Since my last update quite a bit has happened. I raced in two French Cup races along with Circuit de la Sarthe. I’ll skip the two French Cup races since they were pretty uneventful and I’d much rather forget about them. Circuit de la Sarthe on the other hand was a great race and our team did very well.

On stage 1, we were off to a great start with Kiki our strong French rider taking all the sprint bonuses. I crashed in the first stage landing perfectly in the grass next to the road without a scratch, so that was nice. I was able to hop right back into the race to finish with the same time as the rest.

The 2nd day was a double day with a 99 kilometer stage in the morning and then a 8.5 kilometer time trial in the evening. This was a very long day and it seemed as though we were on our bikes all day. The morning’s short stage went by without a problem. We all stayed out of trouble and tried to do our best to save it for the time trial later in the day. After a short lunch and nap we were off again to the time trial. We were all posting pretty good times until Kiki crushed it with a 5th on the stage. At this point Kiki was sitting 3rd overall so the teams plan was to give all we could for our tough French teammate.

Day three was a very tough day with 3 short but very hard climbs towards the end of the course. Over the first climb a quarter of the peloton disappeared and then the second climb about half of the field dropped off. At this point it was just me and Kiki and there was not much we could do. We hung in the small group of my guess about 39 racers and tried to set up as best as we could for the last climb to the finish. The pace lifted and we hit the last climb like a stampede of raging bulls. The last 5 kilometers was flat out and Kiki and I gave it hell to get across that line as fast as we could. After this stage Kiki now sat in 12th place overall just seconds out of the top 5. This was a good place for us going into the hardest stage 5 of the race.

Stage 5 consisted of 4 finishing circuits after racing 160 kilometers. On each lap there was an 18 % climb making out at 22 % at the top. This was like racing up Fillmore Street in San Francisco, maybe even harder. It was very difficult because just over the top was a flat section of about 500 meters and we only had about 3 kilometers to recover before hitting the climb again. Each time up the climb I saw Kiki, this was good because it meant he was strong. I stayed in the front every time over the climb making sure not to get stuck behind guys breaking there chains or even tipping over. Making the left hand turn into this WALL of concrete was so damn intimidating that I really did not look forward to doing it again. I was so happy when it was over. The last time over the top there were only about 30 of us left including Kiki and I, so that was awesome. He was so strong all the way to the finish. I was very impressed with his toughness on this stage. I hung in for the best of it and crossed that line very proud of myself to be able to race with the very best in this sport. After the race the team flew back to Girona. I went with Kiki back to his place in Orleon France where he lives with his wife and puppy cocker spaniel Blondy. It is so awesome to see how life is for a French rider.

Today we have just been fishing all day by the small river by his house. Kiki caught a huge carp about 8 kilos in weight the biggest one he has ever caught in this river so that was awesome. I think I brought him good luck but not much to myself ha ha. I caught a "stick" and that was it. Tonight we will have a French dinner of my guess Escargot and Rabbit. I’ve even picked up quite a bit of French for the one day I have been with him so far. Tomorrow we will watch Paris Roubaix and then leave for our next race which is on the 17th. I am really excited for this one because I believe my form will be awesome. The weather has been so nice here just like summer so I am hoping it stays that way. My next update will be when my girlfriend Callie is here so it will be a very happy one. I can’t wait to see her again. It’s been way too long. Us poor American cyclist!

Au revoir,

Steven