Update

North Bend, WA
Sunday, August 26th 2007

Cloud coverage: complete
Rainfall: flood warning
August burn ban: in effect...? Chance of forest fire: 0%
Attempted suicides in the NW: classified
Number of roundabouts constructed in the last 4 months: 2
Number of attempts to start my car after 4 months: 1
Number of 2 year contracts signed: 1
Pounds gained by the family cat in the last 4 months: (-)5
5 min max wattage: 435
1 min max wattage: 541


Schedule
US pro championships: sept 2. Greenville, SC USA
Tour de l'avenir: ~sept 6-15. France
u23 or pro world championships: ~end of september. Germany

An abrupt end

Yesterday was probably the most depressing thing that's ever happened to me on a bike. It seems like ever since Catalunya came to a close it's either been a fierce battle or all down hill. Yesterday started out with a metavolanta and then a short bout with a cat 3. Over the metavolanta I didn't feel so good, but I was also far from the front and attributed the extra fight to hanging in the back. But as soon as it slowed and a break formed I sought refuge in the front. But then when we hit the cat 3, times were still harsh and before I knew it I was falling to the back again, pretty soon I was off the back. I thought I'd be able to fight back on, but guys started dropping back for bottles. I couldn't believe it... I was going all out and these guys were coming back for bottles, something you usually do when it's easier to get back on. Before we crested the cat 3 I was out the back, through the cars and in a fairly desperate situation... as Johnny put it: "set yourself up for a real battle."
I thought I'd catch up with a group dropped over the 1st cat 1 to come, but I ended up riding the remainder of the race alone, some 110 kilometers. When I finished I was 40 minutes down and 5 minutes outside the time cut. With 4 days of racing still to go, I can say that I barely made it through half the race... something I wouldn't have imagined happening in my worst dream, ever. The longer the race the better, but, something happened, and bang... everything that I'd learned and thought true... gone. I'm left sitting here thinking about how out of place I am at a race when I too am not racing. Using the suave race hotel and watching the team staff and my team mates do their race thing makes me feel desperately out of place... all these people do all this stuff to get me to this race and I can't even race... 2 months ago I'd of thought I'd be winning by now, not struggling to finish.

Portugal- rest day

Portugal
10 de agosta de 2007

The tour of portugal has turned out to be slightly different than I'd imagined. Everyone had said it was hard, but that's turned out to be a bit of an understatement. They go up the hills here so fast that you don't even have a chance to get in line. Yesterday I watched the finish on the tv from my hotel room. It was a finish atop a 4km 3rd category climb that featured a "field sprint" with the liberty seguros team leading out candido barbosa, aka barbacoa, at 45 km an hour on a hill of ~7%. I watched it and then thought about how I got dropped 2 km before the finish and yet barbacoa still had 2 guys to lead him out despite the fact that his entire team had been reeling back the break away for the past 30 km. Not to say that it's impossible or anything, maybe just not plausible... at all. Not to mention that the guý's apparently 75 kilos and 5 foot 5.
The next day he won the "field sprint" atop a cat 2 climb to the finish. Perfectly reasonable.

Tour of Portugal

PORTUGAL
4 - 4 - 2007

The tour of portugal is off to a swell start. The prologue was an out and back with a quick loop of a round-about acting as the turn around. Pre-riding the course I did the turn around rather rapidly & decided that I could take it even quicker in the race. I came into it super hot in the race and went down even faster, making a superb debut into another 11 days of racing. Crash number one of 2007...