NVGP Stage 2 : Cannon Falls Road Race


This stage was going to be hard. Despite it's easy appearance on paper, only 58 miles and relatively flat profile, the winds and the strong Health Net team were going to make everyones legs hurt. Bad. Right from the start the HN guys lined it up. Behind them it was chaos. It was nearly impossible to hold your spot in the peloton. Everyone knew things were going to hit the fan once we hit the crosswinds and wanted to be as close to the front as possible. The winds came and the carnage began. HN was drilling it at the front. The rest of us were left to fend for ourselves. I was pretty far forward but not far enough, I had to make some insane efforts and started passing guys into the wind. Everytime I would latch onto the tail of the HN juggernaut someone would let another gap open. I chased as hard as I could, and no one could help me. Dumb riders were everywhere, trying to bridge the gap alone, which just messed up our effort. If we had just formed our own line and worked together we could have bridged the gap. There is a huge difference between how the PROS and not-pros ride. Most of the Amateurs seem to be afraid that if they ever go to the front they will instantly be dropped. I think there were only about 10 guys that actually took pulls. Where as the top guys will get to the front when it's needed. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but a lot of guys were content just to sit there and let the race ride away. I was pretty frustrated, but there isn't much I could do about it. With that wind there was no way I could close it down alone. Our group settled in, about 30 strong or so and rode to the finish. Ian and Mean Dawg made the group. I guess Dan was in a group right behind us. On a crosswind section later in the stage, I went to the front to try to hurt the group a bit. It was pretty sweet for a few miles as I traded pulls with Aric and Pete Hanna, just like the capital crit eh guys!? Well, I thought I was still ok in the Amateur GC, but it turns out some dude made the split from ABD so I lost 5 minutes to him. That sucks, but what can you do? I felt strong and rode the best I could. I finished 30th, right near the middle of the main peloton. And really, I had a fun time, and that's all I'm really looking for out of this crazy race. Dan got called for doping control and we had to wait 2 hours for him to pee in a cup. Dan is like a camel, he only has to pee like 3 times a day, so I knew it would be a while. It's pretty funny that Dan got tested. The only thing he rides on is Awesomeness, I guess if Awesomeness is a banned substance Dan better be worried. They should really only pull random tests out of people in the top 20 or so. Why waste your money testing people in the middle of the field? If people are doping to finish there I don't think we really need to worry about them. Well, Dan took it with a good attitude. Probably happy to get some quality blog material, eh Dano! Tonight is the Minneapolis crit. Whoo Hoo...


"Hey man, did you see my Awesomeness pills up there?" Dan says before a winter training ride.


Posted: Fri - June 16, 2006 at 09:32 AM          

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