Double The Fun - 6a and 6b

Finally we are hitting the last double day of the Vuelta and counting down the days until our final stage. Today’s festivities included a 115km morning stage from La Vega back into Santo Domingo and a 10km afternoon TT. Everyone seemed to be feeling the effects of the race, since most of us slept in past the 6:30am wake up call. The stage also called for another hour long bus ride from our stay in Jarabacoa to La Vega.

Fortunately luck was on our side because with our late wake up, the main bus had filled up, but we were able to take a smaller charter which was more comfortable. We made it to sign in right as we started to get a little sprinkle and it was nice to know that the day wasn’t going to be so hot. It wasn’t too thrilling that our team was running out of wheels, since I flatted as did two other teammates. We were able to salvage one tube but I was stuck riding a time trial front wheel, because every other team was in the same boat and the neutral support was thin.

The stage itself wasn’t set to be hard minus a 12km climb at the start and a climb at 68km, everything else seemed to be downhill. To our luck the race was ballistic from the gun again. We rode over 50km the first hour. We were going over the 12km climb at 27mph. I was on the rivet for sure and actually was a victim at the top when Spidertech and the Ecuadorian teams decided to exchange some blows. Thankfully I was able to work my way through the caravan on the way down and made it back in about 10 minutes.

Eventually by the second climb things started to go in the fan and it got ballistic again. I was in no point to cover any moves, and was just hoping to make it in the field. Our rider Josh made the 2nd split and then once I realized that our GC rider Justin was still in the main field with me, I knew I had to try and launch him across. I was able to take him to a group of 4, but eventually the Dominican National Team decided to pull them back and string out the race for the next 25 minutes. They lost interest when they realized they weren’t going to bring the split back without burning too many riders. This was a relief since we were on pace to ride the stage at an average speed of over 50km per hour.

For some reason the other US team, Metro Volkswagen decided to gingerly pull us along. As we hit the 1.5 km mark we hit a traffic jam. Seriously, a traffic jam. So we came around a corner and there were cars blocking all lanes. It seemed like we were going to roll easy through and just walk it to the finish, but as we got closer to the cars the Dominican teams attacked right into the traffic. So I found myself sprinting through stopped cars. It was absolute chaos. I am sure that I came in somewhere in the top 40 and was about 4th or 5th in the field sprint. I was actually more happy about not flatting and dying in the finish. We heard the same story from Josh, who was a minute up the road from us.

As we waited for the team car, it seemed like it was taking forever. Eventually we saw Pavel, who was in the front break but had crashed out of the race. He destroyed both wheels and finished the day in the medical vehicle. He was our first casualty.

We headed to lunch and had a nice meal and then rode back to the hotel. After a shower and the return of our car we had about 15 minutes to get ready and ride the 20km to the afternoon TT. Jaime and I were some of the first riders to go off, so it was pretty imperative that we were on time. We had to leave Josh behind. Riding out to the TT in afternoon traffic was horrible. It was like anarchy and eternal game of chicken. There are no words to describe how people drive here. I was high fiving myself for making it through every section of cars without getting clipped or hitting a motorcycle who was trying to do the same thing.

We finally made it to the TT and saw what was to be a pretty flat course. At a distance of 10km, I knew the winning time would be mid to low 13 minutes. I rolled out and may have posted an early best time around 14:30ish. It wasn’t a bad ride for 8 stages of racing. I caught the guy in front of me in the first 3 km and was gaining ground on the next rider.

Jaime and I decided to both ride back since our TT start times were within 10 minutes of each other. We faced some more gridlocked traffic and horrible drivers. All I wanted after this day was a beer. It was well earned.

We found out that Josh had been hit by a Bus on the way to the TT and the bus claimed his saddle and front wheel. Amazingly he managed to not go down or get injured at all. The stressors of this environment are adding up on all of us. The crazy drivers, the bad roads, and the crazy riding from the islanders, these things create such a taxing toll on your body. It never allows your mind to go on autopilot, you are always riding with your head up waiting for what is coming next.

Tomorrow is the last road stage, with 134km. There will be two mountain passes, so it should be pretty interesting to see how the legs will hold up with over 600 miles in them already.