Oh yes Loopies, the pun is fully intended and with a double meaning! For I have finally posted a blog after a long hiatus, PLUS I have finally picked myself up off the cold damp basement floor that was the Giro-recovery. Rejoice!
So I know it has been a long while since my last update, mid-Giro I believe. But I'm back again! Life has been a little nuts with my planned move to Santa Rosa, CA (we leave Boulder, CO on Wednesday!). Also since I haven't been racing much since the Giro, I don't have as much juicy gossip to unload on y'all. It's almost like another offseason and I'm honestly sick of training and I'm chomping at the bit to race finally. Unfortunately I'll have to wait until Aug 9 in Utah because the man, aka UCI, likes to blacklist us on local races when it doesn't affect them whatsoever.
Anyway, One thing I am finally enjoying is the "Giro Turbo Diesel". Everyone says when you finish a grand tour you have this extra gear, well I'm telling you it's true. Basically I've spent so much time riding at "stupid giro hard" pace that I've gotten used to it. Since the end of the race, riding 150watts hurts, but it feels no different riding all the way to 350watts. It just sucks, but it's not hard. That was June. Now, in July, I'm 100% recovered and the 150 part doesn't hurt anymore and it's time to sharpen the top-end for the 2nd half of the season.
I never thought this would happen but now I can spend a majority of my time in the USA and still be a WorldTour racer! Life is so sweet. I'm just training through the Tour (because there isn't really much else to do in the way of races) during July, then I have Utah, CO and Canada, only coming back to Europe for the final Italian classics in October.
It's taken a good 2 weeks to get acclimated to the Colorado high country again, but I was able to preview quite a few of the CO stages, between that and having driven/ridden the rest of it over my younger years, I can safely say I know almost every pebble of the route this August. Boy, am I excited!
Happy to have my skin on in CO rather than missing it in France,
Pete