Today was my first race in Europe. I have been feeling a bit better, but my lungs felt pretty bad once we really got going (which, like I have already mentioned, was at approximately kilometer zero). Here is a quick run down of the race:
Start.
I am supposed to get in an early break, so I am going as hard as I can to try to make that happen. Despite a few decent looking moves that I was in, nothing is going, yet. This takes us to kilometer 50 or so, which took about an hour (thats about 31 miles per hour).
Around this time, we hit the second rated climb. It got the lowest rating, a category 3, but we went soo hard. I was sitting last wheel over the entire thing, thinking "I cant get dropped, or I wont make time cut"
Then, the hardest part of the race. We had these really strong cross winds, so the field was completely guttered. I don't have time to explain that tonight but here is a good picture example (different race, but you get the point):
This was essentially the view that I had for an hour plus during the race.
Then, a big break got up the road, that got a minute and a half on the group really quick. So our director says: You all need to ride the front. So I ride the front for the next 30k with my teammates, decrease the gap by 45 seconds, and then we hit that climb again.
And I get dropped maybe 400 meters in. I ride the next 20 km with two other guys who were riding the front with me, and then get caught by 8 or so riders just holding onto a car. I draft the car, just so that I can make time cut, but we are going so fast, it was one of the hardest times in the race.
All in all, I was the 3rd to last finisher in the race (but maybe 5 or 10 DNF'd, and a few got time cut), and I ended the stage almost 15 minutes down.
BUT, our director was happy with my performance, and since I am still sick (I have a wicked cough), I think that this bodes well for what is to come.
More Later.
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