Dios Mio!!!!!!!!!!

The TOC!!!

That was the most exciting bike racing i've watched on TV ever. ever ever. I did it the proper way...didn't check the results live on the internet, and let Phil and Paul and Bob do their thing, and when Levi was coming up to the line I felt like my heart was gonna explode! Madness! I can't tell you how cool it is to follow a race in which friends and old teammates are participating in...ahhh...it's great, and motivating, especially...as the only thing cooler would be to participate alongside these guys.

Interestingly, the little clip of Jason Donald showed that he was the only guy that didn't use a disc rear wheel. Isn't it blatantly obvious that you don't need one on that course? Geez. And the hilarity of Phil continuously wondering if the timekeepers made a mistake on Donald's time....Top points for embarrassment but so flattering at the same time. Tell me there are others that found that hilarious?! Also, it was great to see that lots of the euro superstars (Cancellara, especially) weren't holding much back and strutted their stuff properly, despite the chronological challenge of riding a 5 minute prologue in friggin' February. Bravo.

The plot gets thicker...there's an Amgen "breakaway from cancer" commercial that aired once tonight (and will likely air a couple more times during the tour). There are a group of riders riding along and this guy gives the kid in the window a thumbs up. I'm one of those riders! I'm in the frame for just a second or two, to the right of the guy who's [pretending to be] breathing hard (Mike Dansk). Rockin' my old bike, white track gloves, and Rudys with clear lenses. A big thank you, again, to Mike for getting me the gig. It was good fun. I showed the clip to my dad and he just started laughing....this TOC stuff is one big festive event all over.

And the most trivial part of this entry...the race report:

Today's cycling match was in Costa Mesa: CBR 100k Criterium. I was at a wedding yesterday, and wanted to have a couple drinks and get home late, but couldn't. Was home by 1:30, and had only a single glass of wine. So no excuses for me on the wedding front, no safety nets. Ah well. Things were running late, so the race got shortened a bit from 100k to 90 minutes. I really thought it was just going to be a bunch of local folk mixin' it up, as most of the SoCal scene was either at the TOC or at Valley of the Sun. Well, to my surprise, 4 Sierra Nevada guys came out, and 800 guys from the Polish national track team. The Poles somehow missed every break and didn't chase a single one down, despite their numbers. I was alone on the day, missed the early move, the late [winning] move, and tried to get into a couple, but i'm marked pretty good now, it's nice. To be honest though, I wasn't feeling too fresh today...both my mind and body.

Long story short......the early break (1 Sierra, 3 others) was off for a long while, and just got tired and came back. There never was an organized chase of any kind. The Sierra Nevada Team almost raced as good as The Time Team a couple weeks back...heheh...but still got the result. They got another move up the road with 5 laps to go, and it was game over. The Poles missed the move, of course, but still lined all their guys up for a leadout with 3 to go. I was in good position, but the Polish leadout was huge! 8 riders! So I was about 11th wheel behind them and the Sierra Nevadas. Happy to report that there were no kamikaze moves to take me out on this day. I took a conservative line through the final corner, and wound up 8-9th in the field sprint for 13th on the day. I've got a big March around the corner...and yeah, i'm not about to chop wheels, dodge dots, and bunny hop curbs for 6th place in a local crit...I'm surprised I was even 13th.

Rest week (10 mellow hours) scheduled for me, and with the shite weather on the forecast, looks like it shouldn't be too difficult to carry out.

Addio...