Guess what? I crashed with 1.2 km to go. Go figure, me crash? Was in a fair spot with Friedman for the uphill sprint. Friedman crashed also. We were right on the bubble of the crash, but we were going so fast that the brakes had to be put on hard and we crashed in the apex of the turn. Put my arm out to catch myself. My elbow is hurt, but I can race with it, like last year. We’ll see if I can go with it tomorrow.
–Brad via phone call to Melissa
Heading back up to France for Tour de Picardie.
Never know what can happen I can make it to the finish?
http://www.blogherald.com/2005/05/25/world-wide-blog-count-for-may-now-over-60-million-blogs/
Surfing the tens of hundreds of cyclist’s blogs I wondered….”How many blogs are out there?”
Just think without my blog and several other blogs I know they would still be shy of 60 million!
Ya my blog might be in a big pond, but at least I attempt to make a splash.
It has nearly been 2 months here in Europe and it seems like I just got here. I think that the racing has been so difficult that I have just been out of it during my down time. Each day seems to just come and go like the wind, no real purpose…except to somehow feel my legs again? Did anybody notice Rashaan nipped Gord Fraser in the Gila Crit? That was the sweetest senquence of photos I have seen in a while. The look back, the number one post, the oh that’s not good post! Funny!
My prayers and love goes out to Melissa Cox, for she lost someone very dear to her yesterday….her sloth dog Kane.
I mean every guy and girl here in Girona is rolling with the Mullet. We have mow-hawk mullet, rat-tail mullet, spike mullet, straight gaudge mullet, sweet razor-shaved side style mullet, Rasta mullet, short mullet(my style right now), way-too long mullet, and little kid mullets. What amazes me is I see some pretty hot chicks with these insane mulllets? Se I tell you the mullet is cool! Even Chad Hartley was sporting the rare Curly Mullet. Don’t hate the mullet, because they sure do embrace it here! Even Doug Greek had a SERIOUS Mullet…..more than once!
Well I really thought that we were going to make it through the Tour de Bretange with out getting Franced on? Wrong! The last day of the 7 day stage races was full scale France. We started the race with it Francing and finished the race with it Francing. Now this would not be that bad, because this is just the norm in Northern France, but the last days finishing circuits was just not a desirable course to ride in the rain. I might have been this small twisty valley road that turned up in to a solid 1km cobbled climb? Or maybe the diesel covered road or the large paint lines in each corner? I do not know, but that is just my thoughts? Actually is was not near as bad as it sounds. The thing that sucked was ME!
Every stage the race would finish with 5 circuits, normally consisting of 4 to 6 km in length with one hill 500 meters to 1km in length. Each day I was totally dead last every time over the climb, through the straights, and ultimately dropped with a 1 or 2 laps to go? Ouch a huge piece of humble pie every single day. My teammates would do there best to help me out, even sacrificing their finishing result to assist me to the line. I was so bad one day that Francios Parisien was pushing me up the hill while Creed pulled. My legs would just not have any power come the end of each stage? Although I will say that every hot spot sprint that the peloton went through together, we won! Even if a breakaway had taken a few of the sprint points, we would win whatever sprint points were left. This made me getting dropped like a fat kid on every circuit a little more bearable, considering I had done my job by gaining points to retain the “Most Combative” Jersey….aka the leading of the hot spot sprint points. Now only if my climbing could be as strong as my sprinting? The Tour de Bretange was WAY harder than Tour of Normandie and many of the same riders were riding much stronger than they had just a month ago? I really think that track worlds helped to provide some sweet speed to my legs, but did NOTHING for my overall endurance. Maybe this is why I was in the hurt locker on every hill and finishing circuit.
Luckily I have more than a week before my next jaunt up to France, which is a good thing because I am pretty dang sick. Yellowish-greenish phlegm and snot that makes me feel soooooo good! Gotta love racing in France!
So after much due time, I have finally had a chance to figure out the dang upload system for my photos. I will be attempting to add more as I go.
Oh ya, no visor system for me yet? Yes I will talk a little bit more about the past week. yes my Euro Mullet is looking well.
