They mountains started in earnest today and they didn't disappoint.

Oh and before I go on. I would like to write a little disclaimer. All of these entries have been written on my Blackberry and my bn button doesn't work well, I am at altitude and... well, I have a lot of excuses.

So anyway, about the mountains. Yesterday offered a little taste things to come with the Columbiere. Today, though, was the real deal, with six categorized climbs. There were attacks from the gun and they didn't let up until we crossed the line.

Racing up and then down the climbs made for a really hard and stressful day. One of our lieutenants is out of the race because of the descent down the Roseland.

It was scary as hell and I am not too much of a man to admit it. Stuey and Fabian go really fast downhill, they put Valentino Rossi to shame. The only problem is that some of us can't stay out of their way. Fabian passed the entire peloton and we were already flying to begin with.

So Stuey is out and I am sure that you will read about him in the future. We are all more than sad to lose him as he is strong, smart and funny. All traits that make for a great teammate and friend. I know I am speaking of him like he died but he is really busted up badly. We will miss him big time.

The rest of the race played out a lot like other massive mountain days with all of us chasing the Chicken through the Alps. Usually when he decides to launch we rarely catch him. He now owns two jerseys and might not relinquish either of them.

We are now done with the first third or so of the race. We held the jersey for seven of those stages and maybe we burnt some matches, but who cares? Like I said the other day it hurts whether you’re at the front or the back.