Stage 2 - Bluff Hill

It was windy as a mofo this afternoon, even more so than this morning. We headed through town on a ceremonial, parade tour past all of the cheering school children. After a quick pause at the end of the neutral section, we got going full bore as guys went after the early sprint points. There was an early crash that I worked my way around and then a few kilometers where guys were trying to shake it loose in the crosswind. The first few efforts didn't really feel so good, but I stayed tucked away as best as possible, switching to the second echelon when necessary to get back in to the group.

Robert was doing his best imitation of onboard navigation, telling us how far out turns were and what to expect. A group of three got off the front fairly early on and were followed by a group of four. I got to the front of the race to stay out of trouble and decided to put in an effort to bridge to the group of four. I spent some time in no man's land before deciding that braving it in the wind alone so early on wasn't the best idea. We made it through one of the many, short crosswind sections and made the turn to a stretch with the wind at our back. I was sitting pretty much smack in the middle of the group when somebody up front stacked it up. Apparently he hit a bump on a bridge and lost control. Everybody else around locked it up, some guys blew tires, and lots of guys fell down in front of me. I thought I was going to be able to stop, but there were enough guys falling just in front of me that I hit the stack, went over the bars, hit pavement pretty much face first.

Given the circumstance, it could have been far worse. I knew as I hit that my nose was not going to be in good shape. I felt the snap and knew the blood was flowing. I was surprised that I hadn't scraped my face on the cheese grater, chip seal surface. I hit the ground and did my best turtle impression as guys and bikes piled on top of me. I got up, spit out some blood and radioed the team car. I got back to the car, switched to the spare bike and rode to the ambulance to see if the race doctor wanted to say anything.

The race was neutralized because of the sheer numbers of guys involved in the crash. Almost half the field was up the road, with half stuck at the crash scene. We rode back up to the rest of the race. The combination of my crash and the increasing wind speed (up to 85kph/52mph gusts) really didn't inspire any semblance of confidence. If you can't hold a wheel and ride in the gutter at sub race pace, you are going to have issues at speed. Under conditions with lesser winds, I probably would have been fine riding. I would have lost time for sure, but I would have been able to race another day. Unfortunately my race was done.

My teammates did well staying out of trouble for the most part. Mike and Stefan hit the climb with the main chase group, Greg got caught out in the wind on one of the more aggressive sections that split the remaining field. Kevin had bike issues after the crash and couldn't get into his biggest gears to keep up speed in the tailwind sections. Mike was our top finisher at 20th place, but with plenty of racing to go, everybody is still in it. Tomorrow is one of the long stages, I'll be in the team car helping out.