Jers- Day one

A late arrival to our hotel in the land of the… ahh is NJ the land of anything… we’ll come back to that. But the hotel is nice, were all here and feelin ready. The race today was rather selective. There were 2 steep but not long climbs about half way through the 80 mile course. The first one did some damage and the second made the selection. I worked hard early for the team and made the group chasseing “the’ move that was just in front of us after we came off the decent. I was feeling good despite not being aware of the second climb at all. I was thinking I would try and bridge up if our group slowed on a rolling hill which were now coming fast and heavy. Our pace was frantic as the 20-30 rider group I was in realized that this was the split that would make the race. With a team member in there and another one up the road from early in the race things were playing out well.
Then things tock a rapid turn for the worse, for me anyway. I pushed into the red zone up the second climb trying to get to the front. Then just after a teammate and I settled into the group chasing the winning move we both missed a turn. Badly. Hop off the bike get back on grind through the gears back into the red zone and I was back on deep breath now I was feeling the days efforts. Ok ok relax, drink, it was 85 degrees now, I can recover. FEED ZONE!! We were moving over 30 mph, we had 5 guy who needed water, I grabbed the bag. Some one swerved into my handle bars… woowahhah. Ok I’m fine. Stand up on a roller now daggling off the back, opps not with a feed bag full of 5 bottles you don’t, backing the saddle. In the red zone again. “Damb it!” I sat up put the bottles in my cages in my pockets, through the bag and got back to work. The rollers were now in full force. And I was hurting. 10-20 meters behind. So close! after a felw more hills and 10’ I started to crack. They just weren’t letting up! Then a crash in the group stopped a car and a motorcycle in front of me. I had to hit the breaks, only just a bit but it put the nail in the coffin. I was mad. I still am mad. But I am happy. I worked hard chasseing breaks in the early miles kept Joe in front for the first climb. And made what was a top 15 group. But the second hill followed by the missed turn and feed zone mayhem was to much in to quick a secession for me to handle.
Joe made a select group with Jason Bear. They finished 3^rd and 5^th respectively! The first 2 amature placings. we were all very happy. Everyone road strong and smart, and every one finished safe. Tomorrow is a long crit. 40 miles I think. I am trying to bottle up my frustration in hopes to unleash the twin towers of doom tomorrow or Monday…. I hope.

On another note my teammate has pointed out a few things about NJ that I feel ring true. The traffic circles are very poorly designed, and the girls are very well… designed.
more tomorrow.