Tour of Ohio Report One

The first three days of Tour of Ohio were a rollercoaster for me. Stage One was a flat, short, eight-corner criterium. I got a terrible starting position, and consequently my race was over before it started. Everyone was really skiddish and many people crashed in ones and twos. Stage Two was bad. It was a torrential downpour before the race, and the rain hadn't stopped by the start either. I lost any nerve that I had and rode at the back. It didn't help and I was eventually dropped. Both Erik and Derek flatted. Bad day, let's move on. Stage Three was the king stage. There were many 300-400 foot climbs that stung out the group. Fortunately I was feeling much better, and was able to get to the front before the climbs and survive. About half way through the race I began to feel more confident and started to mix it up at the front. That was a mistake because just past half way there were two tough climbs back to back. I sank through the back like a rock sinks in water. I was just able to catch on by the second climb, only to get dropped even harder. The picture was the taken at the bottom of the climb where I got dropped. All in all I felt better about how I rode.