Training camp part 2 was cancelled. Some of the team went crosscountry skiing at Plateau de Baille... I stayed at home and ate bagles! :-) it make a dent in my training plans.. oh well. Now it is back to school and I've been wondering again why I 'm there. It only takes a dull lecture for me to start telling myself I should be out there training.

The roads are still pretty bad. Down to single lane in places due to the mounds of snow. Tere's even snow in town still. I did see Faben Fraissigne out training however as I was going for lunch... bastard was out there training... Ugh.

Tomorrow is classes all day then hopefully the weather will be a little better and I can hit the road again Thursday when I have a little time off.

Ever wonder why CSC don’t do their training camp in Denmark?

Over the past few years more and more teams have been organizing their team training camps in sunnier climes. Most teams go to Spain, South Africa or some island of the Spanish coast, even amateur teams are doing this. However we at CAC Bouygues Telecom see this as something of an easy way out of some hard work. The early season races are often run in the cold and rain, so in order to harden the team up a little bit, the Team chose to run this weekend’s training camp in Norway!

This is a landmark... so now we only have to figure out which side of the sign the road is!... hmmm...

No… the snow has been really thick here. Once a mountain biker, always a mountain biker. Upon seeing all that snow out there I couldn’t resist going out and playing in it. I’m not supposed to ride in temperature below 5 degrees… so I got on my cyclocross bike and wend out in the –3 degree weather to slip, slide and skid around the French country-side. The roads where so white and thick with snow in places, that you couldn’t even see where the road was. I swear I was having to try and keep an eye on the ditch to make sure I was still on the road, and in places I really wasn’t sure where I was. Man it was SO much fun. I figured I don’t much MTBing anymore, so it might be good or my bike handling skills to get out there in the snow and ice. I was actually giggling out load to myself on today’s ride. There were hardly any cars out there, (except for a few in the ditch.) OK Pierre, take the next right... oups!

It was great fun!





As the day goes on the snow gets thicker… I don’t see us making it to tomorrow’s training camp either…

Don't panik, itz all-white.

This is the scene I woke up to this morning. A rear sight in this part of the world. I f I remember correctly the last time we saw even the slightest snow was 3 years ago… Maybe more I can’t remember. Well obviously day 1 of Team Training Camp Part 2 is off. I don’t know how many (if any) of the guys went up to the Team HQ last night, and if some of them did, I wonder what they will do today. I don’t know what the plan is for tomorrow, I guess we’ll see how the weather pans out today and if the roads clear for tomorrow. Either way there are a lot of covered and shaded valleys around where we ride on this Team Training Camp, so even the roads clear enough to ride a bit, it doesn’t seem like a great idea overall. So… I think today will be a nice day of sitting on the couch with a hot cup of coffee, a bagel and watching the snow slowly come down…

Freezing weather for new coach Sim...

Not a bad day today. I had a fairly relaxed morning, taking care of some stuff around here. Then Alphonce came over, we had a coffee etc and dusted off the bikes for a little ride. It has gone cold again here, so it was 2 degrees (Celcius!)... we wrapped up warm and I cracked out the new Ferus road bike for a pretty hard 85k in the cold. We worked hard in the cold and the wind, and felt pretty dead by the end. The bike feels good. I need to adjust my seat position and stuff, but I'm happy. However the Aluminum frame is pretty stiff, so when we do races in the hills (Pyrenees) with real descents and corners, I'll revert to my trusty Ti bike that corners like it's on rails... the rear triangle is much better for those FAST corners on bad roads.

Once home I wanted to eat and heat out for another little spin on the TT bike, but Alphonce was pretty dead, so we ate and called it a day.

For anyone interested I will be joining the Peaks Coaching group as a coach in about May time. I look forward to joining the gang, and hopefully helping some Virginia riders improve their riding and or racing. I'm pretty excited about this, I think it'll fun and interesting work!

An easy day tomorrow and some seriouse pain and suffering on Sat and Sun. The weather is called for freezing temperatures and rain thoughout the weekend, so I'm not looking forward to it. I'm not actually supposed to go out if it is below 5degrees as it messes with my lungs and affects my asthma long term... so we'll see what happens this weekend at training camp Part 2.

Toyz for the boyz

today was a nice sunny day, I did some riding but not as much as I should... today I got some new toys for the new season...

I can't wait to get that TT rig out there and cranking out that watts... looks like I 'm going to have to do some stem adjustments though... I need a longer stem, but it absolutely MUST be the same angle, I can't be any higher. There isn't mush out there really, so we'll see what I can rig up. The road bike will get its maden ride tomorrow with a long 90k ride with Alphonce... we'll see how it handles.

Team Training Camp Part 1

CACastelsarrasin Bouygues Telecom Training Camp Part 1

Basically set up over 2 weekends at the end of January, the Team training camp is one of the few times we will all be together as a team. Once the season starts we will basically be split into 3 race programs coving races from France to Majorca, and from Under 23 races to International Elite. Myself and a couple of other guys weren’t able to make Saturday’s standard team training camp ride, due to other obligations such as studies or the track season. Therefore a shorter 80k ride with some hills reps were on the menu. Saturday was a drizzly and gray day, so although the main group of the team were supposed to do 2 rides, they merged them into one. They started with some big gear hill reps, and extended the ride to cover 4.5 hours and 140k.

Most of the guys stayed at the team house over night, but some of us drove back up the on Sunday morning for the 2nd day of the training camp. We headed off with pretty much the full team, the only absentees were John Parks who is still in the US and has just come back from his own little training camp in Florida, and Christophe Cousinie who is still in Hospital. The full 16 or so team headed out on the roads around Montauban. We first had an “easy” 40km warm-up ride all together. Great warm-up ride at 31kph over some hills. Then we stopped and formed groups according to fitness and race schedule. Our 3 groups of about 5 or 6 riders then did four 20 minute team time trial intervals over varying terrain including some mean climbs around the Penne area in the Aveyron Valley. After each interval we all regrouped and rode all together again for about 10k. After only the second interval some people started grumbling about the intervals. I must say it wasn’t easy and at least I didn't feel alone in my "fear of the interval". On our last interval our little group caught the group ahead of us, which had left 2 minutes before us. We were rolling pretty well on that interval, probably knowing that it was out last one.

Once the intervals were done we all regrouped once more and rode the 40k (25 miles) back home together. I must say however that these recovery, warm-up warm-down sessions were a little NOT easy… oh well. At the end of the day we had 160k (100miles) on the clock in a little under 5 hours, and with some pretty good hills… Ok fine, they were climbs!

Next weekend is more of the same. This time I should be able to make it to both days for the full program. Saturday is once more 2 rides. Big gear hill reps in the morning, and some high cadence workouts in the afternoon to cover 140k; then another 160k on Sunday, but this time “harder.” I’m not sure what “harder” means, but I don’t like the sound of it!!! :-) Once again these training camps include a DS and team car that follows us the whole way with spare wheels, food, water and anything else we might need. We actually had both DSs (Directeur Sportif) with us, so that they can 1) tell us what to do and 2) both see how we are riding and how we relate to each other as a team.

It’s been good to get to know everyone, start learning the names and riding styles. After this training camp there is another training camp down by the Spanish border for a week. Sadly I won’t be able to make it to that training camp.

Overall training is going pretty good. I have just had a load of exams, and I didn’t touch the bike at all all of last week. So hitting a pretty good weekend of riding was interesting to see how my body reacted. I thought I would feel really bad, but I felt OK. Despite my studies it looks like I will be starting racing a little earlier than planned. I will be starting in the relatively lower ranked National races that are more in this general area. That suits me fine, as I’m not going to be ready for the big races half way across the country.

I tried to take some pictures during the rides, but it wasn’t really the sort of riding where you take pictures and look around at the countryside… so I apologize for the poor pictures. Also note that team don’t have their team bikes and new clothing yet, so in the pictures everyone looks a bit mix and match, patchwork-bike-team.

This week I will be getting in some good training locally, mainly alone and with Alphonce, then a couple rest days and back to Team Training Camp for part 2. After that it’s back to school. By that time John Parks should be here, so hopefully we’ll be able to get in some training together.

Tune in soon for an account of Training Camp part 2.

Thanks for reading.
Sim

a little down time

Today was my first day of trying to relax a bit after all that school exam stuff. I spent most of the day taking care of some stuff around the house I needed to do, some computer maintenence, cleaning, all that kind of fun stuff. Then Steph came over and we had a coffee and a little ride, where I got the great picture of what it looks like to be surprised by a camera... Tomorrow will be another short ride, just a couple hours with steph to get the legs moving and I should try and take care of some more stuff here at the homestead... Then Sunday it will be Team Traning Camp. Once I am totally free of school work next week, I'll try and hit the road big time again.

OK people.. just a few more exams and I'm done.. then it's training camp BIG time. I'm both looking FW to it and dreading it. I haven't ridding for so long it's going to hurt, but then again I need the training and it's going to be great to hit the bike again. Assuming the weather stays good of course!!!

I am SO stressed right now it's not funny. We'll see how I feel during training camp. I'd like to hit some motorpace ASAP, but not sure when and where... I need a driver. I'll try and get mom to do it, but she's pretty busy these days. Hmmm. lets see.. how else can I get back into shape rapidly.. hmmm... pizza and beer.. that's it!!!

Later y'all.
I'll keep you updated with if I actually manage to get into shape over the next couple weeks.

Mising it up. Plans for the future.

As seems to have been the case over the past few years of mixing cycling with real life, I have yet another jam packed season ahead of me. For the past 2 years I have been studying, taking planes at the last minute, and racing the day after a transcontinental flight. I suffered it in 2004, in 2005 and it doesn’t look like anything is going to change in this final school year. Along with racing and going to school, I have just got news that I will going to Italy in May for the Giro d’Italia. No, I won’t be racing it, but I’ll be working once more as a guide for Bikestyletours.com. However, May is when my finals are. My finals finish on the 19th, and I need to be in Italy on the… yep, you guessed it, on the 19th. I’m not totally sure how this is going to work out, but it looks like I’ll be sitting an exam and going straight to the airport to ride 130km a day after a couple weeks of exams with no training. It’s going to be both hell, and fun. I can’t wait. It’ll be great to be back in Italy, I haven’t been back there since a racing stint 2 years ago. If anyone out there reading this has booked a trip for the Giro with Biestyletous.com shoot me and e-mail and let me know.

In the meantime I am right in the middle of exams right now (we have 2 big exam sessions a year), I have to go to one in a minute in fact. I’m not getting in much riding these days. Last week I only did 2 rides: one was a 130km cold, windy, hilly and pretty fast ride on Saturday. It felt good to be out there. I have a team training camp at the end of the week. I’m really worried because I won’t have been riding for over a week, and it’s really going to hurt! Oh well, such is the way when you try and mix everything up, C’est la vie. I hope I get some good grades so that I can concentrate a little more on racing with a clear mind next month.

Things are also taking shape for my 2006-2007 winter. My plans to spend next winter in the Australian summer, working in a bike shop and riding and racing are slowly coming together. No Cyclocross over there, but I’ll make do with some sunshine instead. What a tough life! That’s going to be SO much fun!

So until next time with a Team Training Camp update, stay warm and stay riding…

Thanks for readying.
Sim

Feel free to e-mail Sim with questions or comments on: Jetlagsports@wanadoo.fr

wow, I actually rode my bike

Yesterday was a nice, sunny and relatively warm day, I did a little revision in the morning (mainly playing with my computer) and went into town in the afternoon to get some stuff. My whole day disappeared and I didn’t ride at all… Not very serious for someone who is supposed to be coming back to racing this year… oh well, what you gonna do…

Today was another warm, sunny day. Warm means 10 degrees (that’s about 50 for you Fahrenheiters)… I did a little work in the morning, spent a little too much time trying to sort out some problem with a camera driver on my desktop, then I ate and got in a good 4.5 hours. That was about 130k, and at a fair pace, with hills and lots of wind. I’ve never ridden that far at this time of year before… I guess I thought I needed to make up for yesterday. I also know that I am going to be embarrassing at the team training camps over the next few weeks, so I need to get in some miles.
Above is a pic of a couple of a couple guys from the group riding down the Tarn valley on today’s ride. Winter riding! Some guys were suffering and group kept getting split... here we wait for some back markers.

Friday 13th

HEY.. it's friday 13th... that's acutally lucky for me!!!!!

Oh, you gotta check this out. I saw a buddy of mine I hadn't seen for ages. HE used to race but now doesn't touch the bike. He's a weird guy. So he wants to see me because he's got "something" he wants to talk to me about. That scares me because last time he said that he had a business idea for the future and wanted me to help him out with it. His idea was to go to the UK, get a london bus and turn it into a sandwich stand/van over here in France. Actually not a bad idea in some way.. but dude.. where you gonna get a londong bus from. Anyway, so I Was scared. Eventually he came out with it. He wants to get his hands on british phone box. You know those big red british phone booths... but.. get this.. he wants to turn it into a toilet, and put this bloody thing in the middle of his living room.... I thought turning it into a shower in the bathroom might be a better idea. The guy's a totaly freak... how and where he gets his ideas I have no idea. My theory is that he's been smoking some pretty good stuff...

Watch this space for more stupid ideas of what to do with British red medal stereotypes...

Hey y'all...
I should be studying right now but instead I'm checking shit out for Australia next winter. Rental houses look expencive, but if I can find a job it might all work out. I'm also checking out pictures of the area.... shit, I can't wait to get over there, it looks SO cool. I'm sure if I can get a job in a bike job I'm going to have the best fun EVER!!! Looks like good riding around there too, so we'll see... right now it looks like a dream place.

I'm gonna have the best 6 months of my life sweating it out on the roads with the Kangaroos while everyone over here freezes there nads off... SUCKERS!!!!

I really neeed to keep up to date with this.

Frankly there isn't much going on right now. At least in cycling terms. I'm getting in little riding; the exam period started a couple days ago and goes on for a couple weeks. I've got exams every single day next week. I hope to get in a good ride on Saturday, 4 hours at a good pace: an endurance ride, then hopefully I can get in a couple of indoor interval rides so as not to loose even more form. But if it is raining or snowing on Sat, I really have difficulty seeing myself out there freezing my nads off when I could be sitting indoors.

John Parks gets here on the 7th of Feb, so that's pretty soon. I told a buddy of mine in school that John was ariving Feb 7th, he started laughing and said "yeah, so ain't gonna be doing ANY friggin' work then, you guys will be out riding every day and sitting around watching DVDs." I fear this guy knows us too well, I think that is exactly what we'll be doing. John's being here should get me out on the bike more and help me traing better. He's been training like a mad man and will be in race shape as soon as he gets here, so I'll have some catching up to do as well as school work.

The adventure starts soon...
Back to the papers, books and..... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs

better never than late

Good lord...

It was ONLY been 4 months since my last update... Sorry!!!! (like anyone reads this.. oh yeah, Mitch does! :-) )

Well not much going on.
I'll post something my new team and the team presentation sometime soon.. you know, like in the next 5 or 6 months....

Monday

John and I waited for Tim and Beth to get here, they arrived and stuffed their faces full of Chocolatines and coffee. They had a very long flight spaning 2 or 3 days depending on how you look at it. So as they went for a little nap, John and I went out to do some TT intervals. We felt crappy at first, but ended up feeling not too bad.

The races...

The races:
Due to a little finacial difficulty I was unable to race Sat’s Abos-Iraty Grand Prix de la Palombe race in this Pyrenees. So I took over as DS once more as John had the race of a lifetime.

We drove 3hours to the start a little past Pau in the Pyrenees. John had a good race and rode near the front all day. The pace was high and they covered over 40k in the fist 2 hours of racing over some rather “hilly” terrain!
I was in radio contact with John from the caravan. I gave him general info about the distance left etc, but listening to his responses I could tell he was riding well and feeling pretty happy about how the race was going. Then things got ugly! The race is a mountain top finish as it finishes atop the Col de Bagagi in the Basque country. This is the climb that the Tour went over in 2003 when Hamilton won the stage. It’s a very very steep climb. Hamilton used a conpact chainring for that climb. As soon as we hit the slopes of the Bagargi riders started popping off the back, and very soon the mountain was covered in riders. John was far from being first to drop. In fact he never really dropped as everyone was all over the mountain side. It took me a while to get up to John in the car. The commisaires kept us behind John’s group for a while as they considered that the main field. Eventually as things were getting really really strung out I was able to get alongside John and give him water, talk to him and see how he felt. I follow John all the way up the climb and kept talking to him either out the window or over the radio. The climb was absolutely brutal!!! He did most of the climb with the Basque National Champion, and he finished the race in the top 60… not bad for an all-rounder on a true climbers course. This is one I think John will remember for a long time. There aren’t very many true mountain top finish races around, and this is one of the hardest.

Sunday we were supposed to do the Pyrenean Regional TT Championships. We got up early and drove over to the race venue, only to find that for some reason they had not received our entries. As it was a TT there was no way they could take us on the day. So we sat in the car and had a very VERY disgruntled drive back home. I was really pissed as I was looking forward to that TT, and even more pissed because it means I didn’t race at all this weekend.

Still… Tim and Beth arrived on their Honeymoon Monday, so that livened things up a bit.

The week

John and I got in some good training this week. We got in a lot of intervals, some TT intervals and some shorter uphill intervals. We did a few double days, which was nice, and we got in a great ride to Penne and around Bruniquel. That was a great ride, and one I will have to take other people on because it is so beautiful and takes in a load of the area’s castles and walled cities.

Pic de Nore

This weekend saw two races go up the pic de Nore climb. Sat we climbed from Jalabet’s home town of Mazamet to the summit, and on Sunday we climbed from the other side in near Carrcassonne to the summit.
John felt a little down after Sat's race. He was fairly happy with Sat, though I was pissed off because we watched the break go up the road and did nothing... I tried to bridge but couldn't, so came back to the chase group where John attacked to bridge up as soon as I was back in, he sat in no mans land all day, at the end I kicked it away from my group to finish just behind him (7th and 8th). Sunday we went with the break, but these guys go SO fast up hill it was hang on until you drop. I dropped and set into my own rhythm, I ended up in a group of 4 when we reeled in John. We sat in on the steeper slopes, one guy went so I let the gap open a bit and bridged taking just john with me. We sat on him making breathing noises to make sure he wouldn't ask for any help. Then John started to get gapped, but I wanted him to hang on as I was planning to attack our guy with about 2k to go (it was around 8 or 9% slope at this stage), John dangled off the back for a little while, then got on. I attacked with 2k to go, john couldn't follow and the other guy stuck to me for a bit, so I kicked again and whipped it from side to side... I got a big gap real quick and held it to the finish, the other guy was picking up the speed, he came in next with John just behind him. We were around 12th and 13th or something like that. I was happy because we did all we could, but dissatisfied because I would like to do better… as usual. I'm not sure why John isn't happy though, because he didn't miss the break, he gave it all he had... so...

John actually cracked his frame, so that changed things a bit, as he will tell you bellow…

BY JOHN PARKS:

Well this past weekend did not go quite as planned, but it was a worthwhile experience nonetheless. We woke up Saturday morning to heavy rain and fog so driving three hours or more to the Pyrenees where the weather was sure to be worse seemed a little risky. Sim and I opted to try a different race about an hour or so away. The race was a mass start hill climb that started in the town of Mazamet (Laurent Jalibert?s home town) and rose 25k to the Pic de Nor, 1000m above the start line.
At the start I jumped out front and pulled the first few kilometers out of town and up the hill at pace just fast enough to discourage attacks. Just as I was pulling off a group of seven guys attacked and got a gap that Sim then tried to bridge. Not quite able to catch the lead group, Sim dropped back to the pack and as soon as we caught him I countered with my own attack. Unfortunately I was never able to bridge the gap between the leaders and the rest of the field and spent the remainder of the climb by myself in no mans land. Halfway up, I passed a member of the lead group being helped into an ambulance for whatever reason. An hour after I started, I reached the top several minutes behind the leaders in 7th place. Sim, in a group of about five, attacked 3k from the top and dropped the riders around him and crossed the line in 8th place about a minute behind me. All the race officials and locals seemed to really enjoy having the both of us their because neither of us are French. At the small awards ceremony after the race they even gave me a trophy for being the first foreign rider to reach to top.
On the descent back down, a couple times my crank seemed to slip a little or so that?s what I thought, so I just took it easy thinking I would just tighten it when we got home. The bad news came when we discovered that the chain stay was separating from the dropout and my frame was shot. Knowing we had a race the next day, that night Sim and I swapped all of my components on to aluminum Go Sport bike that Greg Sonnenburg had left here. Greg, if you read this, thanks, and I owe you. However, now you can always take pleasure in knowing that you own a bike that?s been raced in Europe.
The race on Sunday was similar to Saturday with many of the same riders, but we attacked the climb from the other side of the hill and finished at the same point. The backside of the climb was shorter but steeper which was not good for me. The pace started extremely fast and dropped most of the riders quickly. I held on for about two or three kilometers but was not able to maintain the pace. Once again I found myself on my own, this time occasionally being passed by a rider or two. Two-thirds up the climb I was caught by Sim and a small group of four others. I managed to sit in with them just as the grade got began to get steeper. All the riders in the group dropped except for Sim, another rider, and myself. About 1k from the top Sim had the legs to attack the other rider and get a few seconds gap and hold it to the finish with the other guy chasing and me coming in about 15-20 seconds back. Not a great day but we both still managed top twenty finishes. I guess not bad considering most of the other riders were from towns around the area, and are used to this type of terrain. By the way these climbs have Liam?s name written all over them.
Yesterday we took my frame to a local fame builder who said he could repair it no problem, so I should have it for the upcoming races this weekend. Thanks to everyone at the shop for jumping through whatever hoops to get a new bike to me. We are not exactly sure what races we are going to do this weekend but it may involve a road race that finished on a climb in the Pyrenees, and or a regional time trial championships, we?ll see. Thanks again for everything.

John P.

Northern Races

On this first weekend in September, John and I drove up to northern France for 2 TTs and a road race. We drove over 5 hours on Sat to a TT. The TTs were what I was most interested in. On Sat I was 12th on the 22k TT. It was very very hot, and on a hilly course. The TV was out there filming, so that was interesting. I averaged 43kph and put in a reasonable time. We then got back in the car and drove another 3 hours to spend the night with some friends of ours near the Nantes area.
Next morning we were up very early to drive about 1.5 hours to a stage race in Cholet. We did a TT in the morning, once again this was my main aim for the day, I didn’t really care much about the road race. I put in a fairly good time, and average 44kph on the 9k TT, however the time gaps were very tight, and it was only good enough for 31st place. I guess it was in the top 3rd of the peleton, but I was quite disappointed. Then we had some food and got on the bikes for the second stage of the race; a 112 km road race. Things started off fairly well, John and I seemed to ride quite well, and we both stayed near the front. I was pretty tired after my two TTs, and luckily for me (I thought) those northern boys don’t climb quite as fast as our Pyrenean riders. Still we hit a hill at the half-way point of the race, the race got strung out and that was the end of the race for me. John was just able to hang on long enough for the pace to settle down a bit, and then he rode a great race. He was in a group of about 7 or so, he looked strong and had a good ride to finish somewhere in the top 40.
Then it was back into the car to drive back to our friends’ place, spend the night, then have to most boring drive ever all the way back home in the driving rain.

BY JOHN PARKS

I hope things are going good, and that everyone at the shop is doing well. As I had expected, this trip has turned out to be anything but a vacation. It is very clear however that coming will be worth every penny both in experience and in fitness training. Sim and I are living a cyclist life in its truest form by training every day, eating lots of pasta, and driving all over the country to race on the weekends. Last weekend we drove seven hours up to northern France for a 22k TT on Saturday and a two stage race on Sunday which included an 8k TT in the morning, a 112 road race in the afternoon, and two speeding tickets. Unlike Sim, I was not extremely interested in the time trials, but focused more on doing well in the road race.
Things operate quite a bit different over here when it comes to races in many ways. One example of this is that categories really don?t mean a whole lot over here. In many of the races, riders are simply grouped together so beginners can be racing against riders who were pro the previous year as well as juniors. This however does not make the race any slower or any less aggressive.
The Saturday TT was impressive in that it had the full production to include a covered start house and ramp, an announcer that introduced each rider and called out times as they crossed the finish line, and team cars to follow each rider on the course. A TV crew was also on hand to film a few of the starts including mine for local broadcast. The officials asked me questions while I was waiting in the start house but after I told them I didn?t speak French, all they did was make gestures and laugh. What are the odds they were saying something derogatory. The Sunday TT was not quite as elaborate but was still beyond what we are used to in the states. I didn’t give great performances in either event nor was I trying to so I couldn’t really judge my fitness with the other riders, but Sim seemed to do fairly well. The road race was another story.
Those boys were fast!
After we rolled out of the town and crossed the official start line, several riders attacked and from that point on, there was either someone attacking, or group of people off the front. Halfway through, the race got strung out over the top of a small climb and for many riders including Sim that was all it took to put them off the back. At some point during the race I looked down at my flight deck and saw that I was going twenty-five mph, up a hill, and it was still below the average speed for the race. I can?t recall the last time I had to work so hard just to stay in a race. I cannot stress enough how fast and aggressive these guys are. The racecourse had us come back into town, then make eight loops around the town. The weather was hot and I was running out of water, so luckily as we came back through town, Sim was there to hand me a couple bottles or I would not have finished for sure. In true form, I felt better as the race went on and by the end felt quite strong but by then the race had already been won by two team mates who crossed the line hand in hand, several minutes before my group reached the finish. Eighty some riders started the race, about fifty finished and I crossed the line somewhere in the mid thirties felling quite pleased with my performance given the sircumstances.
Another hard weekend starts tomorrow with a 90k road race in the Pyrenees that includes two col?s, and a 20k mass start hill climb on Sunday. Other than that, everything else has been great. We went over to a town close to use today and saw a stage finish of the Tour de Lavenier, which was impressive. Americans are representing pretty well this year.