Well....today didn't go as well as I wanted for myself but once again Alison finished off the sprint in 2nd place and took over the green points jersey.

I seem to be getting worse with every race I do. We have 3 more days of this tour and then I have 5 days off before a couple of crits in North Carolina.....perhaps I will find some form in time for those....because at this stage I don't really know what to do!

The only option is to head out to dinner tonight for a glass of wine....or two!

Yo....

157km yesterday.....and that Blue Nob Mountain doesn't get any easier! Once again I was resigned to the laughing group for the last 35km.
This is getting pretty disheartening....but there is little I can do about it right now...so I have to suck it up and ride each day with the legs that I have.

My team mate Alison is not far off the Points jersey so we are all going to help her out and see if we can win that as a team. That will give me a job to do and I always ride much better when I have a job.

It is a grey day here in Altoona with rain in the air so although todays stage is only 100km, it may well be filled with excitment.

Perhaps today I will ride better.

M

Tour de Toona,

Stage 3 starts today. 155km.
It will be a long day on the bike.

Yesterday was short, only 78km. The first hill climb was really hard. I felt good and was climbing well but lost contact with the front group at 200m to the top. As I crested the top I could see the front group had split into 3 separate groups. I was with my team mate Gina and a couple of others and we chased for a while before we realised that we weren't going to get back on. I was disappointed as except for the last 200m of that climb I was going ok. Oh well...thats what happened and there is nothing I can do to change that...so we move on.
The great news is that Alison, my team mate, was second in the stage, having received a great leadout from Anne and Erinne who were both in that front group. They all had great rides and were aggressive through out the race. Alison Powers from Colavita won the stage and gained back 58seconds that she had lost in the team time trial on the first day...so she not only took the yellow jersey off Webcor but the points jersey as well.
My group came in 15minutes behind...clearly the laughing group.

The first stage on Monday was a team time trial. We were 5th overall, 1min 17 secs down....or something like that, only 1 second behind 4th.
Kristin Armstrong had her World Championship stripes on and looked a million bucks....with an aero helmet to match...very flash!

Today will be an epic day and perhaps being 15mintes behind the GC riders will allow an early non-threatening break to go up the road...if so, I'll try to be part of it.

Will keep you posted.
Mesh

Well, hasn't it been a long time!

I am only guessing that Kev or Sheri got this blogsite up and running again. I was only informed a couple of days ago by Madeleine that I was once again able to post a blog....so that is what I am doing.

I haven't raced since Philadelphia. I have been doing some fairly solid training though and enjoying it. Jeff has also been coming out riding and is starting to find some fitness again.

We are staying in Charlotte with Madeleine and Adam... still(they haven't kicked us out yet). The training is not ideal but we are having a good time here. Jeff and Adam have built a free standing pagoda over the front path and now they are working on a fence out the back to keep Charlie Brown in. It is looking great.

On Sunday Jeff and I drive 6.5hrs to Washington DC, where we will pick up the team van and continue driving to Altoona, PA, another 3.5 hours. That will be a fun day! Actually, our travel day isn't as bad as the rest of my team mates. They are looking forward to a number of flights, transfers and hotels just to get to Tour de Toona, so no doubt they will arrive as fresh as daisies. Bring on Altoona!!

Congratuations to Anne and Gina who have just won the Canadian National time trial and road race titles respectively! Brilliant.

A few weeks ago we went camping. Cam, Jeff and I rode to the camp site while Mad and Adam drove with all the supplies. Cam slept in a hammock and here is the proof.

Apparently we have wireless at our accommodation in Altoona, so now that this blogsite is back up and running I will try to keep it updated?!?!

Hope all is well with you.

Mesh

A team time trial discussion.......

Mad, Charlie Brown and Adam on the front porch of their new house.

Tour de l'aude!!

This is an extremely brief update as everyone wants to use the computer router(?!?!) which enables us to get on line at this hotel in the middle of nowhere. Today has been the first day that we have been able to access the internet....

The tour has been very very hard as the speed that they race over here is much faster than the racing in USA. We have come into the tour underdone but will hopefully come out of it with some pretty good form. The mountain stage yesterday was incredible. Climbs like you wouldn't believe.

As a team we are having a lot of fun. Jessica went home today for her brothers wedding so we are down to 5 riders. We have 4 stages to go, but only 3 days....a double day on Saturday which is going to be horrible.

Hope you are all well.....

Cam did you arrive safe and sound? How is the bike....I hear your luggage didn't arrive with you...mine didn't either when I flew to Madam's house.

OK, our PR lady has the pressure on my to send some photos to her....Mad is doing an incredible job and we are receiving so many comments from our sponsors because of her!!

Thanks for the emails...

Mesh