0 for 1

First race of the year's done. I did not win, I got second. Here's how it went:

Took friday off to do a "proper" Simi ride on Saturday. Just as I parked the car, I see a T-Mobile kit riding by. Aaron Olsen. Hmmm. Lots of rain followed, and the next couple hours were miserable and tough. It was the Christian Valenzuela show. Got 3.5 hours of mixed intensity in before the day was through.

Spent a good 3 hours caressing and cleaning the new bike to prepare it for its first battle the following morning. It's good to have a gloss (instead of matte) bike...they're easy to clean. Put on new tires (Hutchinson 'team edition'...they smell nice), cleaned the shoes, shaved the legs, the whole bit. Race at 2pm. I got on the subway at around 11am, got to the venue at 12:15! Vera at registration was amazed by my unusual punctuality. Ah well, it's the first race of the season...i'll settle into a procrastination routine as soon as I find the proper algorithm.

The talk of the day was "Alllllll the Toyota United guys are going to race, lots of pros, etc etc etc." No Toyota. They never showed. Was a decent field, though. Aaron Olsen (T-Mobil) came, the full complement of Successfulliving guys, including director Steve Hegg (one of 500,000 directors who've said "nope" to me in one way or another), two Sierra Nevada guys, and some other isolated pros. CAMERON FOX also took the start. The funniest thing was seeing the realllly-conspicuous T-Mobile kit floating around the field. I laughed out loud numerous times at that today, but can't really explain why. Okay, so we had about 100 guys total. 100 racers for 100 kilometers. Lots of laps. The first 50k were mellow and smooth. Just a notch or two faster than base pace. Perfect for me: No lactic build-up, no stress, no suffering. Lots of room to hide in a 100 man field. Successfulliving tried and tried to get away, but conditions really didn't favor a break. I sat back and watched the show. Just for kicks, I launched a little move through the start/finish area, but didn't even get a "And now off the front..." from the emcee. I did get [surprise surprise] Christian to bridge to me after a lap. Came back after one more. Felt good, man. Won't lie. The bike was great. Everything working, clicking, Sram, carbon, perfect seat height, tilt, and setback, new tires, new wheels...it's great not to worry about all that...and i am thankful.

Okay, back to the Action-packed race. Not really. It was dull as hell, but smooth. No one looked to be suffering or breathing hard. It wasn't just me, I found. Well, maybe just Christian, who was off the front at least 20 times. So we eventually got "13 laps to go" out of nowhere. Hmm. Now 5 laps to go. Allright: 3 laps to go. I was well positioned. The two Sierra Nevadas, like me, hadn't done anything all day. I went with them. Wasn't sure who they were, but they had nice kits and matching bikes, so it made sense. Successfulliving started a "leadout" for Alexi with a ridiculous number of laps to go (8 or 9), and they had no one left come game time. 2 laps to go. One of the Sierra Nevada guys (who I'd later learn is Cody O'Reilly) tries repeatedly to bump me off the wheel i'm on. Guy, just 'cause you're pro, doesn't mean you get the wheel. "This is racing, guy" is what I told him. It worked out, though, for us. Bell lap. Things are strangely calm. Race to the last corner. I got there in 3rd position, behind the 2 Sierra Nevads. Cody had a great leadout and sprint to win easily. I took second, also easily. Still, I know I'm faster than I was in the finale, and definitely had more to give, but lost it...just nerves, I guess.

Allright, so that's the report on the first loss of the season. Thank you, Toyota-United, for not coming, 'cause if you did, I might not have been paid.

Dave! Email me that photo!