Stage two of JMSR was a 110 mile loop that had a bit of everything: Wind, short power climbs, one long 10 mile climb, and heat. Wind was predicted for 20-30mph from the SSE. What this meant to me was about nothing, because I'm not a meteorologist. We started and instantly were faced with about an hour straight of extremely hectic, nervous head cross-wind riding.
Here are some of the positive pieces of information from Friday.
-Look! It's Danny and his friend! Danny was able to harness the power of the stash and dropped back for bottles probably 30 times.
-Gabe got bottles, covered moves, and made the final split, continuing to help Steve and I. Also related, he was the friendliest, kindest guy in the front group. Seriously.
-Jon and David towed me around all day. Actually. Every time I was farther back than 20th wheel one of those guys would be there to bring me back to the front. Then, rumor has it that as Jon and David's day was ending, Jon yelled "I'm crampin' bro!" towards the direction of Joe. Bike-swag.
- Kennett, being the days most muscular and intimidating member of the team, growled and grunted whenever anyone got close to us. He also made the front split and I think at one point I saw him look over and snort like a bull at a semi-truck that had been pulled over for the race to pass.
- Steve, this song goes out to you-
It's funny because he's gotten 22nd two days in a row!
- The first 4 hours were great!
Negatives:
- After cresting the decisive 10 mile climb with the leaders and hanging out for the next 10-15 miles conserving energy, I crashed with 10 k to go! Hooray! We were guttered in a cross wind and someone ~5 guys ahead of me pretty much rode off the road. Then crashed, then everyone near him crashed. Then I finished four minutes down!!!!!!!
So crashing sucks, but besides that the race went great. Our team rode really well together and the guys made Steve and my lives very easy. I had good legs and good sensations and was pretty excited to make a sprint against the remnants of the field.
Moving on!
The greatest thing I saw during the race was a dead snake. If I had to guess, I'd say it was probably an anaconda. The thing was at least 4 feet long and about the same circumference as my thigh muscle. David thought it was a car's muffler lying in the middle of the road. I passed it on the left as an Aussie passed it on the right and I'm pretty sure he stopped to get it to BBQ later.
Today is 4 laps of a 23 mile loop. I'm anticipating the pedaling will loosen me up and I will stop feeling like Quasimodo at roughly 2:45 today.
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