I'm battling a case of insomnia right now so I figured I'd do a quick update on the last week's events.

Race Saturday-a 7 man breakaway got away early. I tried to bridge with two others. Went really, really hard-I could tell that was the winning move and if we'd gotten across I had a guaranteed result. Unfortunately all three of us blew up about 5 seconds from catching the move. Faded back to a second move of 10 guys or so. We were way out front and should have been gone but the breakaway got seriously dysfunctional and after 2 laps of attacking each other, then sitting up and coasting, we were caught by what was rest of the field. I paid for my early agression and blew up with three laps to go, placed 32nd.

Tuesday-big field, 200 riders on a very tight 12.5k course. We had wind, cobbles, no hills bigger than an overpass, small roads, and 12 laps for 150k total. The race was fast but never super hard. I did a good job of staying at the front but kind of raced like a wuss since I was having some stomach problems and didn't want to go to deep and dnf. Missed the breakaway with 2 laps to go but had a teammate in it. Just finished in the field. To prepare for the race sunday Noel had us do 50 more ks after the race. With the warmup I had 210k in. Really tough day.

Thursday-No race, but we did a solid training ride in the flemish ardennes with tyler farrar of Garmin/Slipstream. He lives nearby in Gent and is a former National team rider, now in the Protour and gearing up for the Tour. He was a really cool guy, easy to talk to and super down-to-earth. He even bought us pastries and coke. I'll definitely be rooting for him to take a stage win at the tour.

Now I'm resting up for Fleche-Ardenaisse. It's a 172k top competition race in the Ardennes, on the same climbs as liege-bastogne-liege. The numerous 2-4 kilometer hills suit me well so I hope I can have a good day, ride smart, and hammer out another result.

Then next week I switch gears back into classics mode-for the IWT Classic on Wednesday, a 1.2 with Professional Continental teams like Topsport-Vlaanderen showing, and then another top competition race Saturday at the Omloop Het Niuwsblad for Amateurs-(formerly Het volk). Both races are Belgian classic style-numerous bergs, both cobbled and paved, including the infamous Muur de Gerardsbergen. Not necessarily my style of racing, but I'm excited to race on such legendary roads.