[Posted by Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski at www.jhkandheather.com]

Following my last blog post about skiing and cross training in the Colorado winter, I’ve changed climates and am now enjoying the sunshine and great riding in southern California.

My current trip to California may go down as one of my more poorly-timed excursions though. Heather and I planned this trip to get some good riding in while the snow was still thick on the ground in Colorado. However, since we’ve left it’s been sunny and warm in Boulder - and a storm of “biblical proportions” is about to slam into the west coast here in Santa Barbara.

That said, we’ve at least managed a week of great training and other activities. We kicked off the trip with a visit to Oakley – one of our terrific sponsors, and one which we're working more closely with in 2010. We talked products, marketing, history, and even got the chance to hit some of the local trails for a quick MTB ride outside Laguna.

Even cooler stuff on the inside, but I can't post any pictures of that...


We’ve since moved a little bit north, and are currently staying up in the hills of Santa Barbara. I absolutely love it here, and have been getting at least a few weeks of training in this area for quite a few years now. I’m just finishing up a few big days of riding – and am finding myself day-dreaming about living here for more than just the odd few weeks for training now and then. The roads and trails are incredible, the restaurants are great – and the wine flows like, well, beer? If only I had a couple million kicking around somewhere for a house like the one I’m staying in…

Heather about to hit the pump track in high heels, and Oakley's Steve Blick and I showing off a few things from his archives...



Anyway – back to reality. I’ve made the most of my time on the bike the last few days and am pretty happy with how the training is going thus far in 2010. I’m not really sure how much longer we’ll stay out here; and we might just drive back to Boulder next week if the wind, rain, and mudslides that they’re predicting come to pass. 

The best of both worlds - ocean views and mountain roads


On second thought – I could stick around, hang the bike up for a few days, and just hunker down in the tasting rooms of some central coast wineries if the weather gets too bad. Hmmmm – that sounds like a pretty good plan B. Thanks for checking in -

JHK