Baked Potato

The last day of the Vuelta was a blur for me as I was out of Hempseeds and running on smoke as I barely managed to hang with the main pack for the day over the Mountain of Death to the finish line in downtown San Jose. In the end I finished 30th out of 90 starters in the 12 day race. It was the fastest race I ever did. Only the 24hrs of adrenaline compared in how much my body was messed up afterwards. Casper (aka Cody Canning) made a showing into the main pack around 30 minutes into the final day. For an untrained shaggy pipeliner the white ghost came around strong near the end of the race.

Stage 13 was pretty tame as 12 days of racing hit most the riders pretty hard although the Colombians were still given’r. We joined them in there room for a bit, I sat beside two large boxes of syringes and unlabled vitamins. Probably just vitamin C and aspirin …. On another note the UCI quit doping tests after stage 6, right before the 6 toughest days of the race.

The Tour was definitely an experience I will remember for a long time. Racing in a foreign country is always a great time Although I have learned many times that you must roll with the punches as your always in a uncontrolble environment with gongshows galore. Big thanks to Marc Dufour (Team Manager) and Jean Michael Lachance (Rider / organizer) for making this trip happen!

After any big stage race there is one more day after In which the body functions and then it becomes as useful as a baked potato for the next week as the stress of the race takes its toll and the body trys to recover. With New Years last night, the recovery took a few steps backwards. It was a top 3 New Years ever. We joined hundred of travelers from around the world out on the Beaches of Jaco. With a full moon, waves crashing, a bonfire, fireworks shooting in every direction and the party going till sunrise it was a night for the books. Today was a write off. Tomorrow we will hit the bikes again for a light spin before I start contemplating a trip northwards to the mother land for some much needed recovery and some work to refuel the bank account.