a hot one.

this morning it was off to the races at 7:30. this race was near Freiburg. right near the hottest area in germany.
we got there a good hour and a half before. plenty of time to pick up the number and get a good warm up in, the registration list for my race had 249 people on it. i dont know if they all showed up, but it was a big race nontheless. not that i needed to be any warmer since it was already quite hot. a good 30 minute warm up then to the line. i went to the line a bit early since i did not want to be stuck far back. and we were off. each lap was a bit over 4 km and we did 18, 78.33 km by my speedometer. about 10 minutes after starting i was already dripping sweat. on the second lap on the backside of the course, where the pace was never under 50, there was a large crash, behind me. i got lucky since it developed in front and to the side, but took up the whole road behind me. i was in the middle quater for the first couple of laps. then i follow a guy who was attacking up to the front, but for some reason i did not keep going. i coulda got a prize! but i was then at the front, until the sprint about 5 min. later. then some more laps. sometime around here i followed an attack and was in a 4 man break for about a lap. but the peleton did not want to let us go at all. so we got caught before the line. then i was back in the front middle of the pack for a few more laps. then on the 3rd to last lap or so i was in the middle and someone attacked, and was followed by a few. i really really wanted to get in on the action, but there was no way for me to get there. i also had a feeling that that was the break of the day. but alas. no luck this time. after that i wiggled my way to the front and just stayed right up in the first 10 people or so. which was working great, but then an attack a bit later from 2 guys made me the leader, i tried pulling back up to them, but no luck they had gotten a good gap. and no one from behind would take over. so then i ended up 20 or so back. the last lap everyone was trying to get up to the front and there were a lot of people yelling at each other. luckily no more crashes. and then the finish where i was hopefully in the top 30, but i dont really know. ill try to find a result soon. but even though i wasnt on the front at the end it still was a decent race. i attacked a few times. and felt good at the finish still. so im mildly happy.
with the heat today and the wind and the work i did today my avg. HR was 158.
the 78.33 km took just under 1 hour 48.
a guy that rode with us today got some really good video of the race. to bad i cant or at least dont know how to put it here.

after the race got home cooked, then watched brazil vs. australia. everyone thought brazil would dominate just because they are always good. australia played really well and had they just not kicked the ball so hard they would have at least tied.

sometime during

7 bikes today