Tour of Murrieta

ToM was a great race for the DET. Here's a quick recap:

Stage 1: Hard. Lotta pro squads-Kelly, Toyota, Rock, Jelly Belly, BMC. Ouch. Breaks went and the field split a few times. Windy. We were throwing the boys at the front, but nothing was sticking. Field sprint time. With 4 to go Kelly wound up the lead out only to crash in the first corner. Not cool a) pros aren't supposed to crash when leading the field and b) the Kelly guy at the bottom of the pile got F-ed up! Zack and Marc hit the deck, but were okay. Sky and I survived, but I was gapped. Skyler rode like the pro he is and freelanced the sprint for 7th. Very nice. It was a good team effort even with the crash in there.

Stage 2: Harder. We wanted to stay in the GC so the plan was to get Sky into the sprint or into the break/split. Jose and Zack were going to cover moves and make sure we were represented. Marc and I were tasked with looking after Skyler-get him drinks, move him around, keep him out of the wind, keep him fresh for the action. The course was awesome and so was the weather. The wind picked up and so did the action. A few laps from the finish the field split under pressure from the heavies AKA Dominique Rollin and Neil "Don't Call Me" Shirley. Everyone was on board and the race shut down behind us. I made the move for the team but Skyler didn't. What now? Wait for Skyler and if I was isolated go for a good stage result. At the finish Karl Bordine slipped the break and won to once again remind the pro teams they passed up one of the best guys in the US-they don't just give away Elite TT Championships!!! I hung on for 18th-nothing special but a good effort. Skyler busted out the fast legs again and took 4th in the field sprint. In the end Sky took 15th overall and I got 25th. We were happy with our race. We headed off to dinner with Karl and the guys.

Next up DEL MAR!

Chris