Oh Man...Ouch is the Word of the Day.

I'm getting thrashed around out here in Hood River. These last several days have been extra hard:

Wednesday's crit was brutal. I had a moment where I was sure I wasn't going to finish -- I was completely falling apart, and every time I got to the top of the hill I barely had enough juice to hop on a wheel for the descent. I looked at the clock and to my horror, still had over an hour of racing left. I don't know how I stayed in the race that long.

Thursday's circuit race wasn't any easier -- in fact it was much harder. I didn't get any credit for doing so (neither a picture nor a mention of my name 0n velo- or cyclingnews), but I got in the day's breakaway about 4 miles into the race. I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to get in a loooong breakaway like that, but the opportunity was there, and at the time it sounded like fun. As a result, I had a really unsteady, really hard day in the saddle. Guys were flat out attacking eachother with 40 miles to go, and that didn't help things at all once the breakaway got caught by the field and the real attacks of the day began. I got dropped hard by the field, and lost 5 minutes in the last 5 miles.

Today's TT wasn't much easier. Despite a slight tailwind (as opposed to the usual headwind), the course is really really hard. I don't know how I did, but I certainly could have paced it better, and I felt awful. It's a good thing tomorrow is such an easy day --- oh wait --- tomorrow is un-fucking-believably hard -- 105 miles, 11,000 feet of climbing, 95 degrees outside (except for the finish at the ski area where there is still 6 feet of snow on the ground). Should be a breeze.