Peace Race Tales of the Czech Republic

12 Hour drive then when we got to Litomerice in the Czech Republic everything was closed so wehad a granola bar each for dinner. 

Tuesday:
Spin for about 90min through Litomerice in the rain.

Stage 1:

It was a 17k loop followed by 8 10k loops within the town. The larger loop was nothing big and nothing really got away I was just chillin at the front
of the group the entire time. There were two cobbled sections on the smaller loop and the first time through the second section was when my seatpost
busted and the saddle's nose went almost completely down. The small loop had about 10 corners, two downhills, a complete 180 degree turn, one flat
cobbled section and another cobbled climb. With 20k to go in the race the peloton got way to bunched up in one of the corners and the guy next to me
took me out. I got immediately back on my bike and started chasing, but somehow my rear tire was flat and the neutral support vehicle was across the
street where the entire caravan was driving. It took them about 45seconds to get to me and another 40seconds to change the wheel which my gears did not
work with. I spent the last 20k chasing off the back alone and in the rain.  Grant and Joey both went down on the flat cobbled section after it rained a little bit.  

Stage 2:

1800 feet of climbing over three KOMs. The first hill I stayed with the main group and we caught the leaders on the downhill. The second hill I was
gapped a little off the back of the main group and the third mountain was when I was shelled out of the back of the main group and could not chase
back on. After the third climb it was 25km to the finish which I did mainly alone, but caught one guy who I worked with to the finish. Grant crashed and
had to get a his bike replaced, but he eventually worked his way up.  Everyone else stayed up that day. 

Stage 3a:

12km with one medium sized hill climb. My legs were starting to feel better that day and I felt like I could put down a good TT. They started us at 1min intervals and I was third to go. With about 4km to go in the TT I caught my
one minute man and by the finish I was about 400m away from my two minute
man. I got 67th and the best placed guy on the team got 8th.  

Stage 3b: 

My legs still felt really good from the morning TT and I was looking forward
to the RR. I was waiting around the roll out about 20min from the start
waiting for them to do roll out and with about 10min to go everyone made a
mad dash to the start line and there was no roll out. I got stuck in the
back of the pack at the start and starting moving up the pack immediately
when at about 2km into the race there was a big crash that I went down in. I
got back up immediately and yanked the bike free from the pile up and
started to chase back on. The crash happened because the police did not
completely pull a semi off the road and the road went from two lanes plus to
3/4 of a lane instantly. Needless to say there definitely was not enough
room for everyone on the road and the guy two ahead of me went down and I
just kind of rolled over the top of him and hit the ground with no damage. I
spent the rest of the race chasing back on and eventually caught a group of
about 30 guys that had two of my teammates in it. When I caught the group Grant had just attacked on one
of the smaller climbs and gotten away. Then with about 10km to the finish my
team mate Zach and I rolled away on one of the climbs and just went with it.
We took one other guy with us and we worked nicely together until about 1km
to go when Zach and I attacked the dude we were with. The group of thirty
finished a little ways behind us.  

Stage 4:

This was one the decisive day. It was one 20km climb followed immediately by
a 4km climb with the course crossing into Germany at about 50km in. I got
shelled with 2km to go in the big climb and couldn't really rail the
downhill since it was pouring rain. I caught a group of 8 guys who were
intent on just pedalling easily to the finish. I attacked this group on the
second climb and got really far away from them. When on a flat section they
all pulled up along side me drafting off one of the follow cars which
needless to say made me very angry. I hopped on the back of this group which
had one of my teammates in it. I was on the back of the line when the guy in
the middle of the line couldn't take the pace anymore and just popped
leaving Joey (my teammate) and I screwed over behind him. I jumped around
but couldn't close the gap down to the car. I was so pissed at the guy that
I attacked him and did a solo 60km TT to the finish. BTW the course profile
says flat but it was not even close to flat. Near the finish I keep getting offers to stop and drink some
beer with those watching the race which put me into a much lighter mood and
I  laughed about it after the finish. We ate lunch in Germany and it was
really gorgeous out. One guy Polish guy broke his leg on the downhill. 

Stage 5:

101km long with with four 300m climbs and four 200m climbs to make a total
of 6000feet of vertical. My legs were dead from the day before and I lost
contact with the group over the third climb. Before the race the Team
Director told us if we weren't with the main group at 50km to go then we
should find Alex (sogneiur) and pull out of the race to get ready for the 12
car ride home. I pulled out at the fourth climb where Alex was and got to
laugh at those who came up the climb. I rode with one of the guys on the
German track worlds team and just enjoyed the beautiful day. I also snapped
some photos of the concentration camp in Terenice. Overall, two guys
finished and the top place guy was in 24th. (The ride home is a story onto
itself.)