Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Threes...

How does that saying go... "Bad/good things come in threes"? That was the story of my life today in stage two of Vuelta Pais Vasco. I began the day feeling fine and helping to cover the breakaways. Then all the sudden thud, thud and pss-ss-ss-ss. Double flat! Shoot. I called the car and got both changed, but I had a lot of work to do to make up the ground with the field going super fast still because the break was not established. I caught at the base of the first climb but didn't get any reprieve because of the climb and lack of break still. I survived over the top and was very happy to see the break finally go. I did my best to recover and get ready for the rest of the stage.

I was doing ok and ready to move to the front about 45km to go, but then I flatted again. Let the process begin over! I chased for awhile and caught again at the base of the next climb. Thankfully the tempo was not too crazy, but it still was not pleasant. I again did my best to recover and fuel up for the finale, but I was pretty much finished. I had burned a few to many matches so to speak. I actually got dropped on the descent/into the valley after the climb I had caught back on. I just couldn't go any harder/faster, legs smoked. Thankfully the pace settled and I was able to ride back through the cars to the field. After this I was able to move up a little and survive over the final short but really steep climb.

After this the race was full on as the break was being caught and teams were setting up for the final climb. We were on a big valley road gradually climbing to the last 3km of real climb. I did my best to be around Chris and Kloden in order to offer my bike or a wheel if either of them had problems. When we hit the base of the climb, I blew up. My energy was finished. I rode it in and was pleased to hear Kloden had taken the yellow. So yes today was threes for me. I guess it was only one set of threes, but it was still three! Off to sleep now. I need to recover for the day of work ahead.

3 comments:

Jeramey said...

Thanks for the update! Keep up the good work!

Unknown said...

Very good work. Go on!

Big Cahunico said...

Hang in there Matteo! It's all on the big wheel, and your luck is right around the corner. It all evens out. Perhaps this is the Big Guys way of clearing the slate so that it's all good in the future.