A look at the small separation from the AC joint and the clavicle.

A good shot of the hardware in my shoulder that probably helped stabilize the blow.  I always think it is crazy that I have those screws in there.

There are only a few races each year that carry the same vibe and excitement as the World Championships.  The only other ones that can maybe rival it are the spring classics and the Tour de France.  The media attention, the crowds and the history make it a very special race, and representing your country is always pretty cool.  Even if I am surrounded by riders I have raced against all year, for this one day we come together for a common goal, to do the best we can for the US.

Our team plan was pretty simple, just watch after Tom Danielson, and hope he is good towards the end.  The course was about as close as you can get to racing over big alpine passes, yet never doing a climb over two kilometers, sounds strange but it is true.  We were either going up or down, and there was always a constant pressure on the pedals.  The Italians and the Spanish, being the favorites for the win, did most of the work throughout the day, with the Australians biding their time to perfection, and placing Cadel in the winning move.  There is not much more you can say about the race tactically.  We traveled around the 13K circuit a total of 19 times, with a total of 4600 meters of climbing, and by the end I was shocked at how fast seven hours went.  With the laps so short and technical you had to always be focused so the time just flew by.  The race was also very steady and the distance basically wore everyone down.  All it took was a little nudge and the race blew apart.

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This week as absolutely flown by.  I brought all of these books, thinking that I would be bored out of my mind, but there has always been something to do to keep busy.  Thursday night Columbia-HTC had a team get-together so that all of us racing the Worlds could meet the new guys.  I think it was a good success.  Everyone is really friendly and I think they will all bring something great to the team.  Along with getting to know them we had a great dinner at what seemed like a farm house to me.  In Italy, those are usually where you find the best food, and you really eat “family” style, with endless wine and course after course being brought to the table.  I enjoyed that atmosphere very much, and I could have sat there all night.

Each day on the bike has been very enjoyable as well.  There is just nothing better than riding around the lake here.  It has taken some time to get my legs feeling normal again after the travel, but today I finally felt great, and I think I will be ready for the race tomorrow.

I have watched the women and the U23 race, and if those are any indicator it is going to be an epic day.  I feel that people are just going to start cracking as the race progresses.  My pick is Fabian Cancellara.  I know he is mainly known for his TTs, but the guy can get over some hills too, if you remember,  he did win the Tour of Swiss this year and 3rd at the Olympics last year.  I saw him twice yesterday out training (I think he somehow lapped me on the circuit) and he is super lean.

It was more of the usual traveling to Mendrisio the other day.  Nothing too special, just a very long six hour layover in Newark.  I spent my time there shopping and drinking way too many Starbucks coffees.  I am hooked on the Americano right now.

I arrived at our hotel only to realized I had started a race in the hotel parking lot last fall, small world!  It is such a beautiful area, I can’t even put it into words.  We are staying right on Lago di Lugano.  It is very similar to the famous Lake Como.  The riding is amazing as well.  The roads winds along the lake, in and out of towns, and if you want to do some climbing you just have to take any random road away from the lake and it will go up five to ten kilometers.  There is no other area in the world where I think cycling belongs more.

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I am traveling to Mendrisio today, and tonight actually.  I love flying out of Greenville as it only takes five minutes to check my bags and get to the gate, it doesn’t get any easier than that.  And today I was lucky enough to avoid the bike charge somehow.

Of course, this morning was the first day that I woke up and it wasn’t raining since I have been home, perfect timing as always.  I heard on the news that one town close by had had so much rain fall that it’s water lines were broken and they now have no running water.  Flooded with no running water, doesn’t sound like so much fun.

It should be another long day and night for me.  I have six hours to kill in Newark before my flight to Milan.  I should probably just grab a taxi and head into the city, but that might be a little too stressful.

This trip to Europe will be my fourth for the year and I still have one more to go in December for a training camp with the team.  I am hoping this one treats me a little better than my last transatlantic flight from Ireland.  Hopefully, once I have had H1N1 I will not get it again.

This past week has brought nothing but rain here In Greenville. It has made for a rough week of training.  About the last thing I like to do is leave the house with my rain jacket already on.  I took a few days easy once I got back from Missouri, I actually felt much better coming out of the race than going into it,  and I have started doing some big days to get ready for the upcoming World Championships.  How do you train for a race with 265 kilometers and 4700 meters of climbing?  I am not sure, I have never done that, maybe the closest thing would be LBL this year.

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