Toona Stage 2...Blue Knob part 1

Happy to be sitting here on the couch, legs up, belly full of food and relaxing on this rest day.  Rain is falling outside here in Hollidaysburg, PA.  We continue to hang out at our wonderful host house.  Kenny is boss!  He roams around this house and chases the chickens to keep his seniority known.  He's a funny dude.  I think I now want a dachshund someday.

Anyway, yesterday was stage 2.  It was a 73 mile road race with a solid 4+ mile mtn top finish.  The race started off super hard, but soon settled a bit.  Several attempts to create breaks and finally one snapped.  Teammate Jake Tremblay was both strong and smart enough to get himself in the move.  He and 5 others would stay away all day......until the final climb.  The rest of the field settled in for the remaining portion of the race.  Hot weather, followed by a dose of heavy rains moved in as we approached the final climb.  Soon the field would blow up...climbers accelerating forward, non climbers settling in for a long hike upward.  Long, drawn out climbs always give you a chance to settle in and allow the pain to move into your legs.  They seem to last long enough to give you the opportunity to evaluate your efforts, stick with certain riders, push yourself beyond your normal means and push for the end.  Bottom line....it hurts....a lot!!

Results:  Jake Tremblay 12th on the day, Kevin Gottlieb 19th on the day, Jacob Mueller 29th, Paul Ward 42nd, Russ Brown 68th.  Both Jake and Kevin are in the top 20 GC and our team is sitting 5th in the team GC.  Overall, we are racing well and are looking to keep our 2 riders in the top 20 GC as well as chase the Team GC.

Saturday brings another hard road race.  93 miles with another trip up to Blue Knob, this one coming up the other direction.  Today we rest with a recovery ride, trip to the coffee shop and chill time with the many Bosak animals.

King Kenny nuzzled in for the night.