One of the last races I did in Spain. Took place in Valencia. I had no idea on earth why Julio (our director) wanted us to get up at 7am to go to a race that is over 6 hours away that contains a prize purse that pays a 1000 Euros to First place, 800 Euros to Second, and 650 to Third. The races in Spain pay out to the top 50 to top 25 depending on how big the race is. Now, with a race with a prize purse this large, you can bet on one thing to be certain. The racers who win this race will most likely be using something other than what the were born with. So why on earth would Julio take us SIX HOURS ONE WAY to go and do this race? Well it wasn't until after the race did we find out why.
Ahh, the trip to Valencia! It was beautiful, like most of Spain you will be in awe just about anywhere you go. On the way to Valencia we stopped at a little cafe and ate our lunch in this quick stop of a mountain town. One thing about Julio is that he is unique! As we were finishing up with our lunch stop he came over to the car with a big, happy smile and asked if we needed a last minute stop in the restroom. Well, I had actually just been thinking about this. Since we were all piling into the cars to leave, I knew it would piss Julio off. So, I was very surprised when he came over and asked if we needed to go to the bathroom. I thought about it for a second, and thought that taking care of a quick number two would keep me just a little bit happier as we traveled another three hours in a car. I decided to take him up on his offer. As soon as I showed a little spark in my eye with the thought of going to the bathroom Julio made his typical sound for being put out. You can try to recreate the sound yourself if you just loosen your shoulders and then throw your left hand up in the air from your hip. But make sure your elbow is away from your body, so your arm bends at a 90 degree angle. Now at the same time you have to exhale all the air in your lungs very rapidly and try to make it sound like this FFFFFWAAHHH! Now, if you master that, you can call me and give me a good laugh any time of the day. Make sure you are leaning your body into it and your head is hung low.
So I trot off to the bathroom as my teammates are laughing at our exchange with a happy grin on my face. I like Julio. As difficult as he can be, in more ways than I can even begin to tell you about he is a great guy.
A little bit of down time before the race leads us to the beach. I am happy to report that the six hour trip to Valencia was worth it. We walked out to the beach and there was a gorgeous Woman sunning herself with out the need of hiding her breast with any kind of man made substance. THANK YOU JEEBUS.
I went up to her and asked her where she was from. She instantly broke into a huge smile. She could tell that I wasn't Spanish and before she answered my question she asked me where I was from. I too broke into a huge smile, mostly because she was working with a beautiful tan and felt no need to cover up. I told her that I was from the States and she was full of excitement! Just kidding. I didn't talk to her. It's damn near impossible to talk to a woman who is top less when you have slobber dripping over your toes. So I just stole a few glances as I walked by Five times. After the beach it was time.
Time to race
As usual the pre-race info we were given about where the sprints were located was incorrect. So we wasted a lot of energy at the front attacking for nothing. There was supposed to be a 300 Euro bonus at the one Kilometer mark. I never saw the sprint bonus so I kept drilling it in hopes that the distance was wrong, but after 17 Kilometers it was obvious that there was no bonus sprint. I guess, I actually realized this when we got to a very steep two kilometer climb. That was about the time that I was separated from the main group. I ended up in a 15 man chase group. When we got over the top of the climb it was finally time to go down hill. I killed it on the three kilometers down hill. I love going down hill. I looked back and I gapped everyone in our group. I was alone and closing the gap on the lead pack. When out of nowhere they took a sharp right. Things started to look very familiar, and when I took that Same sharp right I realized that we were headed back to the climb. I was killing myself to get back on and when I was on the tail end of the pack I blew up again. The pack that I had been in went right by me and I couldn't latch on. So luckily for me, there was another group of about twelve riders coming up behind me. My good mate Sam "the KIWI" was in the group, so we shared the time together. We were eventually pulled from the race and eventually all our teammates had been pulled and all that was left were the top thirty riders. But wait. Our team car being driven by Julio is still going around in the race caravan! Every time he went by us he would have either a serious face on or he would be pulling this huge grin. Freddie, who happens to be Julio's son was racing with us as well. Freddie's girlfriend, Carolina was riding in the car with Julio. Every time they went by she had this expression on her face like "ohhh, MY, GOD! What the hell is going on!" This just happens to be typical Julio. We stood around joking that Julio must be saying that if no one from his team can finish the race than he will! Well, as the race ended and things died down, we found out the truth about the race. Julio had been paid to bring us on a 13 hour round trip journey by the promoter. JA JA JA JA oh well. (the ja ja ja's are Spanish for ha ha ha)
The ride home was nice. The sky was blue and it wasn't crazy hot. Plus the team car has a tv in it and as we were going through Madrid that night to get back to Valladolid. We were able to pick up a porno channel. It mostly made for good jokes and helped pass an hour in a long tiring ride home. There are some things about Spain that I always complain about. But deep down in my heart I always want to go back. I love Spain. The culture, the people, everything has it's good and bad, but I would take it all for a chance to go back.
