Banyoles is beautiful and we are staying at the perfect place to train - Mas Pelegri (I highly recommend it as a vacation or training destination). The scenery and food doesn't get any better! Tonight's meal was a salad with goats cheese, homemade bread, chicken curry, rice, grilled veggies, and a baked apple with raisins and ice cream for dessert. It will be hard to leave on Thursday.
I had a fun time racing the Banyoles WC on Saturday. The course was full of fans and the race directors did an amazing job. I came out of the swim in the main chase pack, and ended the bike in the main bike pack about 1:40 down from the two leaders. Erin D and Ashleigh G from AUS made me work for the win. It was hot out, but not as hot as the men's race. It was a good day for the USA with Lukas Verzbicas winning - it was the first time since 1992 in Vegas that USA swept gold at an ITU WC (Andrew Carlson and Joy Hansen). Thanks to Hincapie, Specialized, HED Wheels, CycleOps, Trainingpeaks, Citi, Steinhafels, Oakley, David Hobbs Honda, NormaTech, and the New York Athletic Club for making it possible!
Team USA (Lukas V, Kelly Whitley, Greg Billington, Tommy Zaferes, Jono Hall) and Lise Olivier of Lotto Belisol headed out for an easy ride. We made Jono and Lise pull for the majority of the ride as us triathletes were still in recovery-mode. We stopped at the medieval town of Besalu for lunch (fun fact: if you order a hamburger in Spain, it comes with french fries and croquettes, but no bun). Besalu has a 12th-century Romanesque bridge over the Fluvia River where we stopped to take a picture (see above).
Thursday we will leave for the Kitzbuhel WTS event.