There was no riding this weekend, but I commuted to work the last two days and felt good when I was on the bike. I decided to use these few days to work really hard and push my legs, so I spent most of the time turning big gears and seeing what that feels like. I think I was a little bit inspired by Sergui Gonchar in last Saturday's TT. The trouble is really the rest of the day where I'm exhausted and tired. Sleep has been on the decline again, but I'm battling through it and I'll have all next week to get recharged. I'm really looking forward to skipping town.

This morning, though, I knew would be a big shock to the system and a chance to see what I'd lost. I was glad that Butts, Tomas, and Brad showed up. They made the group as strong as it ever is. So I knew I as in for some hard riding. Strangely enough, I had my best ride ever. I beat Brian on all four of the intervals and each time with a vicious kick at the end. I'm starting to question whether his wrist is entirely healed, but he says nothing's wrong. After the first two, I was hurting and the humidity was brutal. My stomach was turning over a bit and I had to think back to the last time I rode this workout and had to stop. Today though, it was all good and I powered past Brian on the Muur to take 3 of 3. The fourth wasn't my typical long escape but rather a stiff pace change on the last hill. I was very happy to be done at that point.

Coming down Military on the cool down, I got a front flat right at the bottom of the hill. That really surprised me and I noticed immediately how little control of the bike I had while riding on the rim. Thankfully, I was able to safely come to a stop out of the way and change the flat. Most of the guys had time to wait on me and I was thankful in case the cause of the flat reared its head later in the ride. It didn't and we made it back to the Java Shack safe and sound. I enjoyed watching about an hour of coverage of the first mountain stage of the tour.