Tuesday, August 4, 2015

No Rain Jackets Today

It was a complete 180 in weather today, with full sunshine and warm temperatures for stage 2. I would say the majority of the peloton was happy to see the nicer weather. The start was fast and furious with attacks going everywhere for the first 30km. Finally, a small group got away and established a gap. They rode quite strong all day as the pace in the peloton to catch them was never slow and not easy. The main attraction for the day was the climb of the backside of north Ogden canyon. It's a nasty little climb, 3km long and averaging 9% gradient. Up until the climb the stage was relatively calm, but once we hit it the bullets started flying. I was on/near my limit at the top and several times in the closing circuits. Our team looked good with Frank, Leonardo (a stagiaire), and me in the final group. We kept things relatively calm and focused on trying to stay on the same time and save energy as much as possible for the stages ahead; things don't get any easier!

Tomorrow's stage looks somewhat easy on paper, but it will be 100% to the contrary. The start should be flat, but after 50km we will go over the front side of north Ogden canyon (9.4km @ 6%), then over another solid climb called Trapper's Loop (6.9km @ 5%), and finally two times over a nasty climb in the finish city of Bountiful. The finish circuit climb looks like it will be a real leg burner, basically the same as the backside of north Ogden canyon from today, at 2.7km averaging 9%. I suspect the finishing group is going to be severely diminished, especially with the last time cresting only 11km from the finish. Hope my legs treat me well and my lungs begin to process a little more oxygen!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck today! It does sound Ike a leg burner!

Scott K said...

Yikes, just saw you went down on Stage 3 in Utah - damn . . . . sure hope and pray there is nothing serious.

Anonymous said...

That crash looked horrific. Good news that nothing is broken. Take it easy for a few days.