Most of us still seem to be experiencing some jet lag. We all go to bed by 10 p.m., but for some reason we wake up at around 4 am every morning. Which kind of sucks because than we’re tired and ready for bed at like 8. We force ourselves to stay awake hoping that we will be able to sleep longer that way. So far that idea hasn’t worked. We got up and had breakfast this morning and discussed a bit of strategy for the race. breakfast consists of Hard Boiled eggs, pasta, rice, pancakes, french toast and fruit plus coffee, tea and orange juice. the race starts at 9 am so we eat fast and then got everything ready for the start. Thankfully the Start/Finish line isn’t far from the hotel and the “Pit” is only about a block away. Good, ‘cuz don’t feel like lugging around my tools and spare wheels all over the place. The buses and trucks that are here to transport the teams to the S/F and pit areas aren’t very reliable. I waited for 30 minutes for a bus to take me to the pit area before I learned that it was a block away.
It looked like a fast course today. A big rectangle (about 2 km) with 4 corners and 2 long straightaways. There was a slight breeze which made for a tailwind into the finishing stretch. The pit was opposite the S/F line on the back stretch. The front and back stretch came up and down a river and then crossed 2 bridges in between. it was completely flat and pretty wide open. I could see the S/F line form the Pit, but could hear the roar of the crowd as they came thru. Oh well. that’s what race radios are for. The race was 36 laps with intermediate sprints on laps 8, 16 and 24. Alberto wanted to go for the first Sprint to find out who the fast guys were and test out the course for the finish. The race started without a hitch. Brian and Chad did their parts to chase down some early breaks while Alberto get himself in position for the first Sprint. The field had slowed up a bit coming out of turn #2 and Brian was already in the lead position with a small gap, so Alberto bridged up to him and went for the sprint. he stayed out through turns 3 and 4, but got caught coming up the finishing stretch. he held on for 4th place, but definitely went too soon. oh well, that’s why he went for the first sprint, to size up the field and figure out the best tactic for the finish.
The next 24 laps went by pretty fast. Lots of break attempts but nothing successful until lap 25. A group of 4(2 from HSBC, 1 from China and 1 from ?) got a 30 sec. lead and held it for the rest of the race. Brian and Alberto were two of the most aggressive at bringing them back, but the teams involved were happy to let those 4 sort it out for the win. the lead never got below 20 sec. before jumping back up to 30 sec. at the finish. The guy from China took the win while HSBC and ? finished off the podium spots. Alberto was the highest placer for us at 10th, followed by Brian at 14th and Vladimir came in 21st. Chad and Gavi finished with the pack and got the same time.
After the race we all headed back to the hotel to pack everything up. We had to check out of the hotel and pack all the bikes into a big container for shipping to Shenzhen, China. Packing up was easy, getting from Hong Kong to China was not so much. It was about an hour bus ride to the border where we all had to get off the bus, collect all of our luggage and other gear and proceed on foot through customs. We had to carry all this crap for at least 1 km while standing in a huge line. Customs wasn’t too bad. None of us got pulled aside and strip-searched or anything like that. After we all cleared customs we got back onto the bus and drove the rest of the way in to Shenzhen.
China is very different form Hong Kong. For one thing, In HK most of the signage was written in both Cantonese and English so it was pretty easy to get around and figure out what was going on. Not here! Bye, Bye English. Some of the people we’ve met so far speak some Engrish, but not many, and there are no english “sub-titles”. This should be interesting. I can foresee a lot of pointing and gesturing over the next week or so, followed by lots of blank stares.
The bikes that we packed onto the truck earlier in the day arrived safely at the Guest House where we will be staying. It’s just a hotel, but the rooms are smaller and the beds are hard as a rock. Should be good for my back though, right?
Chad, Brian, Andrew and I went off to get some Chinese money and wander around until Dinner was served. That gave us about 30 minutes. Just enough time to get some cash and then get lost. Not entirely, but we did have to stop and look around and ask each other… OK, the hotel is over that way, right? I think it’s an understatement to say that there are a shit-load of people in this city. It’s like trying to walk around Times Square on New Years Eve! We did eventually make it back to the Hotel and had dinner with the rest of the team. It has been a long day it’s time to get some sleep. See you tomorrow.
