¡Dios Mio!

Rose bowl was brrrutal today. Again, I came a lap late, but with glorious daylight savings, we do 10 laps, so it's no big deal. Allright. Chunky large group, like usual. Dozen or so fast dudes, and 43 category 6 riders for each fast guy, typical, but fun. On my second lap with the field (8 to go), some dude drills it, strings the bunch out. No one pulls through, I pull through, gently, as if to say, "hey guy, cmon, take it easy." To my dismay, however, when I pulled off, we had a gap. I really just wanted to chat it up in the group, see who's racing what for the weekend, etc. Not gonna happen. Jaime Paolinetti, Mystery-Monster-Pull-Guy, me, maybe 5 others. It's good to see Jaime up there, you learn alot when up the road with him (for instance, when pulling off a paceline, he goes so damn close to you, and you have to consciously move to the outside to avoid crashing into him...annoying, but the guy knows what he's doing, and it keeps you constantly alert, which is good). The next 5 laps were hell. Pegggggged at threshold the whole time, even while drafting! Easily the fastest I've ever gone at the bowl for a 5 lap period. We're down to 4 dudes. Mystery-guy worked us real good. I didn't look back, but seriously, it wasn't comin back. None of us really knew how many to go, but it was about that time, and Jaime said "allright, one to go." I'm not arguing that. Everyone worked up until 500m from the line, right on. Mystery guy attacked at 300m to go, Jaime marked it, I marked him, and jussst came around them both to take it. Maybe one of the hardest sprints of my life. I'm serious. Not so much the sprinting, but the ridiculous pace leading up to it. I was happy to still be able to jump like that. Talked to the guy afterward, he was all smiles. Spoke only spanish. Mystery guy=Christian Valenzuela, from Mexico. Dios Mio, Christian.


Then I had to come home and battle this guy
(note that his biceps are bigger than mine):