Europe report 2

by Michael Wolf

March 6, 2004:

It is the morning after my first race over here. Today's stage starts at 3:00, just like yesterdays stage did. I am in a hotel room
on the coast of the Mediterranean, in Benidorm, Spain. The training is over, and now we race. The training camp has been worked in shifts in terms of which adults are there. At first it was Noel, our team director, Chris, the Soigneur, and Dominique. After a couple says Noel left. Then he came back with his wife, Els, and their 2 kids. For the last couple days Alex, a soigneur, and a mechanic who was also named Noel took over. Anyway, Alex was the one giving massages and Cozza was the first to get one. After his massage he came up to me and told me to get it as soon as possible so I can recover for the race which was 4 days away. I didn't quite understand what he was talking about, but I made sure to get it that day. As soon as I got on the table I began to understand completely what he was talking about. Right off the bat his massage was a lot harder than I had ever gotten. He seemed to push about twice as hard as Chris or Els ever did. But as he began working my calf I realized that wasn't even the beginning. All of the sudden I felt this excruciating pain in my calf, like he was driving a rock into my calf. I grabbed hold of the table and tried not to scream. My face was bright red. As he finished my calf I took a deep breath of relief and looked to see what had inflicted such pain on me. In his hand he held a round blue plastic thing with 8 legs. It soon got the name octopus. He used the octopus on my other calf. I became somewhat used to the pain, clenching the tables of the massage table as hard as I could, knowing it would end soon. Apparently the octopus is used to get knots out of your legs, and apparently, to my great regret, I had much worse knot in my left thigh along my IT band. As he worked my left thigh I began to draw a crowed around the table. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life. No crash has ever hurt as much. I got off the table a beaten man, and retreated to my room for safety. Alex told me after the massage that I would feel awful on my ride the next day, but I'd be good for the race. I doubted him. I woke up the next morning with an incredible soreness along my IT band. Sure enough I felt awful that day, and the next two. Then came March 5, my first race with the USA national team.  The morning of the race I was pretty nervous. There was a twenty five kilometer climb less than an hour into the race and I knew it would be decisive. Couple that nervousness with a good cup of coffee two hours before the race and you get the picture. The race started in Calpe, 30 minutes late, with a 5k neutral start. There were over 150 starters, mostly Spanish, with some foreigners. It was a UCI 1.12. The pace was fairly easy before the climb. There were a lot of attacks, but most people kept in mind the climb coming up. With about five 5k to go till the climb attacks began thicker and faster. A group of about 15 went up the road, followed by a couple chase groups. In the chase groups we had two guys, Mike Voight and Shawn Milne. I stayed near the front, waiting for the climb.

We crossed over a little river and hit the base of the climb. The base was probably the steepest parts, though it wasn't bad (about
7%). The break and the chase groups were still up the road. We came into the climb extremely fast, but people quickly showed they were human and the pace eased off. Around the first switchback I saw Shawn on the side of the road with a mechanical, so now just Voight was up the road. Around the second switchback I took the inside line and attacked, getting a good gap with 2 others. We slowly pulled away as the climb eased in to its average grade of about 4%. The three of us traded pulls well, gaining on Voight's group, which was no in sight. Gradually more and more people bridged up till the group was ten strong. We caught Voight' group about 10K in, and by then our group swelled to around twenty, as we approached the main break of 15. We caught them with about 10k left of climbing. The speed was always pretty hard, but it was the time up climb where drafting really matter. I started to sit in and save my energy for the last 5k, the hardest part. I was also starting to feel my earlier efforts. As we hit the last 5k people began attacking a lot. I sat in near the front and gradually drifted back. Nearing the top the pack had been reduced to about 25 or 30. For the last half kilometer I switched between last and second to last rider in the group, but the top
came just in time and I made it. We began to descend. It was a fairly technical descent. We went real fast, but it was super easy going that fast cause we had the whole road, and didn't have to worry about crossing the yellow line. At the bottom of the descent the group had swelled to around 45. It was me and Voight, in the front group, the four others in the main group about 30 seconds to a minute back. Shawn dropped out with the mechanical. The pace was furious for the next forty kilometers, with tons of climbing still to be done. We stretched the gap to around 2 minutes on the main group as we began descending back down to Calpe. People were attacking constantly, and there wasn't a single climb that was taken easily. The group was constantly splitting, sometimes I’d make the split, sometimes I'd have to chase, but with about 20 k to go I was still in the thick of it. I held on over the second to last climb, but my legs were wearing on my. As we hit the last climb with about 10 k to go, the field split again. I was in the second split. The front group of about 25 made it over first, my group of ten about ten seconds back. But on the descent the gap spread more. We rolled into Calpe a minute back on the front group, and 20 back on the winner, four minutes ahead of the next group. I attacked in the last couple KM's, but was caught and had nothing for the sprint. Voight got 11th. I was like 35th. I was really happy with how the race went, especially considering it is my first race of the season. The next stage turned out really well for us as some of you might already know. Shawn Milne won the stage in a very impressive ride. The stage was 5 laps of a 20 something kilometers loop with 2 short climbs. The team rode well, near the front the whole time. With 2 laps to go Shawn made a group of like 6 guys. The field kept them close the whole time. On the last lap it looked like they would be caught on the last climb, but then Shawn attacked and broke of with an Argentinean horse. The pack stayed together as the course had really big downhills after every climb. In the last Kilometers I sat in the top 15 watching Shawn just ahead of us. Shawn stayed away and
won with a good sprint. Crane got fifth in the field sprint to take 7th, I finished in the field. Mike Voight, who broke his rear
derailleur cable and dropped out. We also won the team prize for the day. The result was put on Velonews and USA cycling. It was great having the team win a stage. 

The final stage was about 100k, 5 laps of a 20k circuit, with one hard 2 k climb. Right before the third time up the climb there was a crash right in front of me. I plowed into the guys on the ground, but didn't fall. I regathered myself and chased on to the strung out
pack. I caught on as the pack hit the climb. The field split up a lot on the climb and there was no way I could make it to the front
splits over the climb. I began chasing like crazy with the help of a couple others. We worked really hard while a bunch of other guys sat on. People gradually gave up chasing, but I persisted. I was feeling good. After 40 kilometers of chasing with the help of only a couple guys, I rejoined the peleton on the last lap, a couple KM's before the climb. Over the climb I made the 2nd group and rolled in about a minute after the front group. Shawn got sixth on the day, winning the field sprint. Cause of Mike Voight's mechanical on the 2nd stage I was the top USA guy, but that didn't mean much cause it was for like 40th place. March 10:
After the race we headed to Gerona. We stayed there for the night, and went into the city for dinner. Then we flew back to Belgium. It only got colder from when we left 3 weeks before. At least I now have internet, and some English TV channels. I've been watching Paris-Nice live on Eurosport. David Dufield doesn't come close to Phil Ligget. He calls it Paris Roubaix, and when a group of 2 had a minute on the peleton with 2K to go, he kept saying that it was going to be close whether they stayed away or not, and h'd ask Sean Kelly if he thought they'd stay away. Of course they would stay away. Anyway, they cancelled today’s stage in Paris-Nice cause of the snow, but snow didn't stop of from doing a Local Kermesse (a type of circuit race) in Belgium. It snowed almost the whole race. I was a fun race. Barely any elevation change. On the one downhill on the course somebody drove it like crazy every time. The wind was a strong sidewind, and I now understand the meaning of riding in the gutter. I felt good and made some splits but everything came back. A group got away with a lap to go and stayed away. I got like 30th. There were like 130 starters and 50 or 60 finishers. The whole team finished and we rode well. It wasn't as hard as I had expected, but I don't think the field was that great. The Belgians try to act all tough but as soon as you push them they back down. Crit racing has prepared me well for this. I'm really happy with how I'm riding, and I know I've still got a good way to go before I'm at top form.
I ate horse again today. I really like it now. Well thanks for all the emails I've been getting. I've got plenty of free time so
it's something to do. Any really good book recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading