'Cross Vegas

Well, it wasn't terrible. I spent the morning rebuilding my road bike in the hotel room, and the stress and hassle and discomfort of crashing on Sunday and everything that followed was definitely still with me. I felt good riding easy, but painfully blocked going hard, so I just tried to relax and have a steady ride.

I had number 17 and was in the 3rd row, next to Adam Craig. I got an ok start, didn't do much panicking or passing, and just tried to follow wheels and ride around guys coming off the group in front of me. I was still in the first group at the end of the first lap, but hurting a bit from having closed a few gaps. I let a gap go heading into the final turn of the lap, thinking I could recover a little, rail the turn, and stay connected. The problem was that it was still the first lap, and the group hadn't really gelled yet; everyone was railing every turn, and people were still fighting to close gaps themselves. I couldn't close the gap, and spent the first half of the 2nd lap trying to get back on, to no avail. So, i rode tempo from there. I could see there were a lot of guys in that group, my window for getting back on had closed, and I had missed my chance.

Eventually guys started catching from behind, and I was able to roll it back up and ride with them. I took a lot of pulls, still hoping that guys up front would blow and come back, and a few of them did. Eventually, Lance caught our group about 1/2 way through, which made me laugh. I always end up riding with Horner, so I wasn't surprised to end up with Lance. Those guys can pedal, but they can't drive. I can drive, but not pedal. It evens out in the end.

Lance just couldn't figure out how to set up for the turns, how to lean his bike in grass, let things drift, or remount very well. He wasn't terrible, more like a B rider in terms of skills. And I think after his long day, he had to be on his last legs. He was strong in our group, but not stronger than anyone else, and spent a lot of his energy closing gaps after turns.

Once we got to 2 to go, I was looking for chances to split the group. Tony Cruz made a few attacks but finally blew a bit, and Troy Wells was punching it out of every turn from the front of the group, as is his style. I let him lead the whole last lap, and was second wheel. Going into the last turn, I was sure NOT to leave a gap this time, and Troy seemed resigned to get beat in the sprint. He paused and I should have jumped then, but as I came around him on the right with 100 meters to go, he took me to the fence and I had to stop pedaling for a few seconds.

19th place, and I beat Lance in the sprint. Eh. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't the ride I was looking for. With all that's gone on the past few days, I think I need to be happy with it.