2008 Blogs
Today was a tough day for me. For four hours my nerves were on overdrive. At lunch I kept spilling things and almost sliced myself with a knife because I was so nervous for this team time trial. Apparently when I'm nervous I eat...a lot. Like dumptrucks full. Like screw this soup spoon - hand me a shovel. My tummy was overflowing after lunch.Unfortunately we got a late start on a long drive. We arrived to Port la Nouvelle thirty minutes before the course would close for the first team off. After a two hour drive from Limoux, we were launched into our chamois and onto our bikes to preview a bit of the course. All riled up, we gunned it and I was redlined within the first five minutes. With a cluster of a 30 minute warm-up we were called to the start. I need a thorough 1-2 hour warm-up before going apeshit. Rebecca crashed pretty early on in some gnarly cross wind, so my head got out of it for a bit. I sat on the back for a bit, but Christine didn't hear Alex say 'last', or me say 'in', so a gap opened up on my account. Christine chased it down like a rabid racehorse and Gina and I got gapped and couldn't close it. This was probably only 5k in to it. So Rebecca, Gina, and I cruised it on in for 20k, as the second Webcor team. I felt demoralized and bummed and frustrated. So Gina and I drowned our sorrows in the Mediterranean.
After being pretty down on myself, I realized the Mediterranean was right there...and darn beautiful. My legs felt terrible and I really didn't do my job today, but I got shelled from some worldly cyclists, and I have some more days to redeem myself, eh? Tomorrow is a flat 111km stage, then we head to the Pyrenees. I hope to feel stronger as this shindig goes on. No matter - we're having fun...
Christine, Alex, and Erinne rode strong as ever and ended up 6th in the stage, which puts the team in 4th overall.