Word up

So a lot has happened since my last post. I am back at the team house getting ready for some local race(s) this weekend. 

The stage race in Spain was freaking hard. It was a 2.12 race so anybody any age can show up. Several of the better amateur Spanish teams and a few Spanish (pro) continental teams showed up along with VC La Pomme Marseille and the juggernaut Russian Lokomotiv Team. My legs hurt just typing this. Some of the guys who did Isard the premier u23 climbing stage race in Europe said the climbs were harder at Tarragona then Isard. 

Lets give a short recap:

Stage 1 was a 134km ride with two very hard climbs in the first 40km and then lots of rollers to the finish. I thought this was the hardest stage of the race and I think everybody suffered on our team. Some Russian, a couple of ex Spanish pros, and an ex French pro attacked on the second climb (I cant hold 800 watts for 3mins unlike these guys). A group of about 40 formed after the two climbs then counter attacks started going. All I could do was watch. I set a new max wattage for 1.5hr and 2hrs racing. The only good news from that day. Carter Jones managed to get away with a group 20km to go and finished 29th 8mins down. 7mins later Chris Butler and I rolled in with a group for like 40th. Then 10-12 mins behind us rolled in the rest of the team.

Stage 2:

I dont remember it as it was pretty quick stage. I got into a big break of riders of like 30 guys off the front. I sat on as the Russians and VC La Pomme guys drilled it. The field caught the break after the last descent with like 4okm to go and we spinted for like 14th in the field as some of the break survived. I got 31st on the stage. 

Stage 3:

Frustrating day as I had pretty good legs. I missed the break. Then attacked the field with like 60km to go and sat at 20-30 secs for a good 10km before being reeled in. I made the front selection over the last climb but the remnants of the break stayed away. I finished 21st on the stage and 11th in the field sprint. Haha

Stage 4:

Rain greeted us for the start and much of the stage as I hung on for dear life up a 8 mile climb as we avg 14.5mph up it. The legs were 'no bueno'. At this time I would like to point out whoever made the course profiles for this race was drunk because according to the profile we have a slight descent then another climb then a descent then 30km later the last climb then the descent down into the finish. Apparently, we had the 8 mile climb, 15km of rollers, then the cat 3 climb, descent, 2 4km climbs then a descent then the cat 2 8km climb that killed me. 

Long story short, it was by far the hardest day. Right before the last climb I was not feeling too good (legs). Like it hurt just turning over the pedals. I got locked into last position up the climb and I almost made the front group over the top but got tailed off. The climbing in Spain is crazy. Everybody sprints for the first couple km or so. Yes, sprint. I think its a game. Who can hold 500 watts the longest? Everybody settles down once the group is thinned out at a hard but doable pace. Then at the top everybody freaks out and wants to be the first to the top (not because of KOM points but because of idiocy) so we have a 500 watt jump the last couple of minutes. At this time I would like to point out, that I black out staring at the wheel in front of me. Okay in better words, remember Space Balls? Remember when Lonestar and his goonies are trying to escape the clutches of Darth Helmet and the guy who makes fun of Harrison Ford's character says lets go to Hyperspeed, then the guy who is making fun of Chewbuccha says no we need to go to Ludicrous Speed! Well thats how I feel whether it be crosswinds in Belgium or climbs in Spain. Finished like 3mins down on the field in like 30th

Stage 5a. Notice the A, as Stage 5 has two stages (a & b). Stage 5a is a short 5km uphill TT starting in a small Spanish town and climbing to a castle. Now what I found out from preriding it is it is a stairstep climb. Every couple hundred meters or so it pitches up and over 15%. What is especially nice is on these steep sections while you are going 7mph at 450 watts there are signs telling you how steep the % of the slope is. Now just add 95 degrees, 20mph headwind, and an ex pro Spainard chasing you up the climb and thats what my TT was like. Oh I forgot to mention the last 300 meters of the TT is over 18%. Now preriding the climb the first time we did it in 16:30 with no wind. When I got done, I did a 14:05. 6 seconds off the fastest time so far. The official, my DS confirmed my time and the officials at the top even told the DS before he went down that I had the second fastest time at 14:05. So later on just before Stage 5b started we were finally handed the results, hoping to be inside the Top 10, I saw that I finished 16th in the TT 23 seconds back from my time. When we went to the officials they said that there is nothing we could do as the second race is about to start and they would have to change results or something like that BS. So I finished 9th with my time of 14:05. But the freak who won it (he is Russian) did it in 13:05. 1 min faster then me and 26 seconds off the record. One of the officials who spoke English said that's not normal as the guy who set the record in 2003 was implemented in Operacion Puerto and he had a tailwind when he set the record. Scary....

Stage 5b.

As if the Russians did not have enough fun beating everybody senselessly in the TT. They decided to team attack with 2 and 4 in GC on a short 87km stage. The stage was raced alongside the beautiful coastline which meant wind. After 20km half the field was gone. Only Larry Warbasse and I made it. The yellow jersey's team frantically chased the breakaway group containing 2 and 4 in GC as they were less then 40 seconds off to win the GC. On the last climb which was a nice 7km climb at about 4-6% was steady. I started feeling pretty good and we rounded a corner and bam there is the 1km to the top marker and right above that is a pitch that says 11%. The field went crazy as 25 of us made it over the top of the climb. The yellow jersey frantically chasing all by himself now with 24 riders in tow. Mono e mono (something like that right?). However he pulled the gap way down and they finished just 7 seconds ahead of us. I finished in the yellow jersey group at 29th or something on the stage. 

So I finished 31st overall. (30th if you cant the TT blunder) haha

But an awesome race. I hope to come back next year and improve upon my results. 

Tomorrow a local kermess,

David