Poland…a cracking good time

// July 7th, 2009 // Uncategorized

So how better to give an example of the difference between racing on the American circuit in comparison to the races i am now doing in Europe, than to contrast the last 2 tours of my season. Both 5 days and both 6 stages…so here goes.

Nature Valley GP vs. Course de Solidarnosc (POL)

Day 1.   Stage 1.     10km TT                         82km RR

               Stage 2.     42km Crit                      123km RR

Day 2.   Stage 3.    106km RR                      224km RR

Day 3.   Stage 4.    54km Crit                       198km RR

Day 4.   Stage 5.    145km RR                       154km RR

Day 5.   Stage 6.    44km Crit                        158km RR

TOTALS:                   401km                               939km

So i only contrast this, not to compare the quality or the difficulty but to show how different the culture of the 2 continents are.  I am a firm believer that a good rider in America can be a good rider in Europe but, as is obvious, it is a different world of racing. No doubt that it is possibly harder to be successful over in Europe. The distance, difficulty and money in the sport over here make it far more  likely that drugs are part of the pro peloton (an unfortunate and sad reflection on the mentality). But…it is possible. Work hard and making the transition can be done. Just look at riders like Henderson, JJ Haedo, Lewis…and now teams like BMC…

So Poland itself…a hard ass race. The temperature was horrible…worse an more oppresive than that i experienced in Philly last year which hovered around 38 (100+) for the majority of the race. An in your face heat that beat the crap out of you mentally, more so than physically. But the thing that i will remeber this tour for was the casualty list.

6 x flat tires

2 x broken back wheels

1 x broken front wheel

1 x cracked handlebars

1 x crash

1 x bike swap

All of this…was only caused by me, much to the frustration of my mechanic. I did however make it through in 1 piece, which included the 1700km drive back to Italy all through the night with just me and my roomie Mamos. A 6.30am arrival time has left us feeling jet lagged even though we are in the same time zone…But life goes on. A 2 week break now until we fire up again. Time to build on the fitness from my 1000km 5 days and then make some statements with my legs the remainder of July and into August.

Soon to follow i may write about my adventures in Rome, where i will be soon taking a small 2 day vacation…but sometime this week look for my Chad Gerlach story… The Chad Gerlach that i know… by popular demand and interest of many people throughout the season, i will document the friendship that i have developed with Chad and how i see his comeback to the sport of cycling…

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