thats been my itinerary the last three weeks, and this weekend is the one out of six i’ll be at home for.  i’ve been getting my final work done, though there’s not much that i can add on right now.

 

Argentina was a great experience, we got to race hard in the southern summer and see a great country.  I'm already looking forward to going back.  the trips to and from were horrendous as int’l travel is want to be, but once we were arrived things were pretty relaxed and were were able to get the riding done with minimal worries.  the streets were anarchy to ride through, though not as bad as taiwan, according to andy, and no smog rules made for a permanent state of hypoxia.  

 

stage one: made the break by trying to set andy up for the KOM, ended up getting that as well.  rode in one direction for three plus hours (no joke, we didn’t turn, not once). my break-mates died off one by one through flats or over-exuberance in the first hour, and so we were caught.  at 3.2km to go, a big crash held me up and the 3k rule did not apply, so i lost 52 seconds.  

 

stage two: the break of the race goes off, gains 15 min and the GC is over.  a 5 k hilltop finished the stage, and i surprised myself by sticking with the leaders to finish 11th.

 

stage 3: ITT, out and back on the main highway through town, 20k total.  rolled pretty well, 4th place for me and Tom Zirbel was a close 2nd on the stage.  that was a bit of a bummer, as there was a special 50,000 peso prize to the winner, thats about 14,000 dollars and worth more then the overall GC win.  we’ll see how the drug tests come back for the winner...

 

stage 5: the dawning of the situation on the road for me, as the Argentina A squad, B squad, and U23 squad amass at the front and start their 160k leadout for the finish.  they chased everything as hard as they could, burned through a dozen guys in the first 100 k and still had another 16 to ride the front.  it was shocking at first and then you just had to laugh.  the stage itself was rolling with a 20k tailwind climb that ended 10k before the line.  the profile said it was downhill for the last three k with a slight  kicker at the end, so i attacked at 3 k to go to see how things might shake out.  yup, it goes downhill between 3k and 1.5k to go, where there’s a massive WATER CROSSING and then a sharp 500 meter hill into 1k to go.  not really what i was expecting and so it didn’t work out like i planned either, got caught and just rolled in.  but then, not 10 seconds after such a wild finish, the helicopter filming the race crashes into the hillside, and so no one cares about the race anyway.

 

stages 5, 6 and 7: these stages all followed the same formula: my brother makes the early break, Argentina supersquad rolls them in for no reason 100k into the day and the attacks start afresh. other teams come by in the last 5k to set up the massive hilltop finish/massive downhill tailwind sprint/massive rollers on the circuit. for me, it was just sit back, spin the legs, don’t loose time, and make sure i feel good for the trip home.  the overall tally: 8th overall, 3rd on points, a few podiums, and a great tan.  also, if i hadn’t lost that 52 seconds on day one, i’d have been 4th overall. that’s racing.

 

 

and now i’ve been detoxing at home, getting in a few good rides, talking to local press, trying to not get too hyped up to start racing again.  i’m excited to get the tour under way, but i’m just about done talking about it.  time for action.