Day 2

Today was the 67 mile road race stage. It was suppose to rain around noon and my race took off around 9:45. Started off frustrating. The race itself wasn't frustrating, it was my computer. It worked fine when I was warming up, but when the race started, it wouldn't register. The race was brutal. In the first lap, the group dropped a whole bunch of racers on the KOM climb. It was a three mile long hill that was very steep. The KOM points were only given on the first lap, so the pace was very fast up the hill, which ended in half of the field being dropped. After the first lap, I already downed 1 1/2 bottles and had a whole pack of cliff blocks, a gel, and half a power bar. In the second lap, the feed zone was very small so I had to be in the perfect position in order for me to get another bottle. It worked out perfect and my Mom handed me off another bottle, which couldn't have been any more perfect. During the second lap, the group dropped more and more riders. My legs started to cramp up after the big hill, but I still had power to stay with the front of the pack. At this point, it was Pete and I left from our team. We didn't want to do a lot of work because there were a lot of riders from other teams. Towards the end of the race, it started to get really windy and the clouds opened up and it started pouring. I liked it, but didn't like it at the same time. I liked it because it cooled me off a ton, but it was also dangerous because now the roads are wet. Thankfully nobody crashed because of the wet roads. The group sprinted it out at the end, with me finishing 9th and Pete a couple places behind me. In the GC, I dropped from 5th overall, down to 7th overall. Pete is tied in 5th overall currently. Tomorrow is the last stage in Youngstown. It is an ending Crit and hopefully I can do well so that I can raise my overall placing. I just have to race smart and hopefully my legs will feel fresh. Bring it.

Later