Day one was a little soul-crushing.
All my fears came true…and I guess it wasn’t that bad.I worried about how gnarly the start would be and yeah, it heated up real quick. Couple of dudes cut me off because of course, they would. And then others did later, hitting my front wheel. Always an asshole in the crowd.I worried about the downhills and having someone on my ass, which always makes me nervous because if I go down, they’re running me over. There were plenty of times people were right behind me on the downhill but most people were respectful and waited to pass.I worried about slipping out in front of people on an uphill. I did. I apologized. No one cared.So, that’s helped settle a lot of nerves.To the race itself: I kept getting caught up in other racers’ pace and had to constantly remind myself to dial it back. I tried to conserve energy but even then, I still feel pretty gd tired.The climbing is fucking relentless. My legs are literally tingling right now. I’m currently in second place in the GC, down by five minutes. Now to recover more for tomorrow’s stage.