Cascade Classic Reporte

Bend is beautiful riding country. I am staying in some sick host housing.

yesterday was the tt and the crit. TT was pretty difficult with a steady climb for the first 7.5mi and a few false flats with lots of wind. I managed to finish 1.32 down on GC. Thought I did better but wasn't 100% yesterday morning. Crit last night was okay....Race started out regular speed but no one would ride aggressively. I was in the front few spots trying to position myself in case something promising came by. A reno rider went off the front after he counterattacked my move. There was a team of 5 and they kept sending one or two riders up and back. Doing a good job of holding me off. Frustration.

Then I was going around this gnarly bend and I laid it right on the asphalt. Pretty gruesome. I was on the front and hit the deck in the upper 20smph. That consequently ended my crit. I was a little dazed but I managed to get back on the bike and got pulled by the officials. I made sure I was still able to start this morning. I was by far the worst victim of the turn which took out quite a few riders over the duration. Lots of cuts and rr on the right side. Still sore this morning so today's stage should be interesting. No promises on anything today but I am going to give it go b/c its a hard climbing stage and I will try to pull back as many minutes on GC as possible. I took some sweet digital photos so I will probably post them on my blog for shits and giggles.

Matthew