Covering the Results Page....

The prologue could not have gone worse for me, but it couldn't have gone better for Taylor Phinney. I rolled up to the start gate to have my juniors gears checked and the head official immediately began checking out my time trial bike to make sure that it would pass UCI rules. He scrutinized my handlebars, and my seat and especially my rear wheel. He said that the rear wheel was too close to the frame, I argued that it wasn't, but you don't get very far arguing with the head official. He wouldn't let me touch the bike, so our mechanic came over and pulled the wheel back in the drop outs (Cervelos have track drop outs so that you can adjust the distance between the rear wheel and the frame, however if the skewer does not rest up against the frame in the drop out than the only way the wheel stays straight and in place is by the tension of the skewer itself). Long story short, the first pedal stroke I took I torqued the wheel forward and in to the frame. I should have stopped and reset the wheel, but you don't really think about stopping in a 400 meter sprint. Eventually the tire rubbing against the frame heated up too much and finally blew. So I got off my bike and ran to the finish line, while doing so I gave high-fives to the crowds (which were fairly large). I finished 44 seconds behind the winner, my team mate Taylor Phinney. Taylor ripped the legs off of everyone and finished a second in front of the second place rider, which is a lot in a 400 meter sprint. Ben King, the winner of both the TT and the road race at nationals, broke his chain on the starting ramp and had to push his way to the finish line. So at the end of the day Ben and I were on the bottom of the results page, but Taylor was on top.

Since Taylor won the prologue he was given the leader's jersey and the best young rider jersey. We were intent to hold both of these jerseys. Carter, Joe, Ben, and I had the always lovely task of marking riders and covering breakaways. We controlled the field really well until the last 20k's. A crash happened and Taylor was involved in it, but only Danny knew, because the rest of the team was at the front getting ready to lead Taylor out for the sprint. Danny came up to me before he dropped back to pick Taylor up and told me the bad news. I drifted to the back of the pack and waited for Taylor to catch back on so that I could bring him up through the field. Taylor ended up being raced back to the pack on the bumper of our team car. We had just enough time to get him to the front of the field by the time the sprint came, where he placed fourth. Ben also placed in the top ten. However, because Taylor did not win the sprint and therefore did not get any time bonuses, he lost the leaders jersey. We weren't disappointed though, because we knew we would make up time in the team time trial.

As if in a repeat of the Switzerland TTT, it was pouring rain while we warmed up for the two 4.4k circuits we were about to do. Luckily the rain let up a little when we actually raced, but we nearly missed our start time due to the same head official as the prologue. He scrutinized every inch our bikes, and made half the team change the position of their bars and seats, even though they were in the same position from the previous weekend for nationals. This official basically wanted to make us late for the start. Once we were past the gear check we lined up at the line and waited for our start. We were not fluid at all on this course. We didn't take the corners very well in the first lap and we kept opening gaps in our line. Basically we could have done a lot better. However, we did manage to win, and we moved Taylor into easy striking distance of first. Standing on the podium, in front of two Canadian teams was really cool. This race is a pretty big deal for the city we are in and there were a lot of people in the crowds.

Today we have a 94k road race. Since we don't have the leader's jersey, my job is a lot easier. The Canadians have to do all the work today. Tomorrow is an individual TT and another road race.

The Update....

So we have arrived in Canada for the Tour de L'Abitibi. We flew in from Pennsylvania where I competed in nationlas. I got 17th in the time trial, and fifth in the road race. There is definitly room for improvement in both of the races, but overall I had a pretty good time. So now I am back on the US National Team competing in another stage race. This race is seven days long with nine stages. There are ten or so national teams, ranging from the Dutch and the French to the Americans and the Japanese, as well as quite a few regional teams from America and Canada. There is a total of thirty teams here, with six members to each team. Tonight is the prologue in down town Val d'Or. It is not much of a prologue because it is actually only a four hundred meter sprint. The main point of this prologue is to put the caravan order in place. Tomorrow we have a road race in the morning, with a team time trial in the evening. It has been raining a lot over here so hopefully the courses will stay dry long enough to let us race safely.