World Championships

Not the best day for us at Worlds yesterday, both our leaders for the day didnt have great legs and didnt finish.  I at least got a really valuable experience and learned a lot ha ha.  (When the race sucked you better have learned something right?)Anyways, having my first world championship under my belt is a good step up for me.  The race is quite different in a lot of ways and in the future Ill have a better handle on how it plays out.  First of all, pretty sure that was the biggest and longest day I’ve ever raced a bike.Heres some data from my Garmin for you geeks out there:Distance: 263kmTime: 7 hrsTotal Climbing: 4655 metersAvg Power: 262Kilojoules: 5345Crashes: 1Wheelchanges: 1 Needless to say, when it really hit the fan with 1.5laps to go, after over 6 hours of racing, I wasn’t quite able to throw it down like normal!  You cant train like that, thats for sure.  The race definitely bumped my physiology up a notch.Also, the dynamic of the race is different as well.  Over 200 riders…a huge field on a tight repetitive circuit.  The mixed teams, some of which, like Spain, Italy, and Australia, are truly all-star teams,  are a different element to a normal pro tour race.  And our own team is a mix of riders from several trade teams and a different director.  Drunk crazy fans lining the entire course for 14 km.  Truly a special atmosphere.  On the climbs I wish I had earplugs sometimes.  And its just long as hell. Im excited for the future as USA Cycling is starting to integrate a more cohesive national team with the goal of attaining top results in world and olympic championship competition in the coming years.  Its not something that can be thrown together in the 2 weeks before a race.  A national team coming together and winning at that caliber is years in the making. Some down time at home now, finally a light at the end of the tunnel to wrap up the season.  3 more weeks!  Paris-Tours is up nextThanks for checking in