This guy is classic.

Pulled a genuine junior move… Yesterday I ran down the hill from Casa Craig to meet the guys at the hotel for one last team dinner before taking off early the next (this) morning for Bermuda. I arrived to a frantic Beth hot on the trail of Jonathan’s passport. He’d jumped in with our team owner up to New York after the race and lost his passport somewhere in transit. Fortunately the hotel had found it and had it handy at the front desk. This prompted me to think of mine, conveniently sitting in my document drawer in Boulder. Huh.
After a series of calls (time spent mainly on hold or bothering friends that would have rather been left alone at their labor day parties) trying to figure out a way for my passport to meet me in Philly this morning before leaving the country I pulled snake eyes and am instead hanging out for another two days in Greenville. Thanks Craig and Jason! I now take off early Thursday morning, arriving around noon and raing a few hours later. Keep your collective fingers crossed for smooth airline travel on the 7th!

Once I got everything figured out I joined the others for dinner at Sushi Wasabi. If you’re ever in Greenville you can leave it off your list of must-try spots. Thinkin’ the fish was in the back for a bit too long; not spoiled, but far from fresh. A jellyfish and seaweed salad was passable but a massive platter of sashimi was a serious letdown. An amaretto and cafe ice cream afterwards just up Main Street at the ?? Creamery made up for it and with another two days in town might prompt another trip downtown, but only so I can get the name of said spot. Rest assured no ice cream will be consumed in my research.

After dropping Craig at the airport this morning (he was off, once again, for Europe) I swung by the new Whole Foods on the way home. A simple/stupid pleasure admittedly but one I really enjoy is grocery shopping mid-morning. The place is normally empty (even at our overpopulated Boulder WF), you can wander aimlessly without feeling rushed and people are happy to help you with just about anything. This morning I wanted a few cheeses that were still in large rounds and the two guys at the cheese counter were happy to slice ‘em up, and to share a few tastes in the process. Unlike Colorado where our archaic liquor laws prevent grocery stores from selling wine the Whole Foods here had a pretty nice wine selection. Some of the things you would expect made up the bulk but I ended up walking out with an 04 Melville Pinot for $29 - just $5 over the list price I pay direct. They also had a few great Bordeaux 2nds from 03 and a fun selection of German Rieslings, including 2 from one of our favorite producers, Josef Lietz. Not all bad… I’m still pretty rocked from Sunday the rest of the day I did, well, nothing; I lounged, read, slept, tore up the net and thought about when I could start up some chow. I think that time is now: line-caught salmon, seared japanese eggplant, a quick “salsa” of heirloom tomato, jalapeno, nectarine, mango, corn and avacado with a hit of lemon juice and cilantro, a few proscuitto wrapped figs, a little chunk each of some montbriac, idizabal and a local raw milk semi-firm, and a cube of Vosges Oaxaca chocolate for dessert. Just a bit better than the “race meal inc.” feeds of the past month in France.

Historically the USPRO Championships were a part of the Philly week series, open to international teams and riders with the first American to cross the line crowned the US Champ.  This year was a first in that only US riders were allowed to compete.  This change brought with it a number of differences to the race, the biggest of which being that teams were tremendously varied in size; We lined up with 14 riders, where as CSC lined up with 1, Dave Zabriskie.  Even a number of the powerhouse domestic squads like the Navigators are comprised largely of foreigners and only raced four here. The next major difference was the depth of the field.  With fewer strong riders in the race it means that those of us actually taking part in the race saw the wind far more than normal, making 200k a LONG day.  As for how the race actually played out, it was on from the gun and 5 laps up Paris Mountain completely destroyed the field. The first lap took it down to 60 riders, the second down to a split of 17, and that was the race. With 7 out of the 17 we had numbers but George and Levi were strong enough on a selective enough course that it just didn’t matter. Creed and I tried a 2 man hail mary in an attempt to get a gap before an impending selection on the 4th time up but ended up cooking ourselves instead. In the end Pate pulled out a great ride for 3rd and Blake and I rounded out 9th and 10th.

Now we’ve got a day to relax at casa Craig and then off to Bermuda tomorrow AM.