on to the next adventure. 

No Internet at Training Camp

I didn't mean to disappear! I actually tried as hard as I could to put something up here, but the powers that be in Spain overruled me. While in Spain, we got hit by apparently the storm of the century. There were massive power outages, rain, leaks, everything. We had snow, massive amounts of rain and galeforce winds. This meant that the Internet and Wifi were down for the whole area for days. 

The 10-day training camp started so well. Sunshine and sunglasses. Little did I know that all of that was about to disappear.

While I couldn't post, more importantly, I couldn't work. I'm now paying for it. I got home late Sunday night with the plan to take Monday off after 10 days of working 12-15 hour days. I almost laugh at the thought I could take Monday off. Instead, I'm still scrambling trying to make up for all those lost days without Internet.

Looking forward, life is about to get crazy. It already is crazy. I'm both scared and excited at the same time for what is to come.

Stay tuned....it's going to be a big year!

Starting Another Year on the Road

Yesterday, I set off for a 10-day training camp in Spain. January training camps basically serve as the start of the season and from this point forward, I really have no idea my schedule and how often or little I'll be home. Different seasons lead to different schedules and I've had years where I've had at least two separate nearly 2-month blocks on the road. Right now, I have no idea how 2017 will play out and to be honest, that excites me. 

It might look like chaos, but that's organized chaos.

I live out of a suitcase and in hotels quite well. There is something soothing about it but it requires planning and organizing. There are times when I'll have a less than 24-hour turnaround at home, which basically means doing laundry and heading back out. Due to this, I like to make packing my suitcase as simple as possible. I own doubles of nearly everything and it lives in my bag so I don't run the risk I leaving my glasses or UK laptop phone charger at home.

Earlier this week, I dumped out my suitcase and went through everything piece by piece to see what may need replacing or refilling. It also meant I got rid of stuff that I don't use anymore and simply cleaned out all that random stuff that winds up at the bottom of a bag.

And then I set off on a few last minute errands to make sure everything was stocked up and ready to go for 2017. First up, more charging cables and a dongle (yes, I giggle every time I say dongle). I travel with three phone chargers--one for my suitcase, one for my backpack/spare battery and then one with my GPS for a rental car. At training camp, I'm doing presentations and training, so instead of always needing to borrow a mac-to-projector dongle, I finally got around to buying my own.

The Lush purchases are the real excitements. Everyone that travels frequently needs to know about Lush's bar shampoo and conditioner. Bar shampoo and conditioner! When you live out of your suitcase for weeks at a time, bottles take up a lot of space and add weight. These bars eliminate both those issues. I've been using them for over two years and I don't think I could ever go back. They've got a huge variety to choose from. I go for the ones that moisturize, designed for blondes and make my hair smell yummy. It took me awhile to find a conditioner that worked but trial and error led me to the Jungle. I'm also a fan of the (affordable) travel tins to keep them from rubbing on everything else. I probably replace those every six months.

And there you have it. I'm set for 2017 travels!

My Birthday. At Work

Ever since leaving for Hawaii over three weeks ago, life hasn't slowed down. I've gone through some big changes at work, which have meant a huge increase in work load. That should all quiet down now, but these past few weeks have been intense. After the Dominican Republic home build, I spent about a week in Stone Mountain, GA. During that time, I celebrated my 36th birthday.

As a kid, I was a huge birthday person. I think this is part of being a December birthday. No one wants to celebrate your birthday. It's another gift, another event, just another something during a crazy month. That was a huge frustration as a child. My birthday always felt like a chore and like all little kids, I wanted to be celebrated and spoiled with gifts, cakes and parties.  

As an adult, I get it. I have so much going on, I barely want to celebrate my birthday. If I could, I would probably let everyone forget it, especially when surrounded exclusively by coworkers. The last time I spent my birthday at training camp was four years ago and it actually was my first day working for the team. That meant I wasn't friends with anyone on social media and no one really knew me. I skated through without a single happy birthday and that was fine.

My birthday fell on one of the busiest days of training camp (media training) and was two days before maybe my biggest day of the year (media day/team presentation).  I wanted to cruise through the day without anyone mentioning it, but thanks to Facebook reminders, everyone knew. And after living, working and traveling together so closely for this many years, no one was letting me skate by.

And they did a great job spoiling me: I received a cake, tiara, flowers, balloons and a great meal out. I felt loved and celebrated. A few special people lead the charge and made sure I felt spoiled all day long. It was nice. And when you work with so many Italians, you realize all those great birthday kisses aren't such a bad thing.