Three stages into Cascade now and managed to move into the lead this morning.  Came close in the first two stages, was outkicked at the finish of stage one and botched the finish of stage two by going too early.  Narrowly beat my teammate Ben Day in the tt but was able to put 30 seconds into Chris Baldwin.  Very excited.  The tt was challenging, 7.5 miles out a gradual drag on rough pavement then U turn and fly back to the finish.  Rolled the 57×19 and 21 most of the way out then just stayed on top of the 57×11 and 12 on the way back.  Think I should have 13 seconds or so on Baldwin now, I’m sure that Chris and everyone else is going to be on the attack tonight.  90 minute technical twilight criterium in downtown Bend.  I think that the team is up to the task and should be able to get through this evening.

Having a few cruisey days as a bit of a midseason break.  Things went well in Minnesota at Nature Valley, gave it a go in a long breakaway, had a decent tt, and put in some good digs on the hard finishing circuits of the final two days. Ended up finishing 4th overall, 1 second off the podium.  Pretty happy with that result considering it is a flat race decided primarily on time bonuses.  Resting up in Boulder now, putting in some long rides on the Monster and catching up with old friends. Cascade is up next, hoping that it is going to be a good one.