The Pros on Home Turf

Duff and I joined the dudes on the team for a 5 hour ride. There's a professional cycling race in the area, the Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana, and they told us we were going to go watch the peloton climb on of our training climbs. Perfect day for it: blue sky and hot. We thought it was gonna be a "tranquilo" day, but they informed us it was "at rhythm" or something. This was made clear when one of the Cuban's friends, Ruben Plaza (3rd in the world at time trialing), joined us on our ride out to watch (and to make pace at the front of our group with the Cuban).

So whenever we hit a climb it was hard.

Watching the race was cool. We had a great vantage point on the edge of a cliff with miles of curvy roads in view. First you see the police and the officials, then the 3 man break, and then the bright peloton as it trucks its way around the steep, banked corners.

As they ride by, they take up the full road, so after a few moments of cheering I realized I was about to be run over by none other than Vinokourov, and I had to lean back as far as I could without falling off the side of the road. Up close, you can see that these guys are machines: their legs look enormous when they're on their bikes. They're of the species that led Roman armies to battle. Testosterone-filled (and overfilled?) men.

Some Saunier Duval pro joined us for the ride home. He had the team bike and was super nice and I enjoyed talking to him. I didn't bring enough food and cracked on the last moments of a big hill, catching up with the guys on the downhill, before cracking again on the last hill home. I limped my hungry body back to the flat before devouring my week's supply of food and falling asleep at the dinner table.