Notes

When old people give you advice, listen.

-A month and a half ago Phil Hepburn told me I seemed tired and needed to rest some. I got real busy at work, took a few days off of riding (so I rested, though not by choice) and came back flying.

-The best wheel builder in the world works at Spokes Etc on Quaker Lane. If you ever get sick of constantly changing spokes on a wheel, there is a guy named Bill there who knows his stuff. Thank God someone recommended him to me! I never give shop plugs, but I am so happy I am not having to race, ride and train on the same set of wheels all of the time - it is good to have someone who knows what they are doing rebuild the wheels that were accumulating in my garage. Which makes me think, I can probably ride sew-ups now. The reason I don't is that I don't trust anyone else to glue them on and I definitely don't trust myself, but I am thinking he knows his stuff well enough that he can do it.....

- Thanks to Art Brown I may soon be a TT contender! I have his old TT bike and have been riding it once a week. I am going to buy it, but before I can afford it he is letting me at it. It is crazy how quickly you get better on a TT bike if you keep riding the same one!

Giro Di Coppi

-Russ came down to support me. It is great to have a team mate in these masters races. With out a team mate these races can seem harder than big events. It is almost like I am being marked.

-Russ and I had planned on jumping from the group on the climb on the second lap, but guys were all ready attacking and going of the front on the 1st lap. Russ ended up in a group of six that included strong guys like R Munio and Mark Warno. I was stuck in the field still trying to warm up. I looked around and the realized with the exception of Bryan Vaughan, Chip Hoover and Ramon Benitez all of the fire power was up the road. Damn, I did not feel like going yet - my mind said yes but my body said no. I counted to 5, took a deep breath and jumped across. Luckily Russ wasn't pulling until I came across and when I connected it was game on. We never saw the pack again.

Russ did tempo before the climb and up the climb, and as we crested the top, Mark Warno Jumped him. If you know Russ, you probably know he stewed for the next lap. In the exact same spot, next lap, Russ did the same thing back to Mark Warno and disappeared in the distance with R (who names their kid with just one letter?) on his wheel. When the gap was right at what I knew I could barely close I jumped across. The three of us worked well together and came across 1,2 and 3.

Tom Buzas, our team manager came out to feed us. It is so cool how well he supports us! Since the race was so short, I did not need any water - but I wanted to acknowledge that he came out, so I gave him water by squirting him with my bottle.

Besides the bobble head trophy of Coppi, the best thing about Giro Di Coppi is that the parking lot is on a hill. If you car runs like mine, you know the importance of a hill - it negates the starter problem. Lame thing is, right when I am about to pop my clutch, some lady, staring at me like I owe her money walks out in front of me and I have to brake. Luckily there was enough hill to get coasting again.