Team Camp... so far

We are all settled in to our hotel and getting to know each other a little better. At least the people that are new to the team. Today is the first day and so far we have had our ride delayed due to poor weather.  

My observations so far are:

Ashley has very tiny hands.

Nathan knows wayy more than most people give him credit for. He can also punch through anything with his bare hands.

Casey is attractive.

I'm not good at using waffle irons at the hotel breakfast.

I'm sure there are more to come so stay tuned. Talahina on Tuesday for New Years. After today, the weather is supposed to be nice so I am looking forward to the rest of camp.

Pictures soon. When I take some.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season. I, for one, am not arguing with this weather. Finally! 60's and sunny at the end of December!? That's the Texas weather everyone loves. Hope Santa brought everyone what they asked for, and no one is eating too much and getting out of shape. The road season starts in about a month.

I have a change of plans coming up. I had originally planned on doing the state cross championships, the first of the year. However, now i will be busy with the Metro VW team camp that starts on Saturday and runs through the 4th. I was kinda bummed at first, but now I'm pretty excited to get in more good riding. It's also an opportunity to spend time with the team. There are some new riders this year, so it should be pretty ok. 

Tomorrow Will, Peter, Corey, Phillip, and Andrew G. from Florida will be doing a little ride together before heading over to the hotel in Grapevine to meet up with the team. The guys are coming around nicely. Even Phillip, who desperately needs a bike fit to optimize his power output. 

Oh yeah, I got a sweet new Nikon digital camera. Maybe now my blogging will go up a notch with some quality photos.

Good luck to everyone that will be racing the state cx. I am personally going to place my bet in Vegas for Captain Amazing to repeat. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cheers

Top 5

A few days ago, my buddy Phillip Snodgrass, posted something on his blog about the top 5 hottest celebs. Or something like that. He included people like Tina Fey and Eileen from Seinfeld. Not to take anything away from his list, I would like to say, I think he failed to look at ALL of the celebrities we have has of early 2009. I have compiled a top 10 list, 5 of which are bike racers, just to prove there are 5 attractive female bike racers out there. The first installment will be my top 5 celebs, plus a couple of honorable mentions.
Here is how mine would go:



5. Jennifer Aniston- Let's not forget, she's 39!



















4. Jessica Alba- she has a baby now, which may make her even more attractive. But since this little addition she hasn't been in anything; meaning I can not enjoy her nearly as much as I would like.




















3. Jennifer Love Hewitt- Quite possibly the most underrated beauty. I believe you can still watch her on the Ghost Whisperer. I never watch that show.




















2. Giselle Bundchen- What do I need to say about her? She is the face of Victoria Secret and near flawless. Tom Brady has a good looking girlfriend. If I were him, I wouldn't care I had to sit out a season with a knee injury.























1. Megan Fox- Watch Transformers and find the issue of Maxim she graced the cover of. You will become a fan, I promise.

















Honorable Mention:
Scarlet Johanson
Kate Hudson
Ashlee Simpson (with the new nose)
Mila Kunis

Farewell Texas Stadium.

And see ya later 2008 season. It had its ups and downs, but it was ugly!

I would like to see Wade Phillips stay for at least 1 more year. I believe he is a good head coach. I do, however, think Jason Garrett needs to go coach little league somewhere. Just to hone his skills as an offensive coordinator. Does he not know that there are more than 6 plays on that laminated sheet he holds in his hand during games? He is not playing a video game, where running the same handful of plays over and over actually work. 

Dear Cowboys defensive,

Off game? More like off 2 plays? You dominate for a good portion of the season, then during crunch time you fall asleep and you let the same run play go for 75+ yds, back to back. Ouch, that has to hurt.

Oh well, live by the boys, die by the boys. There is always next year.. Players will get healthy and studs will get drafted. Maybe.

Name change

So I recently decided that since I was no longer racing for TX Tough, I don't need it as the URL for my blog. 

If you check my blog often enough for this to matter, please add this link instead. I know my name is tricky. Remember, there are 2 H's in my last name. That's pronounced, Dahl- heim. It isn't hard if you break it down.

I am trying to put together a slide show of pictures. If you have any of me at a race or something and wouldn't mind donating it, that would be awesome! I will be sure to give you credit for the photo.

Thanks.

andrewdahlheim.blogspot.com

Wheatus

So since the weather in D-town has been absolutely shitty! I have done a fair amount of my riding this week in-doors. I managed to bust out a 3 hr ride in the cold rain on Wednesday, but Tuesday and Thursday were trainer/roller days. I hate those days. I guess you have to knock them out if you want to make it. Someone close to me once said, "There are chores to every job that are work. Pros just get them done anyways." Today while I was doing my workout on the rollers, I  had my iPod playing for some extra motivation.  I usually just put it on shuffle so I get a surprise with every song change. Well today must have been my lucky day. I was fortunate enough to stumble across this little gem.

Love & Life

Lately, I have been stressing out about who I will be riding for in 2009, if anyone. Well let me put all the questions to rest. After a couple of commitments with Metro and A&V- McDonalds, and a couple other sub par offers. I will be sticking with Metro VW. They are both very good, proven programs and I am lucky to be a part of either one. Europe is a place I want my cycling career to take me. I won't get into details, but sometimes things just don't work out. I am, however, looking forward to 2009 season now that all my team worries are put to rest. The team is going to be super strong this year and i fully expect strong showings in all of our races.  My winter training has been going well. getting in solid rides on the 'ole Redline cross bike, equipped with SRM. It gets the job done while things are being ironed out. 

The bulk of my training has looked like this: 2-3 hrs on Monday, down and around White Rock Lake. Then I follow that with the FatBoy ride that goes up northeast of Mckinney on Tuesdays with Mike Gacki and and a few other guys that don't have work. Wednesdays are designated track days after a short ride in the am. This time of year, it feels a good 5-10 degrees cooler inside the Superdrome than it actually is.  Thursdays, I have been doing rides with my good friends, Stephen Crawford and Gary Glanger. It's good to mix things up a bit. Training can get old and lose its fun real fast. Sometimes we will go ride around the lake a bit and sometimes we hit the trail with the cross bikes. I think on Fridays, I am going to start doing the Gacki ride. A few guys meet up at his house in north Frisco for an extended ride up north of Celina. Best riding in the area by far (within a 20 min drive). 

The past couple of weekends have been a little different than others. Last weekend I went up to Tulsa Oklahoma. Mainly to see someone, but to ride also. Tulsa is a hidden gem for riding. Surprisingly. I would not have expected such good riding in such an armpit of a state. It was a good change of pace. 

This weekend was the Eggnog and Chunks crit in Denton. Put on by my coach, Christian Williams. The whole point in the race, was to raise money for the juniors he coaches to get to nationals. At first, I felt obligated to go considering I used to be one of those juniors. However, it ended up being pretty fun. Despite the 40 mph wind, it was 78 degrees and sunny. Can't complain about that. It was fun to do a crit on a cross bike with a 48 front chain ring. It had to be good leg speed. Brett Crosby came out hot. Lapping the field with one other dude and taking the win. I knew he was gone as soon as he went. I finished 4th after getting in a small chase group with a couple of guys that had no idea we were racing for 3rd and not 1st. Oh well it was a good cause. I even donated my prize money for some baked goods. Totally worth it!

If your in the area and you want to knock out some miles, give me a call. I'm always free to ride.

Out-

Andrew

Where has Andrew been?

Well i know I don't blog much, but I am making up for it by blogging TWICE in one day! Lets see if I can make this a habit. It's not like I do much else with my days besides ride. Lately I have been doing a fair amount of training. The hrs are getting higher and the legs are feeling better. Last week for Thanksgiving I went up to Nebraska with Pops to see some of the family. It's almost always a dreaded trip when we think about it, but usually doesn't turn out too bad. I didn't ride much at all during my trip but it was only a couple of days that shouldn't kill me. When I got back I hit up some yoga with my good friend Crawford. I have recently decided that it is quite possibly the most underrated workout. I will never judge again. It was hard not to laugh when I started thinking of Barry Lee getting his downward dog on in the middle of a gas station parking lot on our way back from Arkansas.  Good times..

There are some rumors going around about who I may or may not be riding for next year. Regardless of what cycling news may say, the final roster is due to the UCI next Monday and nothing is set quite yet. Plans are still being made and were hoping for the best. Should be good though. I will post here when everything is finalized and I know for sure where I am going. Nothing is a done deal until you dot the i's and cross the t's. Thanks again, as always to all the supporters. You know who you are.

Also, big congrats to Andrew Armstrong. After getting is dual cat 1, he was successful over in Switzerland on the track and is set to head over and race in Hong Kong, and Australia on both the track and road. Definitely an underrated rider. While I'm giving props... Alex Boyd signed with Rock racing! That's' rad and no one is more deserving.

That's enough man crushing. I just had to add substance to the post.

Out.

Since when does Stefan do cyclocross?

It seems like that guy can do it all as long as it is on a bicycle. Im sure Mr. Godsey is very happy to have a rider like him on his team. A couple of weeks ago I did the cross races at White Rock lake expecting to see the same cast of characters show up. However, to my amazement, not only did Stefan Rothe show up. He won the first day and got 3rd the next. Will Ross even came out of retirement to mix it up. It was awesome. Thinking that they probably just didn't have anything else going on that weekend, I was surprised to see Stefan at the start line again the next weekend in Ft. Worth. This time, Captain Amazing graced us with his presence after recovering from an endurance race the previous weekend. The races were well run by Moritz and the depth of the field was by far the best I have seen in a Texas cross race. Bryan and I went 1-2 both days, ust in a different order and Mitch and Stefan along with Matt Davis and Chopper battled out for the 3rd place spot behind us. It's about time I beat Fawley in a cross race. Hopefully the field sizes stay this big. It makes the racing and spectating way more fun. Im going to bail on the Houston races, but you may see me in San Antonio for the state championships. Here is a good picture of Bryan and I battling it out the first day in Ft. Worth.