I am still not sure how we pulled the win off, but we did.  George seemed very happy to have his 3rd jersey, and I was very happy to be part of this one.  After the race we headed to the Hincapie office for the annual after race party.  My wife, Courtney, had been planning the party, and a fashion show to coincide, for the past month.  It was a very stressful month to say the least, so I was excited to see her hard work pay off.  The party was a huge success, of course.  You could not have fit one more body in the building.

The fashion show was awesome as well.  George’s and Rich’s kids were to first to walk out and put a smile on everyone’s face, and the show was closed by Pat McCarty doing a karate kick at the end of the runway, something you had to experience to realize how funny it was.

Sometime during the party George said he wanted Courtney and I to go to New York with him the next day, an opportunity we just couldn’t pass up.  After heading downtown for one more drink, and to see Floyd Landis sing a few Kid Rock songs, we called it a night and headed home to pack up for the last minute trip.

Before we knew it we were in New York and already having lunch.  After came a little bit of shopping, a few more drinks and a quick drive out to Queens to watch the opening matches of the US Open.  By this time we were all starting to fade fast, which was unfortunate, as you want to really enjoy these rare moments as much as possible.

Venus Williams was playing in the first match.  I was excited to see her play, but she wasn’t at her best and her match went on for nearly three hours! It really seemed to take forever.  By the time Andy Roddick came out for the next match we were ready to go back to the hotel and sleep.  We did stay around just long enough to see a few of his 130MPH serves, very impressive.  So fast, that in our court-side seats all you could see was a fuzzy yellow blur.

After a long night, which saw me come down with a touch of food poisoning, we boarded the plane and were back in Greenville by lunch time on Tuesday.  A trip like that is a good way to kill two days, it flew by way too fast.  I spent the rest of the week trying to bounce back from the trifecta of H1N1, the NY trip and the food poisoning.

The Tour of Missouri is now fast approaching, and I am really looking forward to racing with our team there.  We had so much  fun last year, and it is always nice to race in America.