Primero Etapa, y Secundo Etapa

Wow! Day one of the Vuelta had to be one of the more crazy days of my life in bike racing. The day was not abnormal, beside the events that occured, but was to be a noramal race day just like any other.

The craziness began when I was about to put on my kit. Mark, also known in some parts of the world as Jumbo because of his ability to put down enormous Presidentes like its nothing, often jokes about things that are serious. Usually we all get a laugh out of it and so when he came running into my room yelling, I thought he was just pulling another joke on us. "Is it bad if you get stung by a scorpion?" he asked. "Ummmm, well yea, most of the time" I said. "Dan just got stung, is that bad?" I thought to myself, whatever, your just playing like you always do. But no, he was serious. Very serious. I went over to Dan´s room to find him on his bed with a small swelling toe. The scorpion had climded into his shoe and got him when he put it on. It was tiny, about half the size of a book of matches. I will post a pic later. Turns out the region doesn´t have very many deadly scorpions but a scary incidenct non the less. He is doing great, as if he was stung by a bee.

The race:
We were meant to do several circuits to impress a crowd, parade around a bit, and then head out onto the open road. Nope, they missed the turn for the circuits and we headed straight out onto the race course.This was actually nice because 30km were knocked off the distance.

Proko flatted right after our "second start" and had to chase back on. He made it back only to confront the back wheel of an over excited Mexican with his front wheel. He went down and was out of the race. He is ok, very stiff and a little bloody but ok.

The pace was so high that there were several crashes. At least 10 all day. People were nervous all day and to make matters worse the were fresh, and we were on roads that were under construction with two foot high gravel medians and no shoulder. Almost 25 people including myself were caught in a massive pile up on a hill. A hard chase ensued right after that. I saw one guy clip a wheel in front of him and he sommersaulted right back to his feet, meanwhile I had to ride through thick gravel to avoid launching off his bike. Another guy was bumped, freaked out, unclipped and put his feet down while stradling his bike at 30mph. He will probably need new cleats. The worst was when I saw a guy knocked out cold becasue he went headfirst into the barrior 600m before the finish line. Damn guy, he messed up my finish kick. No, just joking, I hope he is okay.

Stage 1 was the scarriest and most nerve racking event I have ever been in!

Stage 2
People were a bit less nervous for the 196km day. We started with a 20km climb followed by two hard hours of attacking. My team and I were all very active but just didn´t have the fire power to make the move. After the move was established we took a half hour to refuel, pee, chill. Then another hour and a half we raced balls to the walls. The last seven or so km´s were down hill on a road so rough it makes dirt seem smooth. We were going so fast, bottles were flying from peoples cages, chains were being dropped and it was basically a shit show to hang on to your bike. We joked afterwards that we didn´t need massages because we just had one from the bumps on the road. we finished in 4:15. Fast!

Tomorrow is 226kms and will no doubt be just as fast.



http://www.vueltamexico2008.com