Philly: Crashed and burned!

Finally some internet. We are kicking it at host housing in Minnesota getting ready for the Nature Valley Grand Prix prologue. I don't go off until 6:55 tonight and it is only 4.5 miles. Don't worry, you can still completely detonate yourself in that short of a distance and if all goes well, I shouldn't blow up until about mile 3 tonight. We got out on the TT bikes this morning and they feel pretty comfortable. I think I might get to use the disc that Lemond used in the 89 Tour when he won. It is so old.
The last day of Philly week was great for the team and one of the coolest racing experiences I have ever had. The whole city pretty much shuts down to put on the race in downtown. The Philadelphia paper said that there were 500,000 spectators out cheering and I believe it. I thought the cross racing crowds were big. It was awesome, the entire course was lined with people totally wasted and high on crack at 9:00 in the morning. Hey, if that is what it takes to get people out there screaming for you. I had a good race and felt great early on in the 156 miles. The famous Manyunk climb was very difficult, but not as hard as battling the other riders for position going into it. A few laps I had great position and it was a piece of cake to stay at the front with the big guns. On the 6th lap out of 10 up Manyunk, I was leading the way and covered an attack from Danny Pate and then Ivan Stevic. I felt good! My luck changed though when coming around the feed zone for the 7th lap. I didn't even see it coming. A red Clif Bar water bottle attacked my front wheel in the feed zone, flinging me to the pavement. Actually, I just hit it and wiped myself out. Rookie! I got up slowly and almost threw in the towel. I looked for the team car but it was know where to be seen because Ken was squawking someone's ear off about how one time he saw someone go backwards at 100mph in a team car or something stupid. I got back on the bike and had to hold onto the team car to get a new radio, mine was done for the day. Alejandro paced me back up to the main group. I didn't feel the same after the crash and my left glute was super sore. I took the entire fall on my butt cheek. Whaa! Going into the 8th lap there was another crash and laid it down gently on top of Antonio Cruz. The field was drilling it for position just before Manyunk so I had a hard time getting on. I made it onto the back in time to avoid another huge crash. I tried to claw my way up Manyunk but was to blown from my effort of chasing on and got gaped out. I was done at mile 114. As I finished my ride of shame back to the feed zone tent the fans cheered me on the entire way. It was pretty cool how many people were out there watching the race. What an awesome experience.
My teammates did well. Andy Guptill (Guppy) impressed me even more with a solid finish in the top 30. Frank Pipp (AKA "Some on grabbed my seat in the sprint", Pippsy) finished 14th in the sprint with the leaders. And Dustin Macburnie got in the early break and won the KOM competition and got a big check. Lucky Dawg! So the team did well. Unfortunately we lost one of our riders, Eneas, and he broke his collarbone. Bummed for him as he just got back from a broken wrist and was riding awesome.
So that is it for now. I will update after the time trial. I think my riding is getting better. No results to really prove it to you, but this road racing stuff is not as easy as you think. Looks like Todd Wells (Wellsy) is going o be racing with us in Fitchburg. Great, I guess I should start getting myself ready for the verbal abuse now.