Cascade Stage 1 - Energy Conservation or Doing Nothing?

Stage 1 done and this epic race is on! Hot was the word of the day - 90 and basically no shade - and for a while the field wallowed at snail pace. We heated up for the sprint, then a QOM hill followed by a regrouping, then some hard sections of attacking on flat windy terrain, then a straight run into the finish. All in all it was kind of a mellow day and I felt fine on the single hill. Maybe it was mellow since I should have helped teammates cover moves more, but I went through a small period of feeling like death from the heat. It seemed destined to stay together, so sometimes it's a hard call to know how vigilantly to patrol the front. Because the racing at the front was super hard, but riding in the field was largely a very easy ride (HEAT ASIDE). There were a few moments when I thought a strong team could have split the field in a cross wind - PEI style - but the racing was just not that tough. I think everyone viewed the stage in the context of the stage race. Team is a great group, everyone rode well. Of course then when you see that rockstar Evelyn Stevens (this time guest riding on Webcor) attacked with 1k to go and WON, you think, DANG, I could have at least covered that. But ah well, on to the next mission: today's epic stage - a long flat drag into a 10-mile finishing climb on a 73-mile day with 90-degree temps. We will be aiming to place a rider in the early break and hope to do something cool! Photos courtesy Niles.