Cascade Classic - Stage Two

That was one, hot and hard stage.  The course today was slightly downhill for much of the first half of the 80 miles with one small pitch up before the final climb of the day with the three creeks mountain.  I did a much better job at staying near the front of the peloton yesterday than I did today.  The only place it really was an issue was the final 10-15 mile climb, when there was a crash at the base of the climb.  Luckily I was far enough to the side of the road and avoided it, but people were chasing like crazy to reconnect to the front before the gradient went up.  I needed to be even further at the front when when the steep sections came because I found myself passing alot of people moving from group to group.  I think this took too much energy out of me, because the last 3-4k I was absolutely spent and my body told me so.  I bonked big time from getting sick, and got passed by quite a few people before the finish line.  I think my expectations on the climbs were a bit too high, since last year this would have been alot more doable, but I just didn't have the legs to go uphill any faster.  I wasn't a total bust, but just a bit dissapointing since I was climbing decently.  My overall GC dropped a bunch but at least I get to move on too tomorrow!