La Ruta day 3

Quote/understatement of the day came from Cory Wallace post race: "those guys are pretty hard to keep up to on the climbs" referring to the top 5. Cory had a great day, finishing 7th, and being the only one among that group of top riders who actually carries more than one water bottle at a time and has to stop at the aid stations.

Yesterday we joked around that if he beat Roberto Heras, he might just have to hang up the bike and use that to tell tall tales about, but it wasn't expected to happen so quickly.

Today's weather and stage were great. I enjoyed the day more or less from start to finish, but I had a really hard start. I wanted to sit down for a while and take in the view, but I managed to spin easy for a while until feeling crummy passed.

When I'm fit my body responds to efforts day after day, here it's taking a little more coaxing... it's a painful event to try to ride into form. Having said that, I did find a little power after the first hour such that the last 2 hours of the climb were a little more fun.

All the crew finished and will have their tales, but today wasn't epic (other than the size of the climb/descent)... but no crazy weather or mud or heat or wrong turns from anyone I've spoken to. Just a hammerfest bike race along the side of the country's biggest mountain. Fun!

Gang chilled in the pool and is now getting ready for dinner - surprise! - rice, beans, plantains and 2 meats to chose from. Same as breakfast and dinner all week.