edgar soto - stage 2

I finally checked the results...and bad news. The five riders we let slip away and finished only 53 seconds in front of what was left of the field all leapfrogged me in GC. Which puts me at 11th overall, and, incidentally, 53 seconds behind the leader (there were time bonuses afforded to the podium finishers, which I believe accounts for that oddity).

Anyway, the race was this: Four laps around an eleven mile course with several descent little risers. It's not a terribly tough course, but there were plenty of opportunities for riders to get away. And they did. And it usually came back together.

A couple of miles into the second lap there was a big wreck in the middle of the field. Tires skidded. Riders flew heels over handlebars into ditches. That sort of thing. I was far enough behind to see it all and not get caught up in it. But with the slowing down, shifting down, weaving in and out of the bicycles and bodies strewn about the road, I came through a few hundred yards behind the tail end of the front part of the field and had to chase back on. But with the help of one other rider (#302) we pulled it off. In about three miles. Maybe four. We caught on just at the bottom of the steepest of the rollers and I fell off the back again as the field charged up. Once over, chasing again.

That bit of effort took it out of me for a while, but I was able to keep on fine for the final two laps and stay out of trouble at the finish (and there was trouble--a few riders went over the finish line with the wrong side down).

But that pesky little break that got away I'm not sure when managed to stay away until the end and took 53 seconds out of the leader. So now we have a new race leader and somehow I'm ten seconds further back on GC than I was yesterday. A development about which I can't say I'm excited. Still, though, it's all going to come down to the final 5k on Monday. To those that ride strong up that hill will go the spoils.