Fantastic weather.

Absolutely brutal, today was... 5am alarm followed by 1hr transfer in a raging snow storm that didn't stop until two hours into the race. You get the idea. The start of today's US Open was delayed because the helicopters wouldn't fly in a blizzard, not for saving the riders from hypothermia. The lone coffee shop in town made a killing off the Caffeine-starved racers awaiting the star, myself included. It was pretty wild hanging out at the Java hut with the entire US Pro peloton.

Getting dressed was a huge challenge today. Since most teams arrived in VA with minimal cold weather gear we were forced to get creative to keep the wind, snow and icy road spray at bay. The Kelly team rocked the toilet scrubber yellow rubber gloves to keep the gloves dry and Zip-Lock bags for our shoes, knee's and hips. Can't get much more water proof than cheap plastic and rubber. We stayed in the Saabs with the heat cranked until the pack was actually rolling down the road. The day started with the entire peloton/caravan taking a wrong turn. We flipped it, made the "right" turn and we were off on our frozen journey. Almost every time we rolled under trees the pack would get pelted by frozen chunks rainy down on us.

I Almost got dropped a couple times during the cross-wind sections. I was taking back some clothing to the team car and when I got back to the pack it was in the gutter and I was forced to dangle at the back which is practically THE most difficult position to be in when it's windy. Felt really good on the Circuits in Richmond and climb near the front on the first 5 laps (look close in the coverage, you'll see my red gloves). Johnny, Reid and Ryan justified our sponsor's investment today with some nice NBC breakaway airtime. My good friend Dr. B(onk) visited me on laps 6 and 7. I hate that cruel bastard. GEL gel gel. I will not race without that sticky slime ever again. The bars I had in my pocket were frozen and it was extremely difficult to find the time the mess with them during wicked fast circuits. I finished. Bla bla bla.... and bla! Surprisingly there were only a few crashes today. I narrowly missed being a part of the big one again. There were these train tracks on the left side of the road on part of the circuit and a guy rolled into one at the perfect angle and BOOM, quarter of the pack tasted the sterile Richmond pavement.

I'm worked and I've got a beverage in me so to bed to bed tobed tooobed. Harri-Roubaix Tomorrow! I'm bringin' some teammates.