VoS Road Race - 89 miles - about 3 hours, 50 minutes or so

Phoenix, AZ

 

not very hilly - supposedly only 470 feet of climbing per lap (we did 5.5 laps - but 6 of those 470' climbs)

 

Oh word, this race was off the chain.  remember how i said yesterday that my teammate, danny boy, finished the time trial ahead of me by about a minute and in 22nd overall?  yeah, so we rode for him today.  there's just 3 of us in this race - me, dan, and jordan.  jordan is sick - sick enough that he really shouldn't be racing this weekend - but he was hoping to "clear the lungs".  anyway, he put in some wicked little attacks in the early laps of the race.  meanwhile i was chillin like a villain just floating in the back of the pack.  dan was cruising too, but by the 4th lap, there was still a breakaway up the road.  he asked me to not be shy about putting in an effort or 2 to help chase, but i said to just be a little patient still.  we absorbed the breakaway the 5th time up the hill, and it was now a race.  nothing was off the front at the time, but people were getting ancy again.  about 1/3 into the final lap and a little group of 3 guys just starts to meander off the front.  i'm sitting in about 20th spot, but my boy dan is just about riding point at the front.  i briefly consider slingshotting through the front of the group and joining the break, but i just knew that dan was feeling itchy and would gun it to get in the break.  no sooner and my boy makes a blistering effort and goes across alone.  now it's 4 people up the road, and the peloton totally throws the brakes on.  it was really quite shocking.  no one up the road was a "threat" to gc, but little do they know.  i almost went to the front of the field to help block for dan (just ride a little slow, but not so slow that people want to come around me), but there's simply no need.  the peloton has completely thrown in the towel.  really, quite shocking.  now we're going into the final hill and the finish is at the top.  i can't really believe it, but i'm sitting at the front of the field, ready to duke it out for a field sprint.  i mean, this might as well be a mountain top finish for me!  ridiculous that i'm here for this!  i weigh 190 lbs - most of the competition only weighs 150!  *ludicruous*  bottom of the hill and i'm in top ten.  run and gun, bump and grind.  i love it.  things are a bit physical, but i'm holding all good.  the only handicap trying to climb.  okay, so we're at 1 km to go, and by some miracle i'm in the top 5.  huh?  at his point, some quick accelerations are made, and i'm out of the saddle to follow, but all of a sudden my legs cramp.  total suckage - not enough electrolytes on a warm, dry day.  was getting water bottle handups, but what i really neded was cytomax.  i'm powering it in the saddle as best as i can, and i manage to come in 25th place.  a respectable result, but i really could have gone better - but this bodes so well for the races in the next coming weeks it's not even funny.  my boy dan in the breakaway?  *WINS THE FLIPPIN RACE*  and guess what?  22nd on gc up to 2nd.  back in black, baby.  he's 9 seconds down on gc, and we're going to totally get him the win tomorrow.  sweet!  we made $75 solid today, and gc #2 is worth $275.  when we win this sob tomorrow we're gonna get gc #1 worth $375.  that's split 3 ways folks - cha ching.  dan's gonna get his upgrade to cat 1 for after this race - but not before he sandbags to help with my points a little bit...

 

blast from the past - erik koep from rowing daze is in this race with me!  he got 2nd in the time trial, but then he missed out on the breakaway glory, so now he's sitting 5th or 6th on gc.  he's just so wicked strong, though - yeah, guys who row at the world championships tend to be...