Counting Kilometers, lads...

Alright, so now I have finally landed in a B&B with Wifi. So far my first visit to Ireland has been greeted with unusually good weather. In fact the locals have said this is the best weather they've seen in the past 57 years of the Irish Tour.

The style of racing is pretty chaotic since the teams are so small, only 5 riders, and the routes lack hugely decisive climbs. The other mind bender, at least for those of us driving/riding on the right side of the road, is constantly having to think "left, left, left". Just trying to cross the road can be dangerous since one must go against established instincts. Look right, then left. Stay alive. The passenger seat in a vehicle is just as frightening as I question the ability of others to be on the ball while going with such an unnatural flow of driving on the left.

The roads take the us through some amazing scenery but the surface is "absolute shite" as the locals would say. Riding on the side of the field while moving up can be really scary as the edge of the road seems to just crumble away.

Stage one (157k) took us from Naas, just south of Dublin, to Templemore. I felt great for the most part and was able to push it over the cat two climb called "the cut" in the front of the bunch, just behind the breakaway. A bit of a struggle over the top with my left leg deciding to play it's "shut down" trick. Over the top I was able to recover on the decent and turn my self inside out at the front of the field to reel in the breakaway, witch we did by the finish. My first tempo day at the front of the field included about 50K of work. I was shattered at the finish.

Stage Two (147K) sent us from Templemore to Loughrea during which I was suffering the effects of the previous day having to chase up through the caravan on one occasion. I came around in the final 50k and was able to ride for the team a bit.

Stage 3 (171K) Loughrea-Sligo. Suffering. I was coming apart at the seams all day. my leg is not feeling so good and that is not a good thing during an eight day stage race. The final 30k was stunning as we finished along the west coast.

Today: (Sligo-Dungloe 136k) It's raining.