Good Morning

Hello, Hello, sorry about the delay on writing but access hasn't been easy and even more than that issue i have just been simply tired and unable to muster the energy to write. First of all, please don't take anything i write here personally (mom..that means you). i just want an accurate account of the trip and to be able to look back on the truth, it is all just part of the experience! So anyhow, yesterday was the circuit race and the course was not too bad other than a hill we had to repeatedly climb 11 times, and which the finish line was also on. With 4 laps to go i dropped my chain in the middle of the blazing hill, but sense i was near the front when it happened i was able to catch back on after a very hard effort...on the back stretch i was going 29.5mph and not gaining on the pack, so i had to knock it up a few more and jam, but i got there. Coming around the final corner in the last lab i was sitting 6 or 7, which was very important considering the course. i punched it up the hill and was cruising out front for the first part, but my legs hit a wall and i got passed up by a number of girls before the line...finishing in 9th place. That left me at 11th overall. I learned a lot of lessons...probably the most important on is that i should have been practicing and plotting how i was going to play the sprint with gear options in the prior 11 laps, rather than thinking about it as we came around the final turn. So things were going great after yesterday! And then...

The mountain stage was, well to say the least very difficult. Mentally i was having a very bad day and it took every bit of my power to keep myself in the race. You folks back home and the fact that i wouldn't be allowed to race today if i didn't finish are the only things that kept me going. The descend was fast and fun (55-58mph...easy), i made sure to say toward the front so i wouldn't get caught behind any squirrelly riders. The climbing on the other hand was very difficult. In addition to the original difficulty we got stalled by the pace cars a number of times because of other fields coming by, which just made it hard not to load the legs...i should have put on a 27 rather than a 25 (for those of you who don't know that just means i would have an easier gear that would allow me to move my legs faster at a slower pace). In any case i was in pain a lot, then with one lap to go i got caught up in a crash. One girl when off the side of the road and as she tried to get back on the girl in front of me t-boned her and my wheel went right between them and i flipped over it all, got up, untangled by bike, got on and thankfully was able to catch the pack. Unfortunately i think the one girl was hurt pretty bad, as she was out cold when i left. In the last lap we road the same course but had to turn up a mountain climb at the end. We were all together at the turn for the climb and pretty soon after that the front girls dropped me, my legs hurt so bad. When i saw the 1km sign i wondered if i would really make it, or if i was just going to fall over. Then finally the 200m sign came and i wanted nothing more than to be at home of my 200m velodrome, as i climbed straight up hill i might as well have been going a track stand. But despite all the difficulty i did cross the finish line...finishing in 26th place, which drops me to 19th overall.

O i should mention that i did find a ride back to t-town with some guys. David Wiswell and some of his team mates are headed back that way, so all is good as far as that goes! Well i'm running out of thinking power so i'm going to go for now, see if i can't maybe do some laundry and find some salt to get into my system. Thanks to all of you for all the support!