The Sweep

Seems like we can't have a decent bike race these days without some silly upstarts trying to steal the show. First its the Superbowl, now the Olympics. Sheesh. If they'd just start televising Velo Promo races nationally I bet we could get tens of... well tens of people watching. Then who'd be famous? Yeah.

Do I wish I had taken a nice long snooze and awakened late in the day to leisurely watch some maniacs go way to fast on the snow and ice? Yes, definitely. To be perfectly honest no one really wants to get up at 5am to drive through pea soup fog to race on dull frontage road outside of Coalinga, but we're addicted to bike racing and if thats what we have to suffer to feed the monkey on our backs then so be it. Also, it smelled like a feed lot and there were swarms of bees, but like I said, its a powerful addiction.

It was early, it was cold and the lines for the portos loooooong. We Yahooligans made up maybe half of the field, but frankly I was happy to see that many after the particularly sad pre-reg. There's not much to tell about the race itself. It wasn't really fair. Yahoo! Cycling ended up sending 4 guys up the road and then took 1st, 3rd and 4th in the field sprint. There are some big ethical questions surrounding the teams decision to send a full squad to Cantua. Sandbaggers, bullies, @%$holes. These are all terms that have been thrown around, and I can easily see the point. From a certain perspective it does seem like a mean thing to do. But consider if from Yahoo! Cycling's standpoint. We're a brand new group of guys who have never raced together as a team before. We're planning on going head to head with the best cycling teams in the US. We need to have as many opportunities to learn each other's styles, hone our teamwork and work out the kinks in our tactics. So yes, we probably the race pretty miserable for everyone not on Yahoo! and for that I feel bad, but we did take advantage of an opportunity to learn and grow as a team and sometimes you just have to look out for number one.

At this point I should note that I suffered stomach cramps after the first lap and pulled out of the race. So the only person's day I ruined was mine.

In other news we're being taken care of by the most amazing hosts ever. I've managed to anger them already by leaving my bag in the hall, but I'm a country bumpkin and don't know any better. Rats! I didn't think I was causing a ruckus, but the man of the house is ex-military (Bronze Star recipient!) and he may have slightly different standards than I do. His house, his rules, my bad. But back to the hospitality. On top of giving us each a sack lunch they welcomed us back with a hot soak in the spa and a jump off the 3 meter high dive in their back yard. Awesome. I miss winters back in Idaho, but at times like these I can say only good things about California winters. Relaxing in the tub post-race suckin down tasty beverages under bright blue skies I couldn't help but think of my buddy Jono and his famous phrase: "This is livin'!"