The first stage of Dauphine today was short and fast. It was
a non-traditional circuit race, which was kind of interesting. It is always
nice to be familiar with a course when racing on it. The day started with a
flurry of attacks and four guys eventually got away. Things looked interesting
for a little while as the time gap steadily rose with no one wanting to take up
the chase. The poker game ended though when the gap got to 7 minutes. Then the
chase was on. I was a bit skeptical of the break coming back, but after I saw
how quickly the time fell once the chase started I was pretty sure things
would come back together, which they did on the last lap. The circuit was not
easy though, and it was a reduced group contesting the sprint. We had orders to
keep our GC guys (Haimar and Bauke) safe, so that was the main goal for today.
It was a mostly uneventful stage for me, minus a flat tire on the second circuit that left me chasing for a good bit. And I had an untimely loss of position during a bottleneck before the final circuit, so I also had to chase the front of the group over the last climb. I stayed with a few other chasers just off the back at the top and we came back without a problem. Then it was onto the finish and happily climbing aboard the bus safe and sound. Random thing happened today too that I didn’t know about until the finish: broke my saddle rail completely in half. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture, but evidently my steady diet of doughnuts and cheese curds is too much for the weight limits of our saddles! I have no idea when it happened, but I’m guessing it was one of the many speed bumps we went over today. Ok that’s all!
It was a mostly uneventful stage for me, minus a flat tire on the second circuit that left me chasing for a good bit. And I had an untimely loss of position during a bottleneck before the final circuit, so I also had to chase the front of the group over the last climb. I stayed with a few other chasers just off the back at the top and we came back without a problem. Then it was onto the finish and happily climbing aboard the bus safe and sound. Random thing happened today too that I didn’t know about until the finish: broke my saddle rail completely in half. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture, but evidently my steady diet of doughnuts and cheese curds is too much for the weight limits of our saddles! I have no idea when it happened, but I’m guessing it was one of the many speed bumps we went over today. Ok that’s all!
2 comments:
You neglected to mention ice cream in that steady diet!
Ride safe!
The team looks to be in good shape at the end of stage 1. Good luck!
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