Redlands... Complete

Sorry for the delay on this folks, a hectic travel schedule and heavy training load sort of put the blogski on the back burner.

So as we left our host housing in Pomona, the team headed for Redlands and a new house and family to donate their living space to us. As we got to the home, we met Tammie, who was an awesome host! We filled the house with eight riders and had air mattresses strewn across her floors.

Prologue :

As we continued the battle against poor air conditions, we faced another battle against the clock and a steep climb! It also was a true race against the clock in the team camp, as a few guys had difficult times making their bikes meet UCI regulations. I was happy mine went right through, just proves that if you ride in the rules, it will save you down the road. So the flavor of the team camp was chaos and during these times, I am glad I had an ipod. I was able zone out of most the craziness until getting closer to my start time.

I remember Dave Towel announcing my name and some stats about me before embarking on my voyage, and then I heard to beep and hit it. My 30 second man was Bernie Sulzberger and I on the second riser I was closing in fast. I was feeling confident in my tt, until about 800m to go.

The course has a massive climb and after riding it there was a false flat, which I planned blowing up on for recovery. Unfortunately, I miss judged it by 200m. Also, cyclingnews was there to see it all....http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2009/mar09/redlands09/redlands090/JD_09rdlandsTT029

I figure that I lost over a minute suffering to the top on the last 800m. After crossing the line, it felt like I smoked an entire pack of cigarettes. I could barely breath, and somehow it was a light pollution day!

After some good rest and recovery, we set our marks on Stage 1.

Stage 1:

This being the longest stage, it was rumored that all the heavy pro teams were going to make it a point to shred everyone in the first hour. After having a bike almost blow off our team van, we made it to the start, got ready and had time to roll around for 5 minutes before people started to swarm the start line. Knowing that it was going to be strung out, I was there as fast as possible, only to out witted by 50 riders who took a side street to get on the finishing stretch first.

After sitting in some chilly weather for about 15 minutes, waiting for the start and call ups, we finally got sent off. True to form, it was go from the gun. I was spun out in 53x12 for the next 30-45 minutes. In the group it was so fast that any road debris was thrown into your body and the hum of the group was amazing. Finally after 30 minutes I got to the front before the first climb and was able to sustain my position at the front. As we hit some cross winds, the field was beginning to shred and then we started to climb. I found myself in a comfortable spot, and eventually was on Floyd Landis' wheel. I figured a guy that has won the tour was a good guy to follow. I was wrong. I heard him begin to breath heavier as the pace accelerated, and I looked around him and we were 50m off the group. I panicked and was able to make it to the group by the top of the climb but was in shambles. On the decent, we had a close call with a dog on top of all the craziness. On the next climb, I totally blew up... I made it over the top with the group in sight and then saw my buddy Floyd coming back, so I waited. After exchanging some pulls, Landis popped out of the chase group and everyone was looking at each other in awe. As we looked back again, he turned off into some side street and was content with a DNF. Our group rode another hour before tossing in the towel. Most of Ten Speed Drive was there. Sad Day.

As the race progressed. We finished two riders, Ronnie Strange and Christian Velasquez. Great experience and great race. I just wish I was a better climber!