9 down, 3 to go.

The Vuelta is getting weird as all us riders are starting to act hungover 24/7. The dutch are starting to understand the guatemalans, the english canadians are starting to understand the french part of the team and the Russians are still hanging around the hotel surfing around on facebook all day. Not too sure why the Russians arn´t down on the beaches with the bikinis but I havn´t understood many of there decisions since they arrived.

After two crazy climbing days and an uphill time trial we were given a day of rest on the 24th to send out belated wish lists to Santa. I headed to the Canadian embassy to send mine as 3 of our packs were randomly selected for Santas anonymous and somebody took off with our pass ports. Guess I may be stuck down her a little longer after the race until Santa finds me with a new pass port. I am really sad about this as I may have to head down to the beaches to kill some time. After my embassy visit, Cody Canning and I headed down to the nearby town of Sant Ana for Christmas haircuts. They took close to 3 hrs and once they were done it was dark. Not quite what we had in mind for a rest day but we hopped on our bikes and pedalled 1 hr back to San Jose in the dark. The locals said we were gonna get mugged with our nice bikes as the city was dangerous at night. We were lucky and didn´t get mugged although I was questioning how ¨dangerous¨ it really was as kids were playing on the streets and and Chirstmas music filled the air.

Today was stage 9, the Presidents Circuit in the beach town of Jaco. Doing 10 laps of a 10 km course with bikini girls lining the streets was enough to get me off the back of the pack and into a 6 man break for the last 3 laps. I figured if there was ever a stage to win this would be the one but the only problem was that my legs dont´sprint so well as 8 hr bike touring days build more of a diesel engine then the croch rockets the Ticos are riding.

After the race we stopped at a river to see alligators. We couldn´t see them so well off the bridge so we pulled a Jon Nutbrown and went down to the river bank to get a closer look. Our photographer was getting some sweet shots of them but when the Guatemalan with us got a 12 ft stick and began poking one of the gators we decided it was time to go before someone got munched on. The scariest part of the day was the 2hr drive back to San Jose. We saw 6 vehicles with smoking engines on one of the steep climbs and witnessed numerous close accidents. I don´t understand why there aren´t more accidents in this country with the crazy highways and the even crazier drivers. I think Costa Rican´s would make the best rally car drivers ever.

Tommorow we climb a 50 km 2600 m climb. Not sure where were going but it sounds like a nice ride. It will probably hurt though with the Colombians setting the pace.


Merry Christmas!

Road Racing

Road Racing in the Vuelta de Costa Rica is like doing interval sessions for 4 hrs a day, day after day after day. I havn't done intervals in 2 yrs and these intervals are the variety that last anywhere from 10 seconds to 1 hr, the pack decides. The first few days blew my lungs up and left my legs in a world of hurt but since then the body seems to be adapting alright as I have slowly moved up from finishing in the mid 30's to 25th today. With the so called "flat stages" behind us we will start up on the mtns tommorow.

So far our team of 7 from Canada has had its ups and downs as Jean Michael Lachance was in the sprinters jersey for 3 days before crashing out in todays stage to join Arnaud who also crashed out of the Vuelta. There are 5 of us left now and the pace is picking up although we seem to be getting more adapted to the nasty pace being set by the Ticos.

The 5 teams from Costa Rica are flying as this is there show. Guatemala is all over the place. On day 3 three of them hit the same pothole with two of them flatting and the other going down. They also have a crazy 110 lb climber who is riding in the top 10. The Russians won stage 2 and 3 but then boycotted the race after one of there riders was dsq for cutting 20 km of the course and then winning a stage. Not to sure what happened there. The Dutch are suffering as I don't think they have hills in Holland like they do here. The Colombians are starting to rev it up as the real mtn stages start tommorow. This week they have been busy shaving bus drivers heads and whistling at girls.

Highlights of the week have been watching a dog run into the middle of the pack and somehow dodging all the bikes and not causing a massive pile up. Yesterday we deceneded a road at 75 kmh with 1 ft deep potholes all over the place. It was like dodging land mines. At least 3 riders hit the pavement hard and about 12 others flatted. Today the huge crosswind sent a few riders mtb riding into the ditch. I never new road racing could be so exciting but I am starting to find a liking for it. Tommorow will be a real test as the road tilts skywards.

Vuelta de Costa Rica

12 day road race starting on wednesday... (http://www.vueltacostarica.com/vuelta2009/)
http://www.tourdequebec.com/article.php?sid=150

Living with 4 teamates from Quebec, training in 28 degree temps.... good times.

Getting ready to roll...