Trail by Fire

Both Redlands and San Dimas are proving to be character building races. These are some of the hardest races I've ever raced and its proving to be a lesson in how to get your ass kicked.

Simple mistakes prove to be the difference between finishing well and simply falling off the back. If you find yourself out in the wind, or try to gain position the wrong way of simply don't fight for the wheel infront of you, you find yourself off the back. For me the past 2 weeks have been a trial by fire into the world of Pro road racing. Its definitely been building my character as I'm basically getting my ass kicked.

Every day I've been riding until my legs simply don't work anymore. I throw myself into the gutter of what my body can hold and basically stay there. The thing about it is that its not that I'm out of shape, I just need to learn when to use energy effectively, and when to hold back, and let someone else to the work.

The time trial at Redlands was interesting. Another uphill TT of around 6km or something. I hopped on the new TT bike and gave it as hard as I could....which wasn't ideal...hah.

In the first 3 minutes I caught my 30 second man, but in the last part of the stage, which was 2km of climbing, some at 13% I simply hit the wall. Literally I guess.

I should have conserved a little bit more as I hit the wall with the 44x26(smalled ring) and blew up. And my 30 second man, re-passed me. I rode the bastard like my single speed pulling so hard on the bars I unraveled the bar tape. In the end I had a pretty crap time.

The road race proved to be pretty difficult as well. Some steep climbing, but the wind was the MAJOR factor. In a number of stretches the pack was overspun(no more gears to shift down to) and I was getting passed going 75-80km/h spinning my gear at 120RPM. Here is where pack positioning was key and I got caught out in a couple places wasting energy before the climb. In parts the pack would be riding going about 15-20km/h because the then headwind was so strong.

After that we hit the climb. I made it up fine 2 of the 4 times, but in the last part of the race I dropped back to grab a bottle from the feed zone and had difficulty getting back to the front before the attack. BAM. Dropped on that climb.

I rode the last lap with a small group and came in 10 minutes down. Its little decisions and bad moves that make the race.

Today was the Crit. It was my second Crit of the year and proved to be the fastest of my life I think. It was aggressive, super technical, and decently sketchy. 150 guys rammed through the corners and I told myself if I could hold on for 20 minutes, then I could finish the race. I rode my heart out for an hour and ten minutes, but then just couldn't close the gap, and fell off the back, 20 minutes before the finish. I was simply spent. I couldn't pedal anymore. I finished covered in dirt and road grime(from being at the back on of the pack) with my own snot and spit dried all over my face and legs.

Again, the problem isn't that I'm out of shape(overtrained probably)its that I waste too much energy being at the back of the pack, where I should be at the front sitting in the slipstream. I was up there for the Crit on and off, but I just didn't fight for the wheel aggressively enough and in the end dropped back and paid for it.

The team is doing pretty well. Even Elkin our coach/old guy/ super strong rider got 9th today in the Crit and is riding a good race. There are a humps in the road with all of us, but for the whole the team is doing pretty well for jumping into one of the toughest races of the year. The NZL guys are riding great.

Tomorrow is a pretty insane stage. It will probably be the toughest race of my life as its pretty much all climbing. We go up a pretty serious climb 12 times, for 150ish km. What I'm telling myself now is to simply try to stay in the first part of the bunch, save energy where ever I can, and be aggressive in staying toward the front.

From there we go up to Portland....and my new home. Its 17 hours of driving, and I have the choice of doing it straight through, leave after the race and arrive Monday morning, or go slack and arrive on Wednesday. From there we have another stage race in Oregon on the weekend.

Busy Time

Busy Busy Busy lately. The team made it to Redlands and the past few days we've just been cruising around having easy rides trying to keep the legs fresh for the upcoming race. I got the new TT bike today and spun it around the course for about 2 hours, but it felt super weird being the first time on the funny bike since last year. It will take a while to work out the bugs for sure.

We have been staying at host housing and but unfortunately I don't have wireless Internet so updates are going to be sparse.

We visited the Loma Linda Children's hospital here in Redlands and hung out with the kids in the Cancer ward. It was good to get the head out of bike racing for at least a couple hours. I hope they had fun. Roman was the man who stole the show I think. It puts things in perspective that little things in our bike racing lives aren't usually a big deal when you see 10 year olds dealing with Cancer.

LINK

http://www.pe.com/localnews/lomalinda/stories/PE_News_Local_N_bike25.4818c76.html

For some reason they chose my ugly mug for the promotional cards....

Mixed Bag

The days have been passing quickly as there is lots going on and lots to do. St. Pattys day came and went, and although I spent it watching TV taking an easy night(as I seem to every year this time of year) I made sure to celebrate the occasion a little bit.

A couple days later Josh and I said good bye to Tucson, as we packed up the car and headed for California to meet the rest of the team, and to start our first big race of the year, the San Dimas Stage race.

We were weighted down pretty heavy as both of us took everything we own for the next 8 months. It was so tight I couldn't find room for my pillow when it was all said and done so I had to hold it on my lap the whole 8 hour drive.

We arrived in California and are bunked up in some great host housing. The climate in California is great(so far) other than the smog, but its a nice change from the heat and dessert of Tucson.

The next morning we rolled out and met the rest of the team. I picked up my new race bike aswell, equipped with our new wheel sponosr Rolf Wheels, and Sram Force instead of Rival. On the scale, with heavy bars/stem/seatpost it came in at 16.5lbs. If I can EARN the Super Carbon Race wheels the team has for the GC leader, it would come in under the UCI weight limit I think. I also got to check out my new TT bike. Its not 100% uilt up yet, but is a pretty sweet rig.

With that we checked out the 6km Prologue uphill time trial. After a couple times up it, we kept on riding over the ridge. It was a little bit more climbing than most of us wanted coming in at 3 hours of 80% climbing, before an uphill TT but the riding along the ridge was some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Its neat how a lot of bike races are organized to promote an area for tourism. Although the race brings the cyclists much horrible pain, its almost worth it to see such great areas. So far the scenery in California has been good to me.

At one point in the ride I was suffering and when looking around at the other guys they all seemed to be pedalling pretty swiftly. I couldnt understand what was going on as they were in their easiest gear as was I. I had fleeting thoughts that maybe my power was down? After the TT yesterday Dave(team director) told me he put on a 23T cassette(when I thought I had a 26, which was on the training bike I was riding before). Hmmm

The next day we had a light spin followed by some coffee shop time then some down time before heading over to the hill again to start the prologue. I was starting later so I had to wait around a little bit. I would rather go first just to get the damn thing over with.

When I was at Guadeloupe last year, the race there was huge. Lots of spectators, lots of organization and tons of riders. The race was a really big event. While warming up and riding around the race site I get the same feeling at this race(even though its pretty small compared to an NRC or World Cup) There are a ton of riders, organization and lots going on. I feel these are the types of races I want to be in, and feel I should be in. Its weird riding around seeing all of the guys in the mags you read about for years.

With that, my prologue was decent. I wanted to go hard the last part of the race. I took it easy for the first, third but think I went too hard in the middle, just kind of cruising in over the line unable to sprint.

As soon as I crossed the line I simply stopped pedalling. I unclipped and almost fell over not being able to get enough air. After a couple seconds of recuperation I was able to spin down the hill again. It was an odd feeling.

With that effort I netted an 81st place(of 150). Not great, but pretty much mid-pack. Being the first TT of the year its hard to know what to expect. I know I can do much better, but its a matter of getting into a rhythm of racing I think.

With that, we race this afternoon 140km(ish) on a circuit which is pretty much up or down it seems. There is 1, 13% hill in it, but we do it 12 times. We'll see how it goes.

____________________UPDATE_______________________________________

So......The road stage didn't go so well. I can honestly say it was the craziest fastest, sketchiest Race I've ever been in. The first 50km were insane. It was one of those races where you NEEDED to be in the front part of the race and if you stopped constantly moving up and fighting to the bike length in front of you, you found yourself at the back of the pack. The roads were super tight.

I thought Quebec racing was aggressive compared to BC racing, but man that race was insane. On the third lap, I had a fleeting thought that I forgot to give Dave my Emergency info before te race.

Being the first big race of the year it was a real eye opener. I went as hard as I could to maintain position on the climb, but after the 5th lap of going as hard as I could in the big ring, up a 13% climb, I just slowly started to slide through the pack. Once we crested the climb, I was still in the group, but you had to fight for your position on the downhill and once it ended a small gap formed in front of me, and I simply couldn't close it. From there I slid off the back of the pack. I don't think it was simply too hard, I think I burned way too many matches on the climb and fighting for position. Ideally you can slide in and out of the pack efficiently, but I'm just not use to that at this stage of the game. It was a real eye opener just how important pack position is.

From there I joined a group just off the back, but the pack steadily gained time throughout the race. We raced for the last 70km(ish) but were pulled going onto the last lap. 12km from the finish. It sucked pretty hard.

So now here I sit listening to the pouring rain heading out for a training ride in the mountains as we were pulled so I cant start the Crit. The worst part is that it shows up as a DNF, where we still rode hard to try to finish the race.

Ahhhhhhhh sucky...

Onward and Upward

I am now counting down the days before leaving Tucson on Wednesday. With the times spent here, some good some bad, I am now taking the time the enjoy the last couple days I have here. Although I don't see the sights, experience the nightlife, or learn the culture down here, this place I realized last night is almost a second home in a way.

The past few(5?) years have been constant travel for me, where the only place I've been more than once, (other than PEI) is here. I pretty much have the layout of city down pat in my head, and when thinking about a specific road or a specific place I find I can norrow down where it is, pretty easily in my head. Something I could only do with PEI before hand. While thinking about this, it gave me a weird feeling.

Training is progressing. Yesterday Josh and I headed up to the peak of MT Lemmon. Although both of us had a pretty terrible day on the bike in the 5 hour Shootout ride the day before, we pushed onward and upward to the peak. In a normal day, with this much fatigue, I wouldn't have climbed that much, but seeing as how we're only in town for another couple days, and I haven't been to the peak this year, it was a must do.

I find I only go all the way to the top once a year. Sure, I ride the hill to do intervals or whatever, but never really push the whole 26(ish) miles to the top. Usually its so cold and friggin windy that its more of a pain than anything. It is really beautiful up there though.

So on we pushed. The grades averag around 5-7% which is not mellow, but not killer either. Its just a good climb with a decent shoulder. The factor that makes it tougher is it last 26 miles.

Up and up it goes switch-backing over the crazy moon terrain. Slowly, as I mentioned before the scenery changes and you go from 25degrees at the bottom to snow on the top. You have to make sure to pack arm warmers, knee warmers a vest and gloves at least.

After about 2 hours(the Garmin died) of climbing we pulled into the ski resort at the top. Last year as a treat, I got the legendary pie at the cafe up there. $8 was a little steep for pie, so I decided to test out the massive cookies at the Cookie Cabin. Honestly, this makes the climb worth it. These cookies are pretty unbelievable. At first I was taken aback by the $5 price tag, but then I saw the size and tasted the deliciousness of the cookie let me tell you, it was well worth it.

If I had known the cookies were that good, I would have ridden up there more often.

After a coffee, a hot chocolate, a cookie...and another half cookie that I swindled, Josh and I made the decent back home. I stupidly forgot my gloves, but it has been warmer up there than years

past I think. Last year I nearly froze to death descending the mountain.

We cruised into town with a ride time of just over 5 hours. A great way to cap of riding week for me of just over 28-29 hours. I was happy to roll into the house, with a gut still full of cookie.

Afterword I said to hell with the diet and Josh and I went to La Salsa for some franchise Mexican food. The burrito, chips, and Taco were all delicious, but I can definitely notice it on the scale this morning.

As I wake up this morning with cup of coffee number 2 in my belly I'm off to clean the bike. After that I think a nap may be in order.

On Wednesday we say farewell to Tucson and head to California for the San Dimas stage race. No more fooling around as the real racing starts. Yikes!

STALEMATE

The squirrel and the neighbors dog had a stalemate today. I was hanging around the house when I heard this horrible squawking(squirrel) followed by the most annoying barking.

This went on for 4 HOURS......NO JOKE

Delicous Tacos

(I think these are Almond Trees?)

Back on the bike again. I only have 5 more hard days in a row before I get some time off to travel to California for the San Dimas Stage Race.

Yesterday was a pretty sweet 6 hour ride out to the Madera Hill again. This time I seemed to feel a little bit better. The scenery is so nice out there, the 20%+ grades not so much though.

(Up Madera)

(Down Madera)

I started going to a new cafe too. It was my fav from last year, and oh no the sweets are deadly. I think the coffee is better too. Life is good!

Its kinda a 'hipster' cafe so you get a good mix of University students, dirty hobos and crazy bike geeks. (oh yeah...all the hobos in the US migrate to Tucson during the winter). Everyone seems to be in a balance though with guys in buisness'casual' working on their Macs, and students with tattoos everywhere who havnt bathed in days with a fine layer of dessert dust on them ...ahh working on their macs.

(Crazy weird erosion)

Today was a pretty intense double day. Intervals in the AM, Intervals in the PM. I found a killer killer climb by the house. I didn't have the Garmin, but it felt pretty steep. The upper part of the climb is an access road for the UofA Biology class that switchbacks into a remote area on top of a small mountain. Its paved and I was in my 39x26 and I was having trouble getting up. Hoo man.

Ahhh another 5-6 hours tomorrow, then the Shootout!

Thumping

I've been on the run the past few days. I'm in the middle of a pretty hectic couple weeks of training and I'm definitely feeling it. On Thursday I made a hike up to the infamous MT. Lemmon, I only had some quick threshold intervals to do, so I only went up to mile 11(of 29).

I forgot how nice it is up there. Its hard to believe this whole area thousands of years ago was all covered in water as an inland ocean. The whole area has its distinct look because of this, and even most of MT Lemmon is the way it because it in fact was covered under water. The higher you climb the colder it gets, and the terrain changes from Tucson-like dessert shrub, to plains and rolling terrain, to full on forest BC like trees where the ski area is at the top of the mountain. Its really a beautiful ride.

So the next day after a hard week was the Prologue of the Tucson Bicycle classic. I intended that stage/day to be a rest day as it was only like 6km. I figured I would spin there, ride my heart out and spin back for like a decent 3.5ish hour ride. WRONG

So somehow the winds on that particular day picked up like insane insane crazy. Usually a 45 minute ride, turned into a 1.5 hour ride.....just to get to the frigging Prologue spot. The winds combined with the rush hour traffic, combined with the traffic from the train that scoots through Tucson left this guy realizing he might miss his prologue time!(Anyone who has seen trains in the South knows you can wait at a railway track for like....20 minutes easy)

Anyway so I was doing the math in my head as I was riding and getting closer and thought.....oh no, so I steadily picked up the pace faster and faster. Eventually I was riding and feeling like I was going no-where fighting with the winds going over Gates Pass(picture the T-hill climb x 3-4km).

The time trial to the time trial was like a half hour of hard as I could go. I managed to roll into the starting area huffing and puffing as my 30-second man went down the ramp!

I threw off my helmet, popped on my TT helmet and got onto the start ramp and promptly rolled off with no-one holding me hopping on my bike and clipping in as I rolled down the start ramp. I rode the TT as hard as I could even though I was cooked beyond belief. Complete with saddle bag.

So I ended up 38th of 44. Which is pretty horrible. I would rather that place, however than missing a start time!

In my own defence. To put it in perspective how strong the winds were/traffic cluster, I rode to the same area where the TT was a couple days later for the Circuit race, leaving at the same time and I had enough time to get a coffee and sit for 20 minutes before the Circuit started.

So I was pretty cooked. My rest day, turned out to not be very restful.

The next day we had a 130ish km RR which had a gradual climb and super fast downhill. Being the second race of the year the intensity was killing me! After a long week with 5 of the 6 training days being intense I definatly was feeling the pace.

Right off the gun, in the first 15 minutes I noticed a break go off the front with most of the teams being represented. I said to myself "Ryan, this is the break you want to be in" So I lunged out of the pack and tried to bridge up to break. I got about 5 -7 seconds from the break-away when I looked back and a guy had done the same and was riding with me. Unfortunately he had brought the pack with him and my attempt to get into the break was all for not.

From there the day just got worse and worse. The legs kept up with the crazy accelerations and I was doing fine. Josh was sitting in a top 20 spot in the GC, only a couple seconds out, so I worked the front of the main pack with a couple other guys to try to bring back the break, which I just mentioned. It was pretty negative racing as the only two teams who could actually help just ended up messing everything up and fighting amongst their team-mates and yelling at everyone. It really was childish racing.

After some time on the front the pack split up again and I found myself in a bad position. My legs were just so cooked I couldn't make the second split and I was relegated to the second part of the break. Luckily Josh was in the middle pack, and had a decent day there.

The accumulation of the bad day was when I then got a flat on the last lap and had to chase to get back into the end-group. The neutrel wheel car didnt have a SRAM cassette in the back of the truck. So, he had to go into the of the cab of the truck to grab it. Of course the truck had automatic locking doors and it took awile before both the guys could get the frigging wheel out of the truck.

What a way to end the day. Your legs are cooked beyond belief, you have an insane head wind up a climb, and you just got a flat. I kept saying to myself " Ryan, well your the last guy in the race.....the last guy in the GC" What a day.

Eventually I made it back into the group and finished 22nd of 45ish on the day. Still like 15 minutes back from the winning break.

The next day was a 50mile Circuit race. I was barely alive as I pedalled to the course. I was offered drives by a couple other races but for some reason I wanted to ride there. The idea of just coasting to warm up for an hour at like 20km/h was sooooooooo appealing.

As I was riding I was pretty much falling asleep I was so cooked. As I mentioned I went to coffee shop and got an espresso and sat in the sun and enjoyed it before getting involved in the pain I knew was on the horizon. Luckily the espresso kicked in and I started to feel great!

The Circuit started like a bat out of hell. Instantly off the line guys attacked. The pack was strung out within the first 15 seconds and I found myself in my drops staring at the wheel in front of me thinking ...."Holy shit....there is no way I'm going to survive"

I know its negative, but its not that you just give up, its simply your legs cannot pedal any harder or faster.....in your mind the logical thing to do is to pull over on the side of the road in the dessert and have a nap in the dirt.

The pace was pretty insane the whole race. I really had to work the pack to stay in and lots of guys simply dropped off. There was a gradual climb which the Slipstream Devo guys just hammered up. I had to go into the pain cave that's for sure.

A group of guys split the pack and I found myself in no position to try to get in it. After the week of hard training and racing I was so so so cooked. The race ended fast, but not insanely fast and I stuck in it finishing in the second group. I think overall I got 28th of 35 or something.

Josh did great getting into the break and finishing 6th on the day. I think 13th? overall. In the money!

The race was obviously nothing to scream about for me. the main goal now is to try to recover from the intensity and try to come out stronger. I took yesterday completely off, and I think I might just go for a spin today. Yesterday the resting HR was pretty high which is normal after so much intensity, but today its back down and lower than I've ever seen it at 36bpm.

The rest of the week has some pretty big rides with riding from Wednesday all the way until Monday(I think) Lots of hours and a couple 6 hours days I think. I'm going to try to get to the top of Lemmon at least once and to the Madera climb a few times, in prep for Tour of Gila which is basically all climbing. Then we head to California again!

Over and Out!

Cloudy Days

It hit me today. Usually during periods of lots of training you are constantly tired. Well, up until yesterday I was fine, but this morning I'm pretty cooked. I'm on my second cup of coffee, but it isn't doing much.

After Yuma I took a coffee shop day, but Tuesday was a double day. Some intense intervals were in order of .45 seconds and I decided to explore the crazy crazy climb in my neighborhood that Josh pointed out. I figure I'm sucking on the steep grades, so I might as well work on it.

The Garmin doesn't lie and parts of this beast go up to 22%! Its basically a grind in the 39x26(yeah we have 26's) but I'm hoping it will build some decent attacking speed/power. I'm just glad that ride is over. Later in the day called for a pretty chill 1.5 hours which I took the liberty

of stopping at the coffee shop before the ride.

Yesterday was a monster. A standard 6 hour ride turned into 6.5 hours and a crazy 210km! Usually when I have a ride that long I throw in some mountains to climb just to fill in the time, but I figured with the climbing the day before, and today I have some climbing I opted for a flatter day. Well the average speeds were up I guess as I seemed to rack up the miles.

Though I'm tired the resting HR this morning and the past few days has been hovering around 39BPM(Lance's was 26 during tour time) which was around what it was this time last year.

Today is another double day scheduled. We'll see how it goes.

(I think I saw a domination porno once called the 'Roasted Nut Crunch')

This weekend is the Tucson Bicycle Classic. Its made up of a short 6km TT, a road race, and a Circuit race. Thank god there isn't any Crits. Stupid American crits.

I'm trying to give the blog something other than what my boring day to day life consists of. I think its kind of selfish just telling people what I do everyday. I guess that's that point of the blog, but I'm trying to give it something else other than my life.

Now for something completely different.

I just finished reading 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman' Josh knows this book well, despite not reading it, as every time I see him I usually tell him to read it at some point. Basically its about a guy who works for a major American Electrical Corporation that goes into developing countries who have natural resources(IE Oil/water/minerals). His job is to convince them to upgrade their country with new technologies and electrical needs in order for that country to develop into a 'Modern' new player in the world.

Basically he convinces them to go into debt to the United States. Once the country becomes in debt with a loan they cannot possibly pay back....they US then can control this country and use what they have when needed. Sound framilier...Panama...Venesuala...Iran...Iraq(failed attempt, but they got it anyway;))

Its a TRUE/Memoir written by John Perkins and really is fascinating. After reading it you'll never watch the news the same again. Especially American News.

With that, its time to finish cup number 2.

Yuma!

The first race of the year went decent but not great. Josh and I rolled into Yuma about an hour before the crit after a steady 4 hour drive. Nothing too exciting except for seeing blatant boarder jumpers running out of the bushes into parked cars on the side of the road.

The Crit in downtown Yuma was super, super technical. It took me awhile to get the hang of things being on the new bike. Right off the gun the race started on a climb and we charged in the pack into the super sweeping corners, with surprisingly decent pavement. Most crit organizers I find try to kill to riders putting these races on roads that wouldn't be fit for a mountain bike.

About 20 minutes in I found myself in no-mans land between the front group and the back group. I charged with all I had to try to bridge up the split then BAM! I blew. We came around the corner to the climb and I was dropped. I finished the rest of the race with a group of guys who were also dropped and sprinted to a meager 15th place.

Josh had a great race making the split and working like a dog to get 8th.

Last year this race had over 100 people in the Pro/Cat 1 pack. This year because of a race in California on the same weekend and the fact most people got shelled the year before only 20-25 people showed in the Pro/1 pack. It made for some interesting racing.

Some of the guys were on top form and have been in Tucson since October training(?). Then there are guys like myself who was hoping to hold on to get some racing experience.

The main point of the race for me was to build leg speed for the upcoming bigger races like Redlands and San Dimas, along with getting some longer racing miles. The best way to build the speed is through racing. But is kind of a bugger to get into the swing of things.

The road race went better. It was 112miles of pancake flat roads. The biggest elevation gain was over the overpass. This can be deceiving though as the winds in the area are sometimes insane!

We started at a brisk 7:15am. Anyone who has been to the dessert knows its FREEZING this time of day. It was so cold I could see the riders breath as we rolled on the first lap.(Later that day it was 90degrees).

Because there were only about 25 guys in the race it made for some odd dynamics. The first 80km were basically just an attack fest. Breaks would form then get brought back then counter attack upon counter attack would come. The pack would then settle down and more attacks would come. I sprinted full out as fast as these legs could spin probably about 139 times in the race.

Halfway through two guys went up the road and the pack simply didn't chase. It was kind of odd actually. Then Josh decided it would be a good time to try something and took a flyer off the front. Later on another guy went a bridged up to him and this was basically the race. From that point on it was pretty chill. I still had to sprint like a madman to stay in the first 10 guys as there was a lot of cat and mouse games, but my work day was over after Josh went for it.

His little legs managed to power out front with the other guy who bridged up to him and he took 4th.(Two guys were up the road from earlier).

The last 45 minutes the notorious winds picked up and I found myself in the gutter with a crazy cross wind just trying to hold on until we made the turn for the sprint finish. The last 10km were crazy as we had a downhill sprint, with an insane tailwind. I was maxing out the 53x12/13 just trying to keep up with the attacks.

In the end I sprinted for 7th in the pack, which placed me 11th in the race(I think).

Josh got 8th overall, and I took 13th.

(This is the only picture I took all weekend... of our hotel room. I think we got the porno sweet as it was one bed, with one wall covered in a huge mirror, then a pretty big mirror on the other wall. Besically you could watch TV facing anywhere in the room. I'm surpried there wasnt a mirror on the ceiling.)

Overall it was a good weekend. I'm happy with how the legs faired out and I definitely built up some speed and intensity in them. Josh I'm sure is super happy as he had a great race. Today, I'm crazy tired from the longer miles, travel, and bump in intensity. I went to bed pretty early last night and woke up super early. That just means I waste more time on the Internet and drink too much coffee. Ahh my stomach is hurting.

Next week we have to Tucson bicycle classic which is a Crit, RR, and TT. I don't think my TT bike is going to arrive in time.....hmmm.

Man, the dollar is taking a beating. I'm too scared to look.