A very long day for us today in St. Louis. Me and my roommate for the week, George, were up early as we are still adjusting from the one hour time change.  We headed down to the Starbucks in our lobby and found a few other of the Columbia boys. After catching up over a cup of coffee it was off to the breakfast buffet and right onto the bikes for a morning spin. Bob Stapleton and Brendan Quirk also joined us for a lap around town. It was great to have them riding with us and I was impressed at how well Bob was riding.

Once back from the bike ride we headed right back to the lunch buffet. Yes, we do spend plenty of time eating at these races. I always seem to put on a little weight during a stage race, but when your pushing your body so hard everyday you really can’t count calories. Its always better to play it safe and eat a little more.

The US Open is in its fourth round now and we spent the time leading up to the race watching a few of the matches.  Its hard to believe I was in the crowd there in New York watching just a week ago.  As we were watching tennis we were also looking out the window of our room and down at the different categories racing the Gateway Cup.  It was pretty aparent that the temperatures were warming up as well. It was going to be a hot one for us.

The race itself was not too difficult. Three guys rolled up the road on the first of ten laps and we started riding our tempo immediatly.  One thing we do very well on Columbia is taking hold of the race and never hesitating to control the race.  We held them around one minute the whole day and they finally surrendered with less than two laps to go.

With twenty kilometers still to race we had to fight off a few late attacks, but we kept it together for Cavendish to do his thing. He didn’t disappoint either, winning the race in a fine fashion. He will also receive a very nice motorcycle for the win. I’m not sure if he will be able to get that back to Italy, so I’m hoping he will want to park it in Greenville!