How could I forget???

My birthday present from the team! Interviewing me in the middle of testing. Thanks Nicola and Greg :)

Birthday fun with Exergy TWENTY 12's Cari Higgins! from Exergy TWENTY12 on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday to me... ha!

Does this sound like a fun way to spend your birthday?

- Early morning at the track for benchmark testing. Track time 9am-1:30pm.

- Lunch, 2 hrs. downtime, rollers/core, dinner (made my Lauren!)

- Rained ALL day in LA. Really? Does that happen?

- Death of one of the greatest brains and pioneers ever to live. RIP Steve Jobs.

Sound depressing? Well, not to be a downer, but it wasn't a celebratory day by any means. For that, I subtract a year instead of adding one.

But, it ended with this...

That brought a smile to my face.

Last night I stayed up late to order "my" birthday present... two new iPhones for Greg and I. They went on sale at midnight California time and the website was crashed for about 45 minutes. Amazing! One of the few companies in the world that can put something for sale in the middle of the night and have people in every time zone setting their alarms... only to wait patiently for the website to work for 45 minutes... happily pay hundreds of dollars... and go back to sleep peacefully.

Today is a 4 hour ride north of Santa Monica. If nobody is watching, I may stop and go shopping in Santa Monica on the way home. More birthday presents for me :)

P.S. Besides not being with Greg... I wouldn't want life any other way right now. I feel lucky every day!

Take 1

The last day before the big work begins...

So far, I have done a much better job embracing LA. I can't really count the number of nights I spent in this city last winter but I trust it was more then I spent at home. I fought it, cursed it, damned it, etc.

This year has been easier so far. Maybe it's because we are staying in a nicer hotel, one that provides us all with a little personal space. Maybe it's because I know my way around without having to Mapquest my first step out of the door. Maybe it's because I started spending more time in little pockets of heaven like Manhattan Beach. Maybe it's because I swore I would make a life for myself here and not just make it ALL bikes. Any way you look at it, I am not dreading spending most of the winter here... only wish I could bring Greg and Elke!

Thanks to my friend Adam, we got tickets to watch the Chivas play at the Home Depot Center. I love watching soccer!

And so it begins... the bikes from a bunch of USA Cycling athletes await the hard work we all have ahead of us. Bring on the pain because I am ready for the gains!

LA Team Pursuit Camp, Take 1.

Lucky Me!

I'm sitting here in my hotel room and taking account of equipment. As I start the track season, I am just assuring I have everything in place. Bike, check. Wheels, check. New tires, hmm. New aero bars, need adjusting. SRM, when is the last time I had it serviced? You get the picture.

It's a good time to take a moment and thank the sponsors who make this all happen.

Felt Bicycles. Hot damn. The best! Not only are they completely supportive of Team Exergy TWENTY12 on the road providing road bikes and TT bikes but they have stepped up to support us on the track too. I ride the ZW on the road which is optimized to fit women and a DA TT bike which always makes me feel uber fast. On the track, we train and race on the TK1. Look around, all the fast people are doing it? I sincerely want to thank a major bicycle company for caring

enough to put major bucks into designing and building some crazy nice track bikes. Not only that, but they support their athletes by coming out to races and cheering for us. That, my friends, is called support. Thank you Felt and Doug/Ty/and gang.

Zipp Speed Weaponry. Enough said.

This summer I had the privilege of visiting Zipp's headquarters in Indianapolis. Since I have raced Zipp wheels on the track pretty much since I started racing, I was already sold on the fact that, for whatever reason, I really like their wheels. But, after the visit and learning about the research, human time, and quality materials that go into making Zipp wheels (right here in the USA!), I understand why they are the best. The facts are secret and I signed something very official that said they would own my first born if I told their secrets. So there.

I am privileged to ride too many wheels to list. 101s, 303s, 404s, 808s, 900, sub-9, super-9. Ya, exactly! We also use all the Service Course bars, stems, seatposts. Lucky me!

Putting in all in action!

THANK YOU FELT BICYCLES AND ZIPP SPEED WEAPONRY!