uote from the simpsons, remember that one? The man behind the wheel of the slipstream bus, yvan, isn’t a lot like Otto from the simpsons, but just as skilled with the big rig. Probably more, actually. It is great going to and from races in our big nice bus. Its pretty much like just hanging out in your hotel for an extra hour before and after the race. We even have an espresso machine in there. Yvan is so good negotiating this beast through the traffic, round a bouts, and narrow European streets that its easy to forget you are actually moving, until all of a sudden the bus turns off, the door opens, and we are at the race, wedged inexplicably in some tight place between a brick wall, a lamp post, and a peugot. We didn’t even have to back up and move forward a half dozen times. No stress what so ever. I really don’t know how he does it. Its actually pretty silly that all the big teams in Europe insist on cramming their giant bus into the tiny city center start villages. But yvan has it down to a science. Today we neared our hotel in valencia and came to a one way intersection, two one lane roads meeting with cars and lamp posts parked on both sides. And we needed to take the bus on a 90 degree right turn. I thought it was impossible, and was imagining our bus stuck between cars and the wall, unable to move anywhere, like a beached whale. Somehow, yvan negotiqated the corner, with obstacles only centimeters from all sides of the bus, with only a single back up and move forward. Crazy. And when I came down a bit later to grab a bag, the bus was somehow in the tiny parking lot, another 2 tight corners having been negotiated. Dealing with a bus in Europe is definitely more of a full time job than you might think. Vuelta valencia starts tomorrow, I should have more to talk about than buses then.