D.N.S.

Friday, 2 June

It's been a long time (at least that I can remember) since I didn't start a stage at a race. (Bill W. was the CR then, too, but I don't think this is his fault.) I felt awful when I got up, breakfast didn't make it better, and I thought I was going to get carsick on the way to the start. I could've ridden the first 8 miles of today's course (ALL downhill), but then I would've been looking for a ride somewhere in the 8-mile climb back up to the Cooper Spur resort. And the race did that circuit 3 times. Which is worse: DNS or DNF?

I can't say much about the scenery up there on the mountain because it was either raining or foggy or both. Riders were covered in dirt and muck when they finished. Nobody wanted a bottle in the feed zone. "This is hell" were the words from a TGH rider, and even one of the very toughest riders in the women's peloton almost cracked and had a meltdown. I never know what exactly to say to riders as they suffer their way through a race where I'm standing by the side of the road. Well, not completely true: I told Adrian H. he rocked the second time he came through the feed zone in a 2-man break. He looked good (wet, dirty, in pain, but strong), but they were getting reeled in on the third pass.

So now I don't get to do the TT from windy hell or the crit from crit hell. I hope I feel better by Sunday so that I can ride that course, which is supposed to be heaven and hell on a bike.