only one more week 06.14.04 (6:12 am) Hi everybody, I have been pretty busy with stuff over here. How can he be busy you ask? All he has to do is race and train. Well, I have been directing all of my energy to those two things racing and recovering. Literally all of it. I have been spending much of the time that I am not pedaling lying down, either sleeping or reading. Let me tell you it is a dream come true to be able to focus this hard on something. Overall I think having the chance to do this can account for at least 50% of the improvements that I have made here. Many of the guys here and maybe at the national team house get bored. Well I can honestly say that I have not been bored yet, I think I would be, anyone would be if they lost focus. I also think that having never had a chance like this before, (to focus 100% on racing) has made me appreciate the opportunity, and squeak every bit of it out. I think it may be hard for some who haven’t had a real job with stress; demands and politics, they don’t have any idea how shitty it can be. And that saying you here every once and a while- your absolute worst day on the bike is better than the best day in the office. Well in my life that holds surprisingly true. The reality of it is that I don’t know if I will ever have another chance to be this focused on one thing ever again in my life. Just having that chance has made this trip worth every minute of suffering, and every penny spent. Kind of a tangent, but since I am in my last week here I have been reflecting on my experiences. They have been incredible and allowed me to grow more as a cyclist, and maybe a person than any other single period in my life. So thanks to everyone for the encouragement to get here; and while I have been here. Especially thanks to Cathy for her support, understanding me, and why I had to come spend four months away from home. I trained all week including a 5-hour jaunt in the rain on last Thursday, I was a little worn down for the race this weekend but it went well. The race was a 1.6 called the 11th GP Criquielion, once again there was quite the array of talent, including the cyclocross world champ Bart Wellens and his Spar Select team. I rode well but missed the main split of 30 or so. But I did contest the first rush (sprint) at the beginning of the race and placed third. Pretty good for me considering that the whole 150-man field was all together and really aggressive. Hey I got on the board. There were 3 climbs and the bunch split on the lead up to the third climb after a descent which is still not my forte, but the descent itself was a small personal victory for me I was able to keep myself in a respectable position. The race finished on 10 local laps of which I rode all pretty aggressively, I was waiting for a group to roll off and bridge to the front group (like Bernard had theorized) but it never happened. The other small victories we had were as a team, we finished all of our racers, a first for this year, and we beat the national team in the team standings, a friendly little rivalry. And the big thing was that we rode smart, if there was an American getting yelled at it was usually one of the national guys not us. We are getting some real respect as a team and it is pretty cool. Well I am still waiting on selection for the stage race that starts on Thursday in France, I think I have a good shot and although it will make for a tight schedule I would be glad to go, plus think of the form it will give me when I get back. I am super excited to see everyone, talk soon. Tot Ziens, paco 0 Comments