Superweek Day 1 v2.0

So, today's race is over.

I felt decent warming up and the course was great for me. I didn't expect the race to start with a bang, but I wasn't surprised when it happened. Maybe it's my lack of form right now, but the race seemed every bit as aggressive and fast as a 90 minute "Boulder" crit.

A big break went early, 16 guys I think. They put a lap into us within the first 30 miles, and then the race got really hard. I was doing a decent job of riding toward the front, but when the break came back around, the speed went up and everyone wanted a top 20 spot. I hung on as well as I could, but came off with 2.5 laps to go.

I didn't feel great, but I guess I felt as good as I expected I would, a little self-fulfilling prophecy? Maybe. On the bright side, I do expect to feel better everyday, so hopefully that psychology lesson will work to my advantage even if I did let it work against me today.

The best part of the race today was the crowds. Families and their friends lined almost the entire course. They all had parties in their yards, and most of them yelled really loud. After the race one family even pulled me aside and fed me, offered me beer and wine, congratulated me, and just sat and shot the breeze for a while. I hope all the races will be like that. There was even a big beer garden and stuff with a band on one side of the course.

I made it to my host house without any problems, but that's a whole story in and of itself. Hopefully I can unwind a little and get to sleep, these late starts mess with my sleep a little.

Also, I'd like to personally thank Dave Towle for having the decency and the brains never to tell the Lance Armstrong cancer story for 15 laps in the middle of a race. I'm not sure what the announcer was thinking, or what got him started, but we got the WHOLE story. It's hard to race when you get all choked up like that.

Thanks for checking in. I'm going to watch Boonen win a stage and then hit the sack.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry