Thursday, May 14, 2015

Stage 3 and 4 in California

Due to long transfers and a busy schedule I was unable to write about yesterday's stage 3, but here's the run down: hard! The start was very intense and the gas didn't let off for a long time. Finally after the breakaway went, there was a small lull, but the terrain never really allowed for any time to let the pressure off the pedals. We had to keep going all day. The first real test of the race came on the HC category Mt. Hamilton. On the top of the climb, I think there were maybe 15-20 guys remaining and we had 3 (Riccardo, Haimar, and me) of us and were later joined by Jasper and Laurent. Following the descent of Mt. Hamilton there was another short and steep climb with a super steep descent after that. Some guys in front of me crashed on the descent and I got gapped off trying to avoid them. I maintained my distance to the bottom, but then I had to chase really hard to regain contact. It was a few matches I prefer not have burned, but in the end I stayed with the group to the finish and didn't lose any time. That means I'm still in the running!

Today's stage was relatively calm compared to the first three. There was one climb, but it was of no consequence and the wind was strong, but it was never too dangerous. The peloton was certainly nervous due to the wind and a couple times a team tried to split it in the wind, but the conditions were not right, thankfully. The most nerve-wracking moment for me today was realizing I had a slow-leak front puncture going into the last 10-15km. I had been kind of wondering if I had a flat for a good while, but I could never tell for sure. I wanted to change it, but I was nervous about the wind and the speed the peloton was going. Also I wished I had a radio to call the car and also tell my teammates I needed some help. I was close to them, but it was really hard to get everything organized. Luckily everything worked out and I finished on the lead time, so we are status quo. That's the update. Thanks!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice work! Also great to see the team in 2nd place. Looking forward to today. Good luck!