Sunday, July 26, 2009

1 to go...

As I stated before, criteriums are not my favorite. In fact, most times I downright hate them. But this crit was a little different. I was free to have fun with it and not stress about losing time because I'm already out of the running for the GC win. So that's what I did. When I felt like it, I would attack off the front and try to get away. When I felt like sitting in, I would just relax and hold position. Anyway, I felt like I turned a corner (ha, I made a funny) in this crit because it was a lot safer and easier to move around the more I relaxed. Bumping and taking corners at 25 mph with 140 other guys who are desperate for a result is not something I generall enjoy but I have to make the best of the situation and relaxing and having fun with it seems to work the best for me. Stress just gives you grey hair and knocks years off your life, right? In the end, we made it through the crit okay. Ben lost the sprint jersey but has a chance to get it back if he get's in today's breakaway. Here is a picture from cyclingnews.com taken by Jon Devich that I thought was hilarious. Can you pick me out? I'll give you a hint: I look like Yao Ming compared to everyone else. :)
Today's circuit race should be an exciting one. We do 5 circuits of 17 miles with a lot of climbing and technical descents each lap. Add in the heat and elevation, and it makes for a hard and dynamic race. Stage victory and sprint jersey are on the agenda today. We'll have to dig deep because everyone is tired at this point in the week and often it comes down to who wants it most.

1 comment:

  1. Nice Yao comment. I'm in the same boat! Being 6'9" and racing in the Norcal 35+ 1/2/3 fields makes me stick out like a sore thumb against my vertically challenged competitors.

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