August 10:
AM: 4.6 km/2.8 mi Time Trial
PM: 150 km/92 mi Road Race

I felt like I was trying to ride my bike through a giant swimming pool today.  After an hour of racing, I had to stop to avoid a crash, and as I was picking my way through the pile, some guy creamed into the back of my and I went sommersaulting.  I landed on my feet, however my bike was buried under a giant pile of bikes.  I grab my bike and end up dragging the whole pile of bikes as I start bolting down the road.

August 11
160 km Road Race/100 miles
I felt great today and sat right in the middle of the peloton and did nothing all day.  We were strung out all day, and rode the whole hundred miles in 3:40.  We had 10 kilometers of cobbles in the finale, and when the rain started, it made for slippery, muddy day.  Our whole team missed the front group.  Zinko formed a train on the final stretch of cobbles, with me at the front hammering my brains out.  Jo was best of the rest, and I was two spots behind, but still in an embarassing place...

August 12
152 k/95 mi Road Race
Man, today we FLEW!  We had seven hills, plus the narrow roads and lots of turns that usually slow the pack down, but not today!  The third day of racing and we did 27 mph for a hundred miles!  The giant Dutch guys were at the front chasing the breakaway, and our entire team was collectively at the back.  I hung tough though and finished in the middle of the pack, but Jo uncorked a mean last lap and went from the very back with 6 miles to go to finish 6th.  We passed a speed radar on the side of the road that tells how fast you're going, and the thing says we're doing 57 kph (35 mph) on a flat road.  I dunno what they feed those Dutch guys.

August 13
185 km/115 mile Road Race
We started today with 131 races from 200 starters.  There's already two teams completely out plus another with only one rider.  For the first time today, we didn't fly from start to finish.  We moseyed off the startline, and when 12 guys attacked in the first kilometer, I almost went with them thinking I could sit on and get a free ride.  I should have, because we barely rode fast enough to keep from falling over for the first hour and a half.  The breakaway had some 6 or 8 minutes before they started chasing.  With about 50 k to go, we were doing the typical 30 mph with a cross wind, and I was sitting very last in the peloton thinking, "ok, we have to slow down sometime."  I didn't make it to that "sometime" and I got dropped.  I drafted in the caravan for 5 or 10 minutes or so under the evil eye of the commesaire, before the peloton eventually bunched up enough for me to leap frog back.  The lights finally went out with 5 miles to go, but considering that I rode the whole day after missing my feed bag, I considered that pretty good.