Seth reporting from Ohio again, the Team Get A Grip Cycles member on a composite squad for the elite Pro/1/2/3 stage race: I wasn't necessarily looking for redemption today, nor the breakaway, but you don't say no when opportunity jumps up right in front of your face!
After some really tough attacks in the first few miles, I rode a good wheel (Brian Sheedy, Priority Health pro team) up to the first few positions of the main field, wanting to stay attentive in the case of a split in the group due to all of these accelerations. I then moved over to a Mercy rider's wheel who starts rolling. A minute later, he turns around and says, "You know we have a gap right?" What? I look back, sure enough, we're all of the sudden in the breakaway.
I can't see how or why, I guess I was just in the right combination at the right time, but, after three more guys bridging up, we were given a bit of a leash, and we rode away from the main field. Great. All we had to do was 60 more miles of very hilly terrain, 5 KOM (King of the Mountains) classifications, all under the very hot, midday sun. Yes...yikes! That was bound to be tough.
I have never had my legs burn so much before. I have never had four gels and so many bottles and all the energy-saving and economical breakaway riding in the world still leave me dying out there, but I was honestly on the verge of tears nearing the end of the stage. The breakaway actually reformed, as A&F sent another guy, Mark Hekman (current leader of the nation's professional criteriums series and now GC leader of Tour of Ohio), Dewey Dickey (Mercy) came up, and the Time Pro Development Team and Colavita had solid riders help out too. In the end, we were twelve in front of the field of 129. Holy cramp!
Hekman, Dickey, and two others had the strength to attack in the end. I, just buried in this move, was passed by one elite group and ended up somewhere around 40th and 4 minutes down on the day, but it was ahead of a ton of people and a ton of people who lost a ton of time. What's more is that I gained a number of KOM points and am now Top 10 on that classification, am on the podium for Best Cat 3 (my teammate on the combination team here, Matt Waite, currently has the white jersey), and I'm making my way toward the top half of the GC after yesterday's fluke disappointment.
What's even more is that, today, skinny little Seth Meyer mixed it up in a P-R-O breakaway for 55 miles. It's a shame I couldn't stick out the last few, but the advantage and recognition it gave me already was much more than I could have expected. This is a big comeback for me during the tour. Let's hope I can recover well and stay on the upward pattern for the last three stages.
'til next time!
P.S. We're keeping a video diary for the Tour of Ohio at http://www.seth-meyer.com/page4.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Awesome Job Seth! Mark has been crushing it all year...I'm a frequent reader of his blog http://wherethehekismarkman.blogspot.com/
Next time you are in a break with him...ask him about blowing bassoon's.
Keep it up!
Post a Comment