Ouch

2 stages of the Trans-Sylvania down and I have been struggling. One thing I have come to realize racing bikes is that you have to have your bad days to enjoy the good ones and that racing always involves a little suffering. Yesterday's stage will go down as one of the toughest days I've had on a bike and some of the most memorable suffering.

Hard to put a finger on it really- maybe the heat, maybe the humidity, maybe I am cooked or unrested, maybe I have some allergies that are keeping my from breathing well here but I felt I riding under a heat lamp and breathing soup in shallow breaths. I suffered all day with no power and lost a ton on the climbs and pedaling sections. If it weren't for the sweet slow speed technical singletrack I would have lost even more time. Once I blew up I was like a car with a blown radiator... start going a little, uh oh in the red again, steam coming out, better slow down...

Hope to come around enough to feel like I am racing and not just trying to survive to the finish...