TP day 7

So my plan for rest day didn't quiet work out as I had in mind. I started out very well, off the start I made sure to at least have one girl with me, that to ensure I kept a rest pace. It ended up with the Polish girl, I cant say her name well or spell it so I'll leave it out, but a strong steady rider this week. We have one guy starting with is as well, and he hung on as well. He came here from the USA and will as Craig, ride the continental divide race later this summer, though staring in the South. He rode very strong on the road, and eventually the Polish girl fell off and not until the super pull duo, Henry and Bart showed up did we loose the American. So at this point around 50km in my rest plan was working ok. The next 100 km was not so much rest. The two guys are very strong and to hang on specially asphalt flat or up road I give it my all. A few times the thought came of letting them go, but quickly another thought of being out there alone all day came and took over, so push that extra as on the slight down slope I can rest. But not too much as you can see what happens if u rest your mind too much. We were going pretty fast down a gravel road around 60km from finish and I made a mistake on my line choice and knew right away it was bad news and think I even got a swearword in before the crash. Went down pretty hard, and slid for a bit (felt long, and long enough to scoop up a good handful of nice tiny rocks that is now in the shower reminding me of the slide). When things came to a still, a few more swearwords and no more time to waste as I was holding up the pull duo, so back on bike, still putting out some words. The boys rode behind me for a few minutes after that, maybe to let me vent it out, thanks for waiting and letting me continue to hang on! My brand new shammies are broken :(
Close to the end another rider, not from the main start rode up to us, and from there the pace went up slightly. And when we got an update that the main group was about 4 min back it went up even more. This was about 10 or so km from finish. Non of us were sure of distance today as there was a detour earlier. I was hoping for 147, but when we passed 147, and all I saw was fields and dirt road, I knew I was wrong. And shortly after I let the three boys fight it out for the win. I finished right behind them but first got stung by bee as turned to go toward the finish line! Might as well have it all in one day. The main field never got us today, they came in about 4-5 min after. And of course Craig was there, John was pretty much right there and Erik was right behind him, and all had a great day.

Tomorrow is a big day again, not like today wasn't, but in the organizers view these flat days are easy, tomorrow we get some big climbs in the end to look forward too. Right now I'm not even sure how I'll get on my bike, but I will finish this race, if tomorrow take me all day! My massage after the race is getting tricky as one side is not really that nice for them to touch, and on the other leg I have a slightly infected dog bite that they really wanna work on, so today it was more stretch and rub, which nevertheless felt amazing.
The dinner tonight was also amazing, finally ice cream! Had a nice big bowl that should have sleep good tonight.

No race brief tonight, not until morning. I believe my start is at 811, main group at 9, and stage 8 will be 138km long and I sure lots of elevation.
Can't wait to see the beach in about 2 days!

Happy Racing!