Joe Martin Stage Race : Stage 2

Some of my teammates went for a spin to get coffee this morning.  I stayed back.  Moments after they left, I heard, and felt thunder reverberating through my hotel room.  Then it started to pour outside.  Good choice to stay back.  Lucky choice.

The beginning of the race was going to be wet and chilly.  This is how I got prepared:

1. a) Embrocation on: 

      my arms

     my legs

     my feet

     my chest

     my, ahem, glutes

     and a little behind my ears.

1. b) I slathered a thick layer of petrolium jelly over my legs to make sure the embro would stay on through the rain, and to create an extra barrier against the cold.

2. I wore latex gloves underneath my long-fingered gloves
3. I taped the holes in the bottom of my Specialized S-Works shoes with electrical tape

Good news. The whole scheme worked.  I was comfortable the whole race.

None of the day's attacks stayed away.  But my teammate Lauren Romanski stayed away SOLO the last few miles, and it was cool to see her gain over 20s.  The field caught her just before the end of the race.  Our finish wasn't very spectacular...we didn't manage to get on the podium or score any bonus seconds.

There are 2 days left though.  We've got some work to do, and we're looking forward to it.