Phil Gaimon diary: Ouch
Long day today, for a number of reasons. I attacked from the gun, a group of strong, mostly American guys went with me, and we spent the rest of the day flooring into a rainy headwind. Fun times. I was feeling OK until Christian Meier started hitting the gas on…
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Long day today, for a number of reasons. I attacked from the gun, a group of strong, mostly American guys went with me, and we spent the rest of the day flooring into a rainy headwind. Fun times. I was feeling OK until Christian Meier started hitting the gas on all the kickers, apparently hoping to earn a kiss from the podium girl, who would probably kiss him anyway, since he’s married to her.
When my legs started to scream in pain, I turned to a faith that often gets me through tough times, and I asked myself, “WWJD” (What Would Jens Do), and told my legs to shut up. Unfortunately, my legs aren’t like Jens’s, and they took it literally, and stopped working.
Looking back, I just didn’t eat enough. I was going through a couple bars an hour, which I thought would do it, but when I looked at my power meter after the stage, I realized I’d done 5400 KJs. Never been in that situation before, bummer to learn it the hard way. Of course, the only way I could have eaten that much is by laying on my back under one of those swirly frozen yogurt dispensers, but a few more Enervit bars and gels would have probably made a big difference.
So, it sucks, but I WAS in the break flying the Kenda-5 Hour colors, so mission 75 percent accomplished.
Correction: In my first entry from the ToC, I said that “none of those guys ever won Athens Twilight” referring to Luca’s win there a couple weeks ago. Yesterday, I made the correction that Menzies once won it. Today, I learned that Chris Horner once won the crit, also. I don’t feel like doing any research like a real journalist, so I’m just going to play it safe here and say that 80 guys in the race have won the Athens Twilight crit, and Luca Damiani is in no way special.
That’s it for now. I’m going to go find a frozen yogurt machine.
Phil Gaimon is a 25-year-old VeloNews columnist and third-year pro racer for Kenda-5 Hr Energy Presented by Gear Grinder. He has an English degree from the University of Florida, and owns online stores at podiumcycling.com and sharethedamnroad.com.