good thing my car doesnt go that fast when its in neutral...

so yesterday we all headed to france - bersee, france, to be exact - for the 60th running of the Pevele circuit race. This is a race in a small town with the usual cathedral, cafe, bar scenario in a really pretty area of France - there was even a hill close by to town! crazy, huh? in any case, we pre-rode the course before the race - which had 2 sections of pave' (cobblestones...) - and one of them is famous for its role in a certain race called "paris-roubaix." ring a bell? the first section was after a long wide open stretch - think 2 or 3 lane highway with a cross wind from the left...and then a sharp left turn into a narrow one-lane driveway type road made out of cobbles. add to that the fact that the only safe place to ride on that road is about the width of a narrow sidewalk, and only in the exact middle of the cobbles - and you have an interesting fight to see who can make it there first. the original plan was that there would be a 4 km lead-in to the cobbles...but when race organizers realized thi would be total chaos, they decided to tire us out a bit by adding a smaller neutral lap so we had about 11 km into them. good idea, right?


wrong.


the french i guess arent known for putting on an exactly reliable race or race schedule, save the tour de france (and maybe even not there??) so we got the start line - the last ones there to make sure we could back onto the front line with good position - only to find we had to wait literally about 10 or more minutes. and i cant understand a word of french, so im clipped in, with one foot on its toes, waiting for everyone to start moving without me understanding the world "go" in a nother language. well, i did finally hear "allez" and that sounded familiar, so i clipped in and got going for the "neutral" start. I knew it was a good idea to hold position for the neutral lap, as there would still be a fight for the cobbles once we got there. I stayed near the front, as was advised by our team director bernard, and followed the race car taking a left...which was literally going about 50 km an hour...right...neutral. all of a sudden, everyone slammed on their brakes and i almost went down. well...turns out the car took a wrong turn "TURN AROUND!" was yelled in a few different languages, and by the time i wormed my way out of follow vehicles coming right for me, and other racers cutting me off, i found myself off the back, wheezing, hammering as hard as i could to catch the main group - which i was badly dropped from...on a neutral lap. i saw them up the road, stretched out single file. i made it to the cobbles just behind them, since everyone came to a dead stop before getting on them due to teh crazy amounts of funnelling on that narrow road - and kept hammering away on the cobbles. partway through them i thought "wait a sec...we arent even supposed to be doing cobbles yet..." the neutral lap was supposed to skip the cobbled section, and start us under a banner a bit before the actual finish line. somehow the race commissaires screwed up, or a bunch of cyclists just decided - 'we're hammering...and youre not telling us which way to go again." so there i was, in the red, on the cobbles, and i almost slipped and fell trying to move up the right in the mud - lesson learned - the only place to ride those things really is the middle, cuz it slopes down on both angles. my hands seriously cramped shut, it hurt to open them again, and i found myself wondering how the pros ride 50+ km of this crap in paris roubaix...then ride about 200 more km in addition. seriously - thats insane. i really cant explain how hard they were. in any case, got off the cobbles, in the red, letting tiny gaps open, and tried to close before the sharp left onto the 2nd 400 meter section of cobbles. well everyone slowed to a dead start here too, because the start of that turn on the inside line was about a foot deep of soft dirt, sand, and gravel. made it back on, got dropped again, and when i looked up the road and saw that the group i was chasing onto was a CHASE group and not the actual peleton, i sat up. i hoped bernard was right in telling us they would stop the group again at the actual "depart." in the US after a neutral start the car just drives away and the race begins. here...they start the race. then stop the race at a different start line. well, they did do this, and i literally ran on someones front lawn to get better position. first time ive ever started a race at a 45 degree angle to the rest of the peloton. i hopped the curb, and the race was off for real this time. (as if it wasnt off for real the first time). noticed a bunch of riders joining the pack from side alleyways and roads - sneaky smart guys - one of my teammates kept asking if anyone knew a short cut to get to the actual start. so - here we go again, right? hammer to get near the front and stay there. well it was more of the same as last week - as i kept getting swarmed on both sides, no matter how many elbows i threw. i kept looking for a spot to move up wrecklessly - a side walk, grass, an alley way - ANYTHING - i didnt care about the wind - but i couldnt find it. by the time we hit the wide road before the cobbles, i was sprinting up the left - and really not making any progress at all. i slammed on the brakes behind about 100 other riders before the turn, and we all funnelled in. by the time i started the cobbles - i looked up the road and saw the group stretched out over about 500 meters. this was the first lap! cmon! i pedalled as hard as i could on the cobbles, but by the end still had a gap in front of me from one guy, and couldnt close it. i was spent. i rode a bit more by myself before i called it a training day and just kept riding. im hoping the bad day simply has to do with a combination of things - intervals 2 days before the race that i was exhausted after, stress, etc, etc. nothing that cant be cured, right? in any case, defintely frustrating to get dropped in the first lap...and a pre-lap...of a race - but i just didnt have it on this day. i was anxious to learn, but my body just wasnt there for it.

in any case, did a short ride today to spin out the legs and saw jus tanother example of bike culture here in belgium - group rides. this was seriously insane. imagine our biggest races - and add to that. seriously. i rode back through hertsberge and saw a group ride with a follow car, ALL in the same kit - old guys - and there were still other guys in town - bikes leaned up against eachother about 5 deep. i couldnt believe it. pretty cool stuff.

in any case, thanks for reading guys. hope the roads are smooth for ya!

my first UCI race

Well, I finally took part in my first UCI race in Anzegem, Belgium. It was...not easy. Our advice was pretty much the same as always - especially since it was absurdly windy during the day, and there were rolling hills throughout the whole course. With the added wind...the day felt anything but flat. It started out with a gradual uphill through town, which the pace seemingly increased on every single time, before it took a sharp right turn onto a flat open area where the cross winds really came into play, forcing the whole field to the left of the road. Eventually the road turned upwards for a gradual climb, leading to a sharp right that dove into a narrow narrow downhill stretch (i saw one guy fall off the road and down into a ditch...about 4 feet down or so! ouch!) At the bottom of this hill, id have to shift out of the 54x11 and into something much much smaller, because there was a sharp right that lead onto what seemed like a highway (it was SO wide) with a LONG gradual hill - and the wind was just brutal here. all riders were crunched up on the farthest left side of the road moving right only to avoid cars that were temporarily parked on the left...since they had been driving on the road previous to our arrival. that didnt seem quite safe, and was a little frustrating - especially since it required even more attention/focus when in the pack. at the top of the hill it flattened out a bit, taking a right onto another crosswind section, which eventually lead to some more gradual uphill sections. heres where things got even more difficult. eventually, the road split into 2 parts - the road on the left, a small section of cobbles or broken pavement with an inch lip on either side, and a sidewalk (more commonly known here as "bike lanes"). well imagine if you can a peleton of 150 people or so trying to all get in the draft of the person in front of them for a crosswind coming from the left...and all of them trying to fit on a side walk about 3-4 feet wide. geez...i almost caught the lip once which scared the guy behind me, who once again yelled "AMERICAN!" that gets so old. the road then did a few lefts and rights with no more significant hills to the finish line, and the only main other obstacle being a tunnel that was about one-car-width wide underneath train tracks, which was just after a large median that split the peleton and a sharp left turn. it was sketchy for sure, but no crashes there luckily. crashes did happen quite a bit though, mainly on the sidewalk section i brought up, especially since there were occassional concrete and rubber posts between some areas of the bike path and road.

the race started at a pace that was easy enough, and a break started to establish off the front, with 3 people each from 3 teams (9 people) and 2 others, from very strong teams in the field. we missed that one, a frustration accentuated by the loss of a teammate with a double flat. honestly, how bad can luck get!? brett was out of the race after that, as the pace picked up a good amount, and another teammate popped due to the increased speed as well. the goal for the team was to try and get me to the finish since the race has ended usually in a sprint of about 35 people or so, and hopefully i would have a shot at doing well. wes jacobs hung strong for a lot of the race, and he and i communicated fairly well during it, as did whit oliver and i. rob lofgran was out after about half the race i think since he had been coming down with a bit of a cold or something, so that was a bummer to hear as well. the guys all worked hard and gave it everything, but luck just wasnt on our side for the day, nor was the experience. whit and i talked after the race about how difficult positioning is in races of this nature. the wind was so bad that it oftentimes seemed the only way to move up was to jump out into it, but that was a HUGE waste of energy. it seemed so difficult to worm through the pack - i really have no idea how to do it quite yet - maybe the best plan is to make sure you are in the very front, rotating in the front echelon so that way you at least dont get swarmed? id find myelf at the front occassionally, telling bernard on the radio id reached the front, and then literally within the minute, id be at the back again, getting blocked by people on both sides of me that were getting swarmed also. overall, my power was lower for the race, meaning i think that as a whole the race was slower, but when the pac ekicked up it went pretty crazy fast. i lasted as long as i could, constantly telling myself to go until my legs just stopped working and on the uphill through town with about 4 or 5 laps to go i just couldnt hold on anymore. i tried to accelerate into drafts of the people passing me, and couldnt believe how many people were behind, but i still had no luck. my legs just werent with me on the day, and it was pretty frustrating to see. i ended up riding a lap or 2 more with a grupetto, but no one in that was interested in racing, and they just all rode along at an easy pace, waiting to get pulled. i took the front when i felt like i had my legs underneath me again, riding away from the pack since no one was trying to go fast, and just fried in the wind before i accepted the race was over and i couldnt get back to the pack. at about 3 to go i think we were pulled (out of 13 laps or so). it was a tough day for sure.
after the race i woke up the next day to head to paris with my girlfriend. i had a week of "recovery," with an insane amount of walking, though maybe not enough to walk off those croissants, so im coming back to the cycling center today with a renewed focus and commitment, and feel mentally ready to give it hell for the remaining 26 days here! i have a race tomorrow, my first real effort in more than a week, so im nervous as hell. ill let you all know how it goes! thanks for reading, hope you all are well.

pre-race jitters, or lack thereof, and a tiny vacation with my old lady.

im off to the races in less than an hour. oddly not that nervous or anything - more excited and just going to take it a step at a time. bernard says this race usually finishes in a little bit of a sprint after the group has been whittled down, so basically its up to me to just not get whittled. then pop open 17 MILLION WATTS OF POWER.

the highest ive seen is 1710...and i doubt thats sustainable for more than a second. but hopefully itll be good enough today for some mad euros. the race should be fun - advice in the team meeting was be in the top 25 for the first lap, ready for a fast pace - then the next few laps if its not too windy we can drop back a bit - top 40 or so, high enough to see if there are splits going up the road and far back enough that we can chill out of the wind. my personal goal will be to pedal as little as possible today in the bunch, and keep my eyes open for any groups of 4 or more goin down the road. racing here has definitely taught me more of the thinking aspect to racing and its pretty exciting to look at the tactical aspect once you realize youve got the legs to have some fun! it also makes you realize how incredibly good you have to be to go to a race and just say "i want to win." there is so much to do before that, to get to that point, that its getting to the point now for me that im realizing i have to focus more on the small steps in the race. I'll probably only think about winning in the last 200 meters, should i be in the front group. I'll be crossing my fingers for that scenario today, but if that doesnt pan out I'll still know i've done my best tactically.

after the race, i come back home to cycling center, take my bike apart to pack it in a bag with some clothes, and im off at 6 in the AM to meet Meghan, my girlfriend, in the Brussels airport - at which point we'll escape to Paris for 5 days of romance and croissants. im not even that large of a fan of croissants. lets not forget the bike riding either! i cant wait to ride in paris - ill get my own sight seeing in on the bike before meg even wakes up in the AM i think. Bernard says to me "what are you doing about riding in paris!? it is a big city" i told him i would just ride out. then he says "it is huge! it will be hard to ride out."

i gave him teh same response i give to everyone that questions city riding - i was a bike messenger in boston on a fixed gear.



god i miss those days. when i retire from racing and im in school i might have to pick that profession back up...

wish me luck guys! im off the to races! ill update from paris if ive got the internet, and if i can pry my lady off of me :)

alright alright, its her thatll be doing the prying, but still. ill try and update, i swear.

damn you, big inflatable ball!

seriously...i feel like i have a hernia. i am about to give up doing core work on the inflatable ball. my back and sides feel strong as hell, but my abs...good lord. sore to the touch - that thing is a torture device.

ive got an easy day ahead of me today, just pre-race stuff, doing some laundry, a short ride, and getting rested up for tomorrow's UCI race in Anzegem. So I thought I would take a moment to outline some of the little quirks of belgium...some you probably know, some you might not. we'll see what happens, eh?

food -
first of all, frites. i havent had these yet - but apparently they are like the biggest treat ever over here. just french fires served in a paper cone. thats it. i was riding with geert the other day, one of the guys that helps out with our team, and hes been telling me that he is trying to get back into some shape on the bike. Hes been riding with us occassionally and having a good time, teaching us drafting drills - and you can tell hes workin. ill be staying at the front to get my HR up sometimes talking to him in a double pace line and before you know it hes saying "ok, im getting out of the wind now." dont get me wrong - he was strong as hell in his day and raced for the Flanders team...which i think is a low-level pro team? theyre pretty well known, from what i gather. in the middle of the ride, he looks at me and goes "watch this." With that, he took his fingers to his fleece hat, and pushed along his brow. i swear to god, a waterfall of sweat gushed over his eyes. he says to me, "see that? 1 kilo." and then told me he was treating himself to frites that night, excitedly. as if thats his meal?! insanity, i think. but then again i guess im more of a pizza than french fries guy.
beer - also havent had any of this (yet :)) but its pretty cool in the sense that they take it very seriously here, and even have specific glasses for different types of beer. i saw one cyclist at the kermesse cafe last week waiting to pick up his euros for his number just downing a cold one while his 2 friends had cokes instead. i think he was on to something.
chocolate - i admit it. ive had some. and its delicious. they have full-on chocolate sculptures in the chocolatier windows here, which makes for some pretty neat eye candy. whenever i ride through brugge i just try to stay the hell away from those shops...
pastries - dont even get me started. every once in a while on long rides ill stop and treat myself. yesterday i had my first frangipane of my life in brugge on a ride-gone-wrong that was supposed to take me to holland. i started heading towards Antwerpen instead. oops. it was pretty good - a hard crust, like that of a tart, with a crisp sugary-type top, and the inside was the softest cake you can imagine. delicious eh? and lets not forget "sugar waffles," which you can get not only at the bakery, but also at the grocery store in little pre-made plastic wrapped packs. some even dipped in chocolate. beats a mid-ride poptart...

in terms of racing?
i think you get the majority of things are different - speed, aggression, international fields, and the general chaos. but heres one that i think is pretty hysterical - any type of leg lube, lotion, warming cream you can imagine. its absurd. in the pack, if the sun is out, youre pretty much blinded by the light shimmering off the legs in front of you. one team, team Mez, always lubes up pretty heavily. they have red and yellow unis, with red shorts - and their literally orange colored legs compliment them nicely. i bought a tube of the stuff for the first time the other day - feels pretty good on a cold or rainy day.
its pretty funny seeing all the different types of gels they have come up with over here too - like those enervit packs, but more variety. and they are all absurdly expensive here. power gels are like a euro or more a pack!? what the hell!? in any case i think i might splurge and throw down 11 euro for a 6 pack of some hefty gel-packs. mmmmm....sugar jelly.

cyclists - like anyone on the road, not just elite-types. if you see an old man on a bike, or even a pro-lookin guy, as has become my custom in the US, you wave. or at least i do. ive tried to take on a friendly demeanor on the bike, and like getting a friendly wave or 2 when im out on a ride. but damn - no belgian cyclists wave! no head nod, no hello, no nothin! even if i am not wearing the USA kit we get here, even if i am wearing my webcor stuff, or all black, nothing. thats ice cold!

weather - you wont believe this, but its been sunny here pretty much all week. or at least not raining. and we hit 21 degrees celsius the other day...i was too hot in the house, and walked around in a short sleeve shirt outside. i was dumbfounded - first time ive been warm outside without layers in...geez i dont even remember when. i cant wait till i can ride my bike without some type of "warmer" on - just good ole shorts and a jersey.

im sure theres more im forgetting - but i gotta get the bike in some sick runnin condition and clean some clothes. ill be in touch, and hope all you readin are well! take care!

THANK YOU!

I would just like to publicly thank people that made this trip possible - it really has been a huge learning experience. Everyday I marvel at how I feel like I'm in school - it seems like there's always a lightbulb clicking over my head when I figure something out. In any case - thank you to my parents and grandparents, for their support, both financially and emotionally. Thank you to Webcor/Alto Velo for your help in making this trip possible, and for all the concern and interest you have all shown in my race reports and life out here - its great to know people are interested and really rooting me on. I feel lucky. Thank you to Specialized Bicycles for helping me out with a great race bike - its been comfortable on the cobbles, and fast in the sprint. Of course thank you to all of my friends and loved ones back home. I feel each day that I am getting closer to my goal of being a professional cyclist and it really would not be possible without all of you. Thanks again,-nate.

a race...and what its like to think during it.

Yesterday (sunday) was the ardooie kermesse. I was alternate forthe UCI team but Aaron Pool ended up not being sick so it was backto the kermesse scene with me. We rode the 40 minutes or so overwith 5 guys - me, chris wilson, chris allison, brett, and matt. Thefield at the race was big, as usual - but we all had in mind whatbernard had been telling us - race at the front, in the top 15 or soif there are a lot of corners and never let up - stay attentive,focused, never be satisfied. So today was to be a bit of a learningexperience, and I was feeling very determined to finally finish. Mymotivation was only increased by my lactate testing on my bike lastweek with the Discovery Channel doctor, Dr. Dag. After viewing testresults, it was concluded I would certainly benefit by dropping afew kilos (rather, more than a few...he said 10 kg...and i only have7 kg of body fat...so its time to start eating away at that upperbody muscle i guess?). However, Bernard viewed the results and toldme there is no way I should not be finishing races, and said Ishould always be in the top 10, saying also that my numbers weregood enough to hang in any pro peloton. I was completelydumbfounded by this, and couldnt really stop smiling - even thoughhe just kept repeating "you race like an idiot - you must race soincredibly stupid - what are you doing out there?!" it was a wakeup call in terms of my racing tactics, but to finally have someconfirmation that my training had paid off was certainly a bigconfidence booster, one that I intended on using to my advantagethis race.Now that i knew at which heart rate/power I really started producinglactate at, I had some grounds for pacing myself, and spent thewhole first hour of the race or so in the pack, trying to stay belowthose numbers, and below 2 mMol, which is a pace pretty much anyonecan keep up forever. I focused on staying out of the wind, stayinglow and in the drops, and as close to people as I could - rubbingthem from the sides, and staying close to the wheels in front ofme. Whenever I ended up at the front and they tried to force me towork, I faked weakness, pulling through only at the necessary speedand grimacing horribly. As my managers wife, Ann said - "everyoneis hurting out there, it is not just your duty to work."The course today was flat, with just some absurdly gradual ups anddowns - false flat types, and the race started on the main street ofArdooie. It then took a chicane over a brick covered plateau, asweeping left to another sweeping left, and then a sharp left turn -which, if you took sharp enough, had you running over dirt andcobbles that were only laid on the very inside of the corner. Afterthis was a sheltered short straight-away before you hit the rightturn into the fields, and a sketchy bank-type left turn with somesand on it. Here there was a gradual downhill grade whicheventually lead back to a very gradual uphill grade. After the openstretch, you would take a fast left, and another fast sweeping leftto the finishing straight. It was only 4 km long and we wouldrepeat it 28 times. man...if you think 28 laps of a 1 mile courseseems long for a crit...good lord.In any case, back to the race desciption - in that first hour Istayed pretty sheltered, and it looked like the main break that hadescaped so far was going to get brought back. It nearly did, butmanaged to rebuild time (the winning duo came from this group -breaking away from the break with a lot of the race to go). Thingsgot really bad when one team - which was blue and yellow, we'll justcall them "YB" realized they had everything they wanted in thebreak, and took the top 4 spots of the peloton, blocking anyone fromprogressing. That didnt fly too well with a few of us though, and Istarted taking some turns with a few other guys to pull it back,realizing if we didnt get working soon we might get pulled. Wellthat apparently lit up some motivation, because another break wasforming up the road - and in it, was chris wilson - who thought Iwas on his wheel, but another racer had gotten a hold of it on theway up. I waiting, listening behind me for someone to sprint upthe left, and sure enough - someone zoomed by, and as I heard thewind I started to wind up my sprint, but just a bit too late. I goton him for one second before he sprinted again, and I was left in no-mans land. I turned around, only to see the peleton was FAR back,and I could either keep pushing to try to catch the break myself, orI could sit up and actually wait for the peleton. This was probablythe hardest mental battle I have had in a race - it was a constantargument with myself - its too far, wait and try to bridge! no no,youre closing, just keep going! And I was actually closing it - Ifocused on my SRM to make sure I paced myself correctly and didntset myself up to blow, keeping the watts around 400. I was dying.I took the corners faster than I knew they would, and when I got inthe field in the wind I knew my only chance was to take the sketchycorner fast and sprint out of it on that gradual downhill. I almostmade it to the back of the break at this point, but hadnt quitelatched on by the uphill - I just kept pushing it, hanging at 10feet back for about 45 seconds before I finally nabbed it - I was inthe break with my teammate! He was pretty spent though fromspending a lot of energy to form the break when he thought I was onhis wheel, and therefore was not pulling through often - meaning theother riders were trying to push him into the fences and crash him.I was lucky enough to pull through somehow, and kept them off myback. Chris blew up, unfortunately, and I only noticed after about3 rotations that he wasnt there. Our group kept working though, andwe caught the main break - meaning we had become about 20 peoplestrong I think. After a few laps in that bunch i finally noticedthe laps-to-go sign and it still said 8 - GOD! how could therestill be 8 laps!? i was so tempted to relax, but I just keptreminding myself what bernard said - the race isnt over if you makethe break - thats when you need to be the sharpest. I stayed on mytoes, and at first covered pretty much anything going, eventuallygetting in a 2 man break - which meant we were riding 3rd and 4th onthe road. We couldnt quite hold it away though, and after 1 or 2laps off, we were caught, and I was getting ready to go with attacksagain. I was incredibly tired, and realized I couldnt just burn mymatches so fast, so I would let some attacks go. Turned out that ifyou waited long enough, one of the other riders behind you wouldpanic and chase it down, and theyd be a free wheel to grab onto! Idid this for a while, and only another group of 3 got up the road,which meant the break was racing for 6th. Geert, one of the peoplethat helps with cycling center kept yelling "easy easy!" remindingme to relax, while chris allison - whose chain broke an hour in -yelled from teh side lines "race smart, think, use your head!" thatreally helped. With 1 to go I was feeling super confident, and wasconvinced I could win the sprint - I moved up a bit and thought Iwas in good position, but right after the last corner got swarmed onboth sides. To get out of the swarm, i had to brake to move behindthe person to my left, and then waste part of my sprint to jump onsomeone elses wheel - damn. that was a bummer, but i still ended upwith 12th in the field sprint out of 20 or so, and got 17thoverall. my first kermesse finish, and 10 euro to show for it.also, they paid 60 deep - and 51st also got 10 euro. what theheck!? wheres the placing scale? its all askew! i was prettygiddy for a while with finally finishing, and only realized that iwas close to 6th at about an hour before bedtime...that kept me upfor a few hours while i tried to sleep, and has got me hungry formore.hopefully with more good news to come...thanks for reading guys!and thanks for all the encouragement, it means a ton!

also - some SRM info...
2:40 minutes of timeavg watts 319, max watts 1500avg speed 26.9, max speed 39.9kJ - 2900avg. HR - 171, max HR - some crazy number thats definitely notright...damn.so...it was fast. and in the last hour we played so much cat andmouse we often were not moving faster than 18 mph...

a fun kermesse...finally!

Hey all,Today was certainly a better day than last weekend. Since the last race I have done training ni a very low zone - below 125 bpm, with my only intensity up to this point (Wednesday) being 4 all-out sprints yesterday. And today I was feeling MUCH more rested - phew! The race today was in De Hanne, which is about an hour and a half ride north of here, on the coast of Belgium. I figured that probably meant wind...but then again, what race out here doesnt mean that? The ride to the race was uneventful and an easy spin, besides trying to figure out the best way to go, and we arrived just in time to inscribe in the usual smoky cafe, but didnt have time this race to make a visit to the locker rooms - so we just stashed our bags in an alley under some boxes and got ready.
What an UNBELIEVABLE day. It was cloudy the whole way there, and then right when we were getting ready, the sun came out. It was cool and windy, and honestly reminded me of a nice day in San Francisco near the beach...I rolled up my sleeves, and took off my leg warmers, and we were off.
We started the race on cobbles right off the bat on the main city streets - these are by no means as bumpy as paris-roubaix - but still definitely sap your energy a bit. The race crossed over some train tracks, before heading left and staying parallel with those same tracks. This road was as wide as a 2 lane highway - just HUGE. And literally everytime on it, the peleton was booking it - i was often in the 54x12 (wishing i had my 11 cog on - oops!) and we were trucking at 50-60 km per hour! Oddly enough though...my teammates and I were at the front - letting the first break go off for fear it was a stupid move, but patrolling new breaks, and chasing others. Nate and I (another Nate, of course) managed to get in a break for a bit, before realizing that other riders wouldnt work with us really...not sure why, aside from knowing only one of the break members had a teammate up the road. We were then caught a bit later by the main pack and another break formed - perhaps this was even a lap later...and my teammate Rob Lofgran was off the front, going for it with them. They worked against him though...gapping him off the back, and taking hard pulls when he was next to pull through...these USA uniforms are honestly like bullseyes on our backs - and whenever we try to race smart - we get yelled at for being "american." geez. Anyways, back to the course - after about 2 miles of that long straight, it would take aleft over the tracks again, and basically do a flip in the opposite direction back towards the start line - which meant directly into a headwind, and up a gradual uphill. I tried some more breaks here with motivated people, and worked together to bring the break back....but other people wouldnt pull through after me. once again...the jerseys? I looked down regularly and saw 700-800 watts when we were rotating, and couldnt believe the pace, or the fact that I actually felt decent! And all my teammates were still around too! After about 2 miles of the up/headwind, there was a sharp left to a narrow street, a sharp right, and another sharp left that led to a short, semi-steep hill (nowhere near cats hill or morgan hill - think one of the hills on the sausalito crit course...but just one!) , then a sharp right after that. The sharp right led you to a windy corkscrew type descent, and was ALWAYS hard to make, cuz youd be flying up the uphill, and have to take this narrow right turn almost going off the road cuz it came at you so fast. definitely kept my attention. after the descent, it was a sharp right, and a sweeping left back to the cobbles for the start/finish line. All in all, a 9 km course, and 13 laps of it.
The race really started breaking up about half way through, with people flying up, people getting dropped, then catching back on right away - things that were less like breakaways, and more like the field getting strugn out, split apart, then brought back together due to the speed of the rear...it made for some hard racing - but was really really fun! There was of course, the usual yelling, and a lot of head shaking from other teams when they couldnt get me to chase attacks after already working on the front...(lame) - but I have felt the racing is getting much less aggressive than my first race. i guess that first one was very "trial by fire" - there hasnt been as much contact since then, and im much more assertive in the pack - maybe thats why? At about 5 to go I was starting to feel it, especially since the pace had picked up, and right before the hill I looked behind me - only Mike Bogaert was there, my Belgian teammate. I said "Holy! We're at the back of the bus huh!?" and then looked forward to see that...oddly enough...we were still in the top 30. The race had pretty much blown apart, and we were in the main pack with a break still up the road. I told mike to get in front of me, cuz my legs were starting to hurt a bit, and i wanted to make sure i didnt gap him if they started to fail. well - i should have had much more confidence ni myself, because we were going hard, and i was pushing through it, and feeling like i could do more - or keep it up for longer - when i looked up on the tail wind straight and mike had let a HUGE gap open. i tried to get around him and go, but it was just too large - my race was over. i talked to him at this time and asked if he could let me know when hes gonna blow next race - so i can be sure to not get caught behind it. when i asked if he popped he just said "i didnt feel good, so i just let it go." AUGH! i think its a really belgian state of mind that if you dont feel great, and feel like you wont have a good result, why bother racing? these arent training for them i guess - and i still have a ton to learn so i was obviously pretty eager to finish. i had to bite my tongue a bit after he said that...and could only think of what could have been. This has also taught me though that that could happen with anyone - people on other teams, so even if the group is only 30 or so, stay near the top 10 - maybe not in it rotating...but up there, not at the back. theres more to this story but first some quick stats for the 1:19 of racing...Max watts - 1480Avg. watts - 326Max HR - 204Avg. HR - 169 kJ burnt - 1500Avg. speed - 24.6Max speed - 39.6I checked all those stats - thinking my race was done - when my teammate Rob comes from behind and is still barrelling along, time trialing! Well, Mike and I hopped on and Rob and I got to doing the majority of the work, and within a lap had formed a group of people we picked up along the way! We could see another small group up the road, and the main group a little further. I couldnt believe it but we were making some ground up! We kept it going for another lap, and got close to getting that other chase group, but no cigar - they pulled us at the start finish after that - frustrating to say the least since a group that size might have been able to catch back on. but thats racing out here i guess, they try to keep the "rolling enclosure" of the course small. after our little TT jaunt..time - 1:40everything the same except for avg watts - 323 (almost held it!) and kJ - 2049
we rode home to top off a 5 hour and 3500 kJ day, and it was a great time. tomorrow I have lactate testing with Dr. Dag, the discovery channel team doctor, so we'll see how that goes...thanks for reading, and i hope the weather is clearing up in california!