b a t t l e a t t h e c o v e team hotel san jose 1 team specialized 0 eff'n wenger! commanded his troops to perfection.. i don't think that i started off on the right foot though.. sick all week, didn't eat enough breakfast, didn't sleep well the night before, my hair's too long, didn't brush my teeth, etc.. ; ) race pretty much played out like it thought is was going to.. large field, early break, and lots of cross-wind, and back together at the end. the early break consisted of about 7 riders with 2 of my homeboys, scottie v. and aNut, making the move. as the field crawled along the break quickly gained lots of time.. as we hit the cross-wind on the first lap, bret started cranking the jack-n-the-box. before he knew it, the top popped open and all hell broke loose. immediately the field blew apart and broke into several echelons. by the time the smoke cleared, the field was whittled down to 30 and the break was in sight. once again, as we started the second lap, we were reduced to a crawl and the break vanished again... blah.. blah.. blah.. we roll on for the next hour at a leisurely pace.. catching up with old friends and letting the miles tick away. as we continued our stroll, several groups caught up from behind and the field swelled to 50. as we reached the 75mi mark, things start to heat up a little bit.. the break now is back in sight and the field is gettin' a little itchy. as we hit the last big hill on the course a small break is starting to form... i decide to jump from the field and make an attempt to bridge the gap. i make contact with the quartet at the bottom of the hill and decide to get out of the saddle and accelerate up the hill. as i put pressure on my right leg... snap! my leg completely locks up and kicks me out of my pedal.. sending me across the road and into the ditch. as i sit there and try to stretch it out, i have to watch the field cruise by and the race is gone... from here on out, i'm not really sure what happened. i was told that the break was caught on the hill and the field split once again with 20 riders going clear. the eventual winner was dq'd for motorpacing off a truck for a short while but put in a hell of a ride to stay away for the final 12 mi's. the official win was awarded to phil wikoff of team hotel san jose... all-n-all.. i was a little disappointed with my performance. i felt pretty descent at the start, really bad in the middle, and then started to feel alive again towards the end... but that's the way racing goes. all i can do is keep riding my little 10-speed and hope for the best... next up MEXICO! making my mama proud... surFnick