To Use Football Terminology...

...after a major fumble on Saturday's stage, I'm proud to announce that the ball was recovered, and run back for a game winning touch down on Sunday's final road race.

All hell broke loose on Saturday -- we allowed the 2nd and 4th placed riders to escape off the front, and couldn't muster enough firepower to bring them back to the field. I double flatted (the latter flat occurring late in the race, after the free laps were no longer in effect). I was pulled from the race, and my time was pro-rated, thus knocking me out of the GC completely. The breakaway won the race, and vaulted into the top two spots in GC by a healthy margin of over a minute. It wasn't like we didn't chase either; as soon as those guys went off the front we chased out brains out. After all is said and done, we simply got out asses handed to us. Badly. So badly we just laughed at ourselves the rest of the night.

Sunday's stage was a full-blown tidal wave of redemptive domination. The two GC leaders obviously paid the price for the efforts of the previous day, and once we'd cracked their respective teams, they didn't have the suds to respond to the attacks of my boys. I spent nearly 50 miles in a solo breakaway that perfectly set up my teammates. I failed to finish the race, but by golly, I sure did earn a slice of the winnings.