Well, I guess they're ProTour riders for a reason. Even without their teams the big boyz were able to walk away from the Championship weekend with 2 jerseys and 4 top 3 finishes. I wasn't too pleased with the results of either race for us as a team but I was happy with the effort that we gave. My 7th place in the TT was a personal disappointment but as my good buddy Betts pointed out, "you probably would have finished 5th if you didn't have that mullet flapping in the wind". He, of course, didn't factor in the pcychological advantages that are inherent with a haircut of this caliber. In the road race our leader for the day, iamtedking, flatted in an especially difficult part of the race and ended up using his big effort just catching back to main field. That meant that halfway into the race, I was suddenly annointed as team leader, despite having chased down breaks and sitting on the front for a good chunk of the first 2 hours of the race. I didn't exactly set myself up for a good finish after not drinking or eating near enough early. But, you have to roll with the punches and I had a chance at cracking the top 15 but wasn't able to slip away from the bunch when the attacks were flying. I think I finished 11th of 15 in the bunch sprint and subsequently my phone has been ringing off the hook with ProTour teams looking to replace their aging sprinters. Sorry fellas, I'd like to keep racing in the U.S.
Here is a pic taken during the RR. My camera is having some problems so that's why the pics have been in short supply of late. The pic has been rated PG-13 due to the inordinate amount of sternum showing. My apologies to the parents of young children.
Last weekend was the Univest Grand Prix in PA. Another cool, hard race that ended up being a death march. Teddy bounced back from his bad luck the week before to rip a 6th place finish and win the Best Young Rider jersey. Fantastico! The crit the next day was a little more low key but hard nonetheless. Synapsis: we missed the break, we chased like mad, they stayed away, we did well in the bunch kick. After the race, we had a our last meal together as a team at none other than Micky D's. It was quite emotional. I'd like to share my post race meal with you:
double cheeseburger - 460 Cal - 55% sat. fat - 47% sodium
McChicken - 370 Cal - 17% sat. fat - 34% sodium
sm. fries - 250 Cal - 13% sat. fat - 6% sodium
large choc. shake - 1160 Cal - 82% sat. fat - 21% sodium HOLY COW!!!
3 cookies - 480 Cal - 33% sat. fat - 12% sodium
Totals: 2720 Cal - 200% sat. fat - 120% sodium
all for under $8 I might add. Impressed? For reference, I probably burned about 1800 Calories in the race earlier that day. I'll bet Hincapie can't eat like that. Okay, enough bragging/confession. I have the Parker Omnium this weekend, which is the only NRC event in Colorado. It'll be interesting to see who out there still feels like racing. After that is a week long national track camp in Colo Springs where I will be trying my hand at the velodrome. It'll be a fun time (until I try to freewheel or brake and go crashing into the concrete). Ciao.
scootin around in circles with Blake and Scotty
One on a curve with Brad Huff, newly crowned crit national champ, in the foreground. See those scrapes on his leg? Yeah, I more or less caused him to crash earlier in the race because as he says, I used my "estrogen bars" (brakes). funny dude.
