I hadn’t really dug in a long TT this year and had forgotten how much they friggin hurt. Ouch. Very ouch. I dug with just about everything I had today knowing that I was fighting for a top spot in the GC amongst the 12 riders in the lead group yesterday and at the end of the day was the 2nd fastest out of the group behind Hincapie, good enough for 12th on the stage that was SMOKED by Levi. I’m now 1.40 behind George, have 42 and 43 seconds over 3rd and 4th respectively and with a couple of long rolling stages to go it’ll be tough but with a bit of luck can hang on. Friedman is in 5th, 20 seconds behind 3rd and 4th, and Danny ended up 5th on the stage today, Timmy just behind in 7th. With 7 Slipstream riders in the top 30 it was a damn solid day for the team.
Time for bed now - 220k tomorrow with a 90 minute drive before we even get going…ugh.

Stage 2 was, as we’d guessed, the stage that would creat the fight for GC here in Missouri. After an hour of constant attacking I ended up in a split of 12 that after 20k of eeking barely 30 seconds from a chasing field eventually snapped the elastic band and endedu up with 15 minutes at the line. With most of the teams represented and Slipstream having both me and Meatball it was a good situation for us and virtually sealed up Team GC for the week. I tried attacking to get either escape for the finish, or soften up George and the other stronger riders in the group for Meatball in the sprint but despite a great move on his part with a few hundred meters to go George was just that bit too strong and came around for the win with 2 others in tow. Guess there’s a reason he makes the big bux:) Today is a tough time trial in Branson that will decide the top 12 spots amongst those of us up the road yesterday and the week wraps up with a couple of rolling stages and a final circuit race in St. Louis on Sunday.
One entertaining/unfortunate note from yesterday: About 10k into the race we’re all strung out in the gutter when the all to familiar sounds of brakes locking up and metal hitting asphalt ring through the air. Right then I saw the dead, bloated, and perfectly placed in the way Armadillo that took down Dan Schmatz (BMC, lives in Boulder but is a Missouri native). I locked it up and tried to dive to the side but ended up getting bounced back by another rider right into Dan. My front wheel met his back and all of a sudden I was over the handlebars and lying on my back, shortly to be pinned down by another rider that followed my lead. I was up pretty quickly and back in the field with only a few bumps and bruises but apparently Dan, the armadillo killer, is out of the race - what was to be his last as a professional before retirement - with a broken clavicle. ugh.

First, a link to a new Velonews.com Journal.

Missouri is under way and the first stage was snagged in a mad dash by Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez. With wide open roads and a short stage there were a lot of fresh legs out there and nobody had the numbers or HP to lead things out for more than a few K. A couple of late solo attacks further confused the end and a slightly downhill run in to the last 2 corners made for a really, really, really fast last few K; think at one point I looked down and saw 80kph. Brad hung on for 6th, amazing considering his position with 1000 to go, and hopefully we can pull it together for him in one of the sprint stages still ahead.

For a first year race things seem pretty dialed and it’s exciting for all of us to have another quality stage race on US soil. Surprisingly large crowds all day long and nice roads made for an ideal first stage. Tomorrow is a good bit longer, 205ish, and should begin sorting things out a bit before Thursday’s hilly TT.

A win, no matter how big or small, always makes you happy. Univest was a good day for the team with both Timmy and I in an early break that ended up making it to the line. Timmy rode like a champ, doing a ton of work to help set me up for the eventual victory, and still finished a strong Thir-fourth. What does that mean? Well, after a long (and beautiful, rural, rolling road) loop through the Pennsylvania countryside we entered a series of 13 finish circuits that were only 4k in length. At the entry point the peloton was a good bit back, too far to have everybody enter the circuit. Some small groups between were permitted entry but there as some serious confusion out on the roads. Apparently a couple of guys dumped the group they were with and did some super-human (turbo-bottle assisted?) chasing, pulling back a 9 minute gap and then one passed Timmy and the other two remaining guys from our originial break at mach 5 to take 2nd. They had no idea what was going on as the Officials weren’t giving time splits, so…well…confusing to say the least. Pretty embarrasing for the organization/officiating crew. Always sad to see things like this happen with all the effort that goes into putting on a quality event. Looking back we’ll view it as a team 1-3 and call it a damn succesful day!

Scrapple you ask? While sitting at a quest lab waiting to get our weekly bloodwork (ACE Bio-Marker/Drug Testing Program) processed the just recently diagnosed diabetic secretary described something we just couldn’t miss in our visit to PA. Scrapple. Apparently a diced and fried mixture of pig snout, hoof and tail, that you then drown in ketchup. We promptly went in search, but then forgot. She was also a big fan of Blueberry Snowballs, and a number of other regional HoHo products. MMM. Next time…

We’re now off to Missouri for a day of rest before things starts up on Tuesday with a circuit race in Kansas City. I just saw the technical guide and there are some looooong ass stages for a race at this point in the season: 3 days over 200k, a 29k TT and two shorter 120-140k circuit races bookending the event. Youch. With seemingly constant rollers and a good shot at some strong winds it’s gonna be a tough one.

Levi was impressive. Out of this world. We gave it our go but unless everybody in the entire race had worked seamlessly against him the victory was all but locked. That’s about all there is to say about that. Moving forward… A few days now at home and Univest this Saturday as an out of the way stopover on the way to Missouri.