Taylor Phinney - Pro cyclist Trek Livestrong Team

Beijing! Go T!!

taylor and neal negotiating luggage at heathrow - traveling heavy!   We are officially en route to Beijing!  Taylor finished his training in Bordeaux a bit tired and eager to get on to the big show in Beijing.  We found that some of the last minute ‘tweaks’ were successful and his times were consistently fast and on track.  He had fun sitting on the back of the Kiwi Team Pursuit while they averaged 1 min flat kilos for the full 4k distance.  It was impressively fast!  His own times for flying kilos were just a second slower than that….also impressively fast.  But that was over-speed work and not what he’ll sustain in Beijing.  We’ll hope for a fast track, fast legs and good morale. A big thanks to the kiwis for their incredible support.  They allowed us to join in their training, made room for us, let us do what we needed and never asked anything in return.  Cycling is a wonderful sport in the way that we have to look out for each other.  They are a great group with some medal potential in all their disciplines.  We’ll have fun watching them in Beijing. My work as mother, chaperone, travel agent, chef, companion, friend, riding partner (a few slow days…) is now drawing to its inevitable close (ok, the mother tag lives on….).  I reach this point with a mixture of satisfaction, sadness, and fatigue.  It will be hard to let him go into the hands of others almost the minute we hit the ground in Beijing but he will be well-cared for and surrounded by thousands of like-minded athletes.  I’ve been there in a sense, but it’s never the same.  I will miss him.  Go T!   A second big thanks to Neal Henderson whose journey with us has been a long but fruitful one.  His support, humor, expertise, and friendship have contributed greatly to this journey.  Merci bien.Onward!     And in an instant, Taylor was on the bus and gone.  Our work was done.  Go T!!!!