Day Two: Dreaded Double Day Day Two: Dreaded Double Day

So let’s list a few things we know about cycling

1. 1)      It is dangerous and you can crash
2. 2)      Its mentally and physically draining

Lets list some things we know about international racing

1. 1)      Road obstacles and damage are unknown
2. 2)      Typically host nations are allowed to start teams (with riders in varying skill levels and experience)

When you combine these items you can end up with unlimited catastrophies which no one is immune to. That being said today was one of those days. After a rough night of sleep the day prior’s early start, I felt like today was going to be a day of feeling things out. On the way to the start, the teams all got lost which included some cyclo-cross maneuvers through a freeway and weaving through a traffic jam.

Upon getting to the start, we were informed that we couldn’t sign in because our licenses were not verified. No big deal, our director has the licenses in the car. Well, the car was stuck in the freeway jam. Three minutes to start, we were able to remedy the issue, as he appeared through the slew of stopped cars.

Getting rolling was ok, seemed that we enjoyed about 2km of neutral riding and then it was on and off into the wind. The peloton seemed to snake over the road, with riders jumping wheel to wheel. This made it impending doom. In the first 30km, I avoided 4 crashes and had to pogo around one downed rider. Everything was very nervous and the swarm of local riders jumping wheels made things more than dangerous.

Coming into the final sprint at 72km after going over a bridge, a rider in front of me tried to bunny hop something and landing completely wrong causing him to taco right over beside me. I swore that I was in the clear but then the rider’s head came right into my front wheel.  Going down wasn’t too bad, until I got ran over. I was very uncertain on how my arm felt after getting run over, but I was not going to end this fight yet. I got up, got the bike sorted and got back into the caravan making it back to the group. Unfortunately 5km later I double flatted and our team car was already back. I was left for dead 30km to the finish, figuring out how to get to the line in the time cut.

As I continued to roll it seemed that the bigger gear was the best method, I came in 33min down after getting a scooter escort through town to insure I didn’t die since there was no BROOM WAGON! Thankfully because they put a 15% time cut on day, the lack of the broom wagon kept me in the race, the officials made the right call and allowed a small group of riders to continue.

Despite being sore, I was ready to ride as hard as I could on the afternoon stage. With 47km listed for the stage, this was going to be gas from the gun and also there was a cat three climb 10km into the stage. The nervous energy continued with two crashes in the first 8km. The roads also played a factor with multiple riders getting flats along the way. Coming into the climb was a very sketchy descent that made it hard to carry speed into the climb. The Colombian team absolutely flexed their muscle over the top, making sure that everyone knew we would be in trouble for any hilly days to come.

As moves seemed to come and go, the Kazak Mega Team decided we would be doing a bunch sprint. I was sitting pretty coming down to 5km to go and it was looking to be a good chance to sprint. As we came down the speed went up, I started to crack and I’m sure my body was a little stressed after crashing and I got dropped out of the front split and into the second group at 30 seconds back.

The team placed Christian Parrett in the front group, Colton Hartech at 12 seconds and myself, Victor Alaya and Shane Braley at 30 seconds. In the final 10km our bad luck continued, as Leo Frayre was involved in one of the many crashes.  Thankfully he was not too banged up and we avoided damages to the bikes.

Tomorrow will be the longest stage, and one that will be very difficult with lots of wind and km’s to beat up the legs. Hopefully we can push for our guys to break into the top 15 for the General Classification and avoid any pending death!