AAAnd it's over!

Today was the last stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Dan Bowman brought the team it's top result and only finisher in the final crit with a super steep climb to the finish. The past five days have been pretty fun since most of the stages were short and within 100 miles of the "Warehouse" (a.k.a: Our soigneur Larry's loft apartment. It's actually pretty funny because all the riders are set up on inflatable mattresses in this huge storage room with a 15+foot ceiling. Most of the guys in town for the event, my self included, have been racing and traveling a ton over the last few months so it made for pretty relaxed racing on our part. Minneapolis is also the headquarters for Circuit Global Sports, the company that manages the KBS/Medifast Pro Cycling Team. The days have been really busy for the team not only racing but meeting with all the sponsors that are in town to check in on their team. Friday's downtown criterium was a big hit for the team with our mega crit rider Dave MCcook rolling across the line for fourth right in front of the VIP tent Presented by one of our sponsors MPC.

Our teammate Ried Mumford, who is recovering from his broken knee from our tour of Virginia recon, drove from Chicago with his wife to hang out with the team for the last couple days. Good to see him riding a bike again. However, he's still on crutches when not on the bike.

The race is over and now I'm just resting a bit before Larry's post race super party dubbed "Rally in the Ally". It's going to be quite large. Luckily my flight home isn't until 2P.M. tomorrow afternoon.

Nature Valley Grand Prix

Just a quick note since it's been, well, a long frickin' time. I'm here in Minneapolis at the NVGP. It is a five day stage race that started yesterday with a tight little 60minute crit. I was active and gave what I had to the team. Today was a really flat with a few rollers 65 mile road race. Of course with no trees or embankments it made for lots 'O wind. I actually survived quite well through the bad sections and was very close to making the main breakaway of the day (I was in it then had my left leg decide otherwise forcing me to fall back to the group). The course even had a half mile of dirt road in it so that made me feel a little better. Anyway, I've got to do a TV interview tomorrow at 8A.M. before the TT so I'm rolling to bed.