This weekend I went and checked out the 30+ Million dollar car collection at the Marconi Museum, which includes Michael Schumacher's 1996 F-1 Ferrari. Though the museum itself wasn't the only thing to attract me to the venue, a commitment to a friend, Dennis and his companies (YOR Health) event was the main reason. The story really starts about 15 months ago when I meet one of those select few riders who have the best of everything, how many people TRAIN on Zipp 808 TUBULARS?? The Pro's don't even do that! After getting to know each other as we circled the Rose Bowl each Tuesday / Thursday night, he introduced me to his products and since then I have become a big fan. Over that period of time we have developed a friendship and my evolvement with the company has also increased, now being on the Athletic Advisory Board. Every now and then I make an appearance at a meeting, only this time I had to step up to a suit and tie and talk to 700+ people. Now you'd think I'd be use to talking in front of a crowd with the amount of interviews I've done over the years, somehow a question and answer session is less daunting than having to give the story with no prompting from start to finish. Add to that, Pip just got back from a conference where she was awarded best presentation, which created some household competition, and a little pressure. Although I had an agenda, I tend to try and wing the story on stage, as I simply didn't want to sound like one of those boring pre-scripted talks- I'm sure you've experienced one and all know what I am talking about ?!? I think I managed to pull it off as Dennis was smiling, and the crowd even had a little laugh. There was some comfort in seeing a couple of familiar MTB faces in the crowd, Craig Hopps @ Efficiency Coaching and MTB Chick / Mountain Bike Action Writer, Tonya Bray, sorry to anyone else I may have missed. I'm not sure why, but I seemed to get the rock-star treatment with everyone wanting their photo with me. Though there was a time I had to laugh to myself, with one comment "Can I have my photo with you, who are you again?" That brought me back down to reality of being a cyclist.

On the bike, you could say that 2010 training has started or I've at least put 2 solid back to

back day together, 10 hrs in total which is already my biggest week since early October. Let's

hope the rain comes only during the night.

Sid Taberlay