Sound Familiar?

Our newest European neopro Matthew Busche (Radio Shack) of Wauwatosa, WI writes about his first time back in the peloton after a two week bought of illness. The whole blog his here and it's great reading, but here's an exerpt:

For me, today was fast and it seemed that every time I thought I was moving up in the field, we would come around another corner and I was would see at least 100 guys strung out already 200 meters up the road. I found it nearly impossible to move up because of the speed and technicality of the course. It was like a giant criterium with turns coming at least every kilometer, or so it seemed. These factors also made eating and drinking a chore. For the entire race today I drank ONE water bottle and ate far less than was needed. The water bottle situation was created by a few factors. At some point during lap one, I hit a pot hole on these wonderfully conditioned Belgian roads and out hopped bottle number one. Shoot!