A Second Day in the Sun

We were once again greeted with sun for the second stage of Paris Nice. The weather has been so nice that I've been able to begin work on my 2014 tan lines! The stage today was longer than yesterday at 205km and not any easier despite the flat profile. After the chaotic finale yesterday, then nerves were running plenty high today. It was a surprisingly civil start, but that ended after about 25km when we entered more open areas. From there the tension never really let off but rather built on itself. In particular after the feedzone it got very nervous because of the wind and small roads. No team ever had enough guts to go for it, but I do believe that if someone had tried, the peleton would have been in pieces. There was lots of braking, skidding, and avoiding crashes, but thankfully at the end of the day we ended up status quo and no one hit the ground. 

I do have one injury to report though. I was eating a bar or cake some time mid-race today and decided the cake wasn't good enough, so I proceeded to chomp my tongue. It hurt immensely and felt a little different than other times I had bitten my tongue, but it wasn't until post race when I could look in a mirror that I realized how bad it was. I don't want to post a picture of my tongue to avoid grossing anyone out, but I put a sizable puncture wound on the mid-front edge of my tongue. I'm pretty certain this is the worst dental wound I've ever inflicted on myself and am pretty impressed. I do hope it heals as quickly as mouth wounds are supposed to because it is pretty uncomfortable when eating or drinking. It already seems to be starting the healing process this evening, so I suspect that by the morning it will be lots better. 

Tomorrow's stage is again likely to be a sprint. I don't know for sure the threat of winds, but it can always get exciting for some unexpected reason! The finish is on a race car circuit and I suspect it could be interesting (see diagram below). Thanks for checking in!

Tomorrow we finish like race cars!