I've been counting down the days for this race since, well, the day after the last stage of last year's race. Why???? because last year Enumclaw was one of my 'A' races. I was in great racing shape and ready to do damage. I put in a ton of time on the TT bike, trained hard in the mountains of Issaquah and was racing with great teammates. The only problem was that my bikes obviously didn't share this enthusiastic, race ready feeling I had. It started out bad and got worse. You can read last year's blog if you want to share my pain but the short of it was.......I had a mechanical minuetes into the start of the TT and couldn't finish. I had to take the last place time. I started the stage 2 in DLF. No worries, that gave me the ability to really throw down and help my teammates that were contending for the GC. The crit went fine but then I double flatted in the road race. I was able to catch back on after the first flat but not after the second. It was on the last lap and I was half way through so turning around made no sense. I made the wet, lonely, ride back to the finish cursing the whole way. I think the locals are still talking about it.
So, how would things go this year. After my little chain jumping problem at Ravensdale I double and triple check all my bikes days before. You never know what's going to happen but there is no f'ing way it could be worse than last year, right?
I decided to take the RV out to the campground next to the start of the TT the night before. I got in a quick ride on the course and then gave my bike a quick pep talk. Not long after it began to rain. Then it began to pour. The forecast for Saturday did not look good and I just mentally prepared to race the TT and crit in the rain. Fun times ahead, right? My problem this year wasn't with my bikes, it was with me not remembering where I put the keys to my bike rack the night before. I knew (hoped) that they were somewhere inside the RV but for the life of me I couldn't find them. I called my wife and told her to bring backup and planned on getting a hacksaw and just cutting the bar attached to my TT bike. I was going insane but did manage to find them. My warm up time was cut to almost nothing and when I rolled to the start my HR was already at 150. Nice. I don't think I noticed that it had stopped raining, the roads were dry and the wind was barely blowing.
Stage 1 - Time Trial:
10k Horseshoe shaped course with one really short kicker half way in.
I've had a great year racing TT's and been really able to gage my efforts and have had a few wins. I think because of the self induced adrenalin rush I went out way too hard. I closed in on my 30 second man fast and then realized I was not in control. My breathing wasn't right and my whole body was as tight as a spring. After making the first right hand corner I started to feel a little better. When I reached the little kicker I got into a big gear and pushed over it way too hard. It took me 30 seconds or so to get things back in control. Before the next right hander I had to ease off a little. With about 2K to go I noticed that I was no longer putting time on Ryan and started to feel like shit. I have not felt this way in any of the TT's I've done this year. I eased up again and with 1K to go just let loose and really put myself in the hurt locker. I made the final turn to the finish and wanted to sit up. I really had to force myself to put my head down and drive hard. I was pretty sure that the way I raced I was going to be way down in the GC. I was super happy to find out I finished in 7th and was only 24 seconds back. I'm sure I could have had a better time but was not going to dwell on it.....much. Tom finished five seconds in front of me and was in 5th and Alex, had another TT mechanical in a race he usually does really well in. He still managed to grab 10th place and was only 33 seconds out.
Tom came back to the campground and hung out with me all day. Our crit wasn't until 7:10 so we had plenty of time to do absolutely nothing. It started raining again and I kept looking at the hourly forecast and between 3:00pm to 5:00pm it showed 0% chance of rain at at 6:00pm it jumped to 70%. Great, racing the MOE crit in the rain.....FUN! They course is crazy enough under dry conditions. We into downtown early so we could park the RV right by the finish line. We put the awning and watched it rain. I can't remember what time it was but when the Masters 4/5 guys were getting ready to race it began to really pour. I was not in a very good mood. I decided to take another look at the weather and hey, it showed that it was moving through faster than earlier predictions and it would be dry by 6:00pm.....yeah right. Sure enough it stopped raining and by the time the Pro/1/2 field jumped on the course it was mostly dry. Even in dry conditions their race was a crash fest. Guys were sliding out on what seemed to be every other lap. Granted, they were 90 strong and had a lot of talented, fast pros in the field. That and constant $200 primes and you know that shit can happen.
Stage 2 - Criterium:
The course was completely dry when we rolled up but it still looked like rain could fall at any minute. We really wanted to get the win in this one and we planned to do anything we could to accomplish that. We would constantly attack and if we were all together at the end we would force the pace on the last few laps. Things were looking good early on. We'd taken a couple of cash/merchandise primes and were waiting for the first time bonus prime. The bell rang and it was game on. As we flew through corner two we started hearing people yelling at us to go neutral. What!!! Most of us sat up but a handful of guys kept driving. Gary(Tete de la Course) was yelling at them to sit up but they didn't. We decided we couldn't just let them go and hit the gas. We caught them and then as we approached the finish we saw the officials in the street and they told us to slow up due to a crash in turn 3. WTF!! I didn't see or hear anyone go down. Who was it? We rolled through turn three slowly and I saw Nathan(Tete de la Course) lying on the pavement. My heart sank. He wasn't moving and they were calling for an ambulance. We rolled through another lap slowly and this time he gave us the thumbs up while being placed on a backboard. That didn't calm my nerves. We got to the finish and we were told to stop and there would be a restart. We sat there for 20 long minutes while the ambulance was on the course. We found out later it was mainly for precautionary measures and that Nathan ended up just being cut and bruised, no broken bones or head injury...Yeah!
It was getting to the point where we were going to start cutting into the Cat 3's race and we were wondering what they would do. They finally announced that we were going to restart and have eight laps. Then they told us told us that we still had six primes, two of them being the time bonus primes. Oh, We'll give you one lap to get your legs going before calling a prime and at least two before the first time bonus prime. I started to do the math and realized that of the eight laps we would have six primes followed by the final lap to the finish. Holy hell, this was going to be insane! It started off fast and got faster. The bell rang every lap and there was no time to catch a breather. With two to go I was worried that with all the fresh legs it was going to be super sketchy. Luckily I think Joe(Tete de la Course) jumped hard and got the pack strung out. Another teammate and took up the pace making after that. As we made our way through the course I pushed hard and found myself sitting about 5th wheel. Nikos was right in front of me and things looked good. When we charged through the final turn I was in pretty good position. With about 50 to go I got boxed in a little on the right and started to move left. I saw Nikos there and decided to stay out of the way and just kept going forward. He was narrowly edged out for the win by Brad(HSP) and I had to settle for 7th. We all moved up in the GC after that race. Unfortunately it was because Nathan had been in third. A short time later the Cat 3 field suffered the same fate and ended up have to call the race after only twelve minutes due to darkness and they just kept the same spots in GC they had after the TT. Some of us hung out for post race grub and beers in town before heading home or in my case the 3 mile trek back to the campground.
I headed over to get a good spot for the RV around 11:00 Sunday morning. The weather showed that it would be sunny and 60+ degrees......Not so much. It wasn't raining so that was good but it didn't look promising. No worries. I had prayed for a dry crit and we got that so what ever happens today happens.
Stage 3 - Road Race:
The course is roughly a 15 mile loop that starts right in the middle of downtown. After winding through flat farm roads it heads up Mud Mountain Rd. for 3K. There is a false flat that gradually works it way to a fast descent down hwy 410. Successful attacks can happen anywhere on this course but as the race wears on the Mud Mountain climb can be a soul (and leg) crusher.
Since we really only raced for about 45 minutes and maybe 20 miles (at the most) yesterday I figured most guys would be coming in with pretty fresh legs. Tom was sitting 3rd. I was virtually tied for 5th, Alex was in 9th and Nikos and Doug were just outside the top 10, just 58 seconds back. Are main goal was to protect our current placings but if we could find a a way to launch someone into first or second then that would be great. Nikos and Alex could possible get off the front with the right group and force Brad and Rob to work. Will see how it plays out.
After rolling neutral out to the fair grounds we were let go and John(KR) moved to the front and got us strung out. A few other guys moved up to keep the pace going but no real attacks were made. When we made reached the climb for the first time my first thought was, "Please no flats this year!" The next thought was, "I hope I have good legs today!" The pace was steady but not too intense. I think a few guys did drop off but for the most part we were still all together at the top. As soon as we started on that long, straightaway at the top we were startled by the blaring sound of the officials horn. He moved up and told us there was a breakaway group in the 3's that was catching us. While we started out riding complacent they hit it hard from the start. The only problem was that once the break reached the top of the climb they slowed up and the the rest of their field caught up. It took forever for them to get to us and anyone we dropped was able to hook back on. Then when the 3's finally passed us they kept us neutral while everyone they dropped was able to go by us. We were neutral from just after we reached the top of the climb until we were almost into town. We basically had a neutral lap. Anyway, once we were let go again a couple of Canadian rolled off the front. They were over a minute back so we didn't think much of it at the time. We just watched Brad and Rob to see if they had any concern.
The 2nd time up Mud Mountain was a little different. They pace was a lot higher. Tom, Nikos and I were able to stay up near the front. I think gaps formed but most of the stragglers were able to work together and managed to hook back on by the time we reached town. Things were about to get interesting.
I don't think we received any information on how much of a gap the two Canadians had. Audi decided it was time to get the chase really going and assembled their guys at the front. For the moment we decided to watch Brad. Brad rolled back to me and told me he wasn't going to do anything. After a bit we talked and Alex told Tom and I to stay out of the wind while he, Kevin and Landon rolled to the front to help Audi. We kept Nikos back with us in case we needed him on the climb. The pace really escalated through the farm roads and Tom and I just hung on for the ride. When we reached the climb we, along with Nikos move to the front and it was game on. This is what we were waiting for. The talking stopped and it was time to see who had the legs. It was tough going but the three of us were right up front as we rode through the feed zone. Once through I attacked hard and got a small gap. I was soon joined by a few others and we worked hard so that guys wouldn't be able to catch back on. We soon found out that the leaders had a two minute gap on us. Shit, I figured a minute but we shouldn't have even let it go that far. Time to go! Nikos attacked and then I did a short time later. Brad was always right there on us. By the time we reached the bottom of the hill a few guys were able to hook back on but we definitely made the field smaller.
One to go and now it was really game on. Audi pressed hard all the way to the base of the climb. This time up it was an all out slug fest. By the time we reached the top I think there were down to only 12 guys. We kept the pressure on at the top. Not only did we still need to pull back the leaders but we didn't want anyone to be able to hook back on. Just before the descent Vincent(Focus Bikes) jumped off the front. This gave me cause for concern because he was the guy I was virtually tied with in GC. Joe yelled at us to not let him go because he did have the engine to solo to the finish. I jumped to the front and led the chase. About half way down Ryan jumped to the front and we started to pull Vincent back. When we made the lazy left back towards town Vincent still had a gap on us. Brad jumped to the front and gave a monster pull. I soon took over but no one else was coming forward. Finally Nikos moved up and after that I pulled through again. Time was running out and we still not only needed to get him back but we had to pull the leaders to under a minute (wasn't thinking about the time bonuses). Vincent was still holding us off so I decided to jump hard to see if I could bridge up to him. Maybe the two of us could work together. When I was about half way across Brad hit it hard and by the time we made the right turn into town the 12 of us were back together. We were not going to catch the leaders so we focused on seeing if we could at least get third. The run in was super fast and crazy. The final turn is just 200m from the finish and I knew only the first few through would have a chance. Everyone else knew that too. I was sitting on the yellow but it seemed that everyone was moving that direction as well. I made the decision to move to the far right and found myself right on Ryan's(Audi) wheel. He was holding his position and I yelled at him to push forward. He did and we were in perfect position. Right before the corner I jumped hard on the right. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rob(Audi) jump hard on the inside. He had a slight lead on me so instead of trying to drag race him I swung hard left and got on his wheel. I tried to come around him at the line but couldn't quite do it. Rob finished third and I rolled in for 4th. After crossing the line I saw that Vincent finished right behind me. Shit, he was still going to be ahead of me by a few tenths of seconds.
Now it was time to wait and see what the finish gap was. It turned out that we had finished 46 seconds in front of us but with time bonuses were able to move into 2nd and 4th, keeping Brad in first but moving Rob to third and the rest of us down two spots. I then noticed that they gave Rob and I a one second advantage over the guys in our group so I was able to move up on Vincent. Tom ended up 5th, I was 7th. It was not the outcome we wanted but I think we raced well and fought a hard battle.
Monday, June 10, 2013
2013 Ravensdale Road Race
A few years ago the Ravensdale was my first race in the Pro/1/2 field. I remember how nervous I was when I rolled up to the line. I was the only guy on my team in the field that day and somewhere in the parking lot my confidence fell out of my jersey pocket. All I planned (hoped) to do was sit in and try to not get dropped. That's not a race strategy anyone would hand out but it was what I was going with. As soon as we were let go instinct took over and I just raced. I attacked, I bridged, I suffered and soon enough I realized I could race with these guys. I think I finished just out of the top 10 and felt like I was the shiz. Of course I wasn't but I was as happy as if I'd won the damn thing. Anyway, it's a race I'll never forget.
Skip forward a few years and it's not the same. The butterflies were still there but I was surrounded by great teammates, the weather was awesome and I was ready to take out some aggression. I won't go into that now but I had a little incident with my RV on the way to the race.
I was lined up with teammates Kyle, Lang, Jason, Steve, Doug and Zach. We had this race highlighted on the calendar and really wanted to get someone on the podium.
The course a 9 mile, clockwise loop. It's mostly flat to rolling but has nice stair step climb to the finish. In the past the finish has been at the top of the last step but this year it was moved further down the road after it leveled off a bit. It could give some guys a chance (maybe) to catch back on and be in the mix for what should be a faster finish.
If there is one thing you can guarantee in a Pro/1/2 race it's that once the neutral roll out ends the attacks start. Getting left out of a break was not an option, getting two in was the plan. Sure enough after a couple short lived breaks we got Doug and Lang into one that looked promising. It was a good sized, well represented group. The rest of us just stayed out of the wind and kept an eye on the rest of the field. After a while I really thought it was a done deal but that wasn't the case.
The pack eventually pulled them back and it was time to reassemble and start the whole process over again. All of us joined in and took turns going off the front. We were on a flat section on the back side when I decided to to go when to others jumped. It was a fast section so I dropped into my 53X11 to try to keep anyone else from hitching a ride. About the time I was giving it full torque my chain decided to roll off my big ring to the outside. The violent release almost threw me over my bars. After shitting my pants I was able to pedal the chain back on. I didn't think much of it at the time and just figured it was one of those things that happen every blue moon. I looked back and waited for the pack to catch up.
Jason was riding possessed and I think he got in the next break. After that came back he soloed off the front a couple of times and managed to get nice sized gaps. He stayed away for a good chunk of time and forced other teams had to waste energy pulling him back while we sat in. Once he was brought back the second time I took a suicide mission off the front and managed to get a nice gap. I held it until about halfway up the climb before getting caught.
This kept going on for the next couple of laps but buy the time we started the final lap we were all together. More attacks were made but guys were quick to respond and nothing stayed away for longer than a few seconds. I started to realize that this was going to come down to a mass sprint finish.
The last lap seemed super fast and the constant surges were getting tough on the legs. I didn't know how the final trip up the hill would go but I forced myself to the front so I would at least have a chance if anyone attacked hard. It wasn't long before we reached right hand turn that lead us to the climb for the final time. It was pretty evident that HSP was going to try to take charge. They were all moving to the front of the pack. Richter wasn't racing so it looked like Brian might be the guy there would try to setup. We reached the climb and I found that I still had good legs and quickly moved to the front. The pace was semi hard at the start but HSP soon ramped it up and guys started to drop off one by one. When the climb leveled off it was game on and Aaron(HSP) took reigns at the front. Brian was locked on Aaron's wheel and Kyle was right on Brian. I was sitting in pretty good position just behind Kyle and was ready for the sprint. It looked like both Kyle and Brian jumped right at the same time. I decided to move off and go left......Doink!! Just as I put full torque on the cranks my f'ing chain rolled off again. My left knee drove hard into my bars and for a second I though I was going to hit the deck. I managed to stay up and tried to hold my line. It seemed like it took forever but I was able to pedal the chain back on. I felt the rush of guys flying by me. All I could do was coast in. I was actually surprised to find out I still managed to finish 8th. Brian took the win and Kyle came in a solid 2nd. I wish I could get that one back again. I would have at least like to have been able to finish going full power. Needless to say I'm taking measures to make sure that doesn't happen again.
Skip forward a few years and it's not the same. The butterflies were still there but I was surrounded by great teammates, the weather was awesome and I was ready to take out some aggression. I won't go into that now but I had a little incident with my RV on the way to the race.
I was lined up with teammates Kyle, Lang, Jason, Steve, Doug and Zach. We had this race highlighted on the calendar and really wanted to get someone on the podium.
The course a 9 mile, clockwise loop. It's mostly flat to rolling but has nice stair step climb to the finish. In the past the finish has been at the top of the last step but this year it was moved further down the road after it leveled off a bit. It could give some guys a chance (maybe) to catch back on and be in the mix for what should be a faster finish.
If there is one thing you can guarantee in a Pro/1/2 race it's that once the neutral roll out ends the attacks start. Getting left out of a break was not an option, getting two in was the plan. Sure enough after a couple short lived breaks we got Doug and Lang into one that looked promising. It was a good sized, well represented group. The rest of us just stayed out of the wind and kept an eye on the rest of the field. After a while I really thought it was a done deal but that wasn't the case.
The pack eventually pulled them back and it was time to reassemble and start the whole process over again. All of us joined in and took turns going off the front. We were on a flat section on the back side when I decided to to go when to others jumped. It was a fast section so I dropped into my 53X11 to try to keep anyone else from hitching a ride. About the time I was giving it full torque my chain decided to roll off my big ring to the outside. The violent release almost threw me over my bars. After shitting my pants I was able to pedal the chain back on. I didn't think much of it at the time and just figured it was one of those things that happen every blue moon. I looked back and waited for the pack to catch up.
Jason was riding possessed and I think he got in the next break. After that came back he soloed off the front a couple of times and managed to get nice sized gaps. He stayed away for a good chunk of time and forced other teams had to waste energy pulling him back while we sat in. Once he was brought back the second time I took a suicide mission off the front and managed to get a nice gap. I held it until about halfway up the climb before getting caught.
This kept going on for the next couple of laps but buy the time we started the final lap we were all together. More attacks were made but guys were quick to respond and nothing stayed away for longer than a few seconds. I started to realize that this was going to come down to a mass sprint finish.
The last lap seemed super fast and the constant surges were getting tough on the legs. I didn't know how the final trip up the hill would go but I forced myself to the front so I would at least have a chance if anyone attacked hard. It wasn't long before we reached right hand turn that lead us to the climb for the final time. It was pretty evident that HSP was going to try to take charge. They were all moving to the front of the pack. Richter wasn't racing so it looked like Brian might be the guy there would try to setup. We reached the climb and I found that I still had good legs and quickly moved to the front. The pace was semi hard at the start but HSP soon ramped it up and guys started to drop off one by one. When the climb leveled off it was game on and Aaron(HSP) took reigns at the front. Brian was locked on Aaron's wheel and Kyle was right on Brian. I was sitting in pretty good position just behind Kyle and was ready for the sprint. It looked like both Kyle and Brian jumped right at the same time. I decided to move off and go left......Doink!! Just as I put full torque on the cranks my f'ing chain rolled off again. My left knee drove hard into my bars and for a second I though I was going to hit the deck. I managed to stay up and tried to hold my line. It seemed like it took forever but I was able to pedal the chain back on. I felt the rush of guys flying by me. All I could do was coast in. I was actually surprised to find out I still managed to finish 8th. Brian took the win and Kyle came in a solid 2nd. I wish I could get that one back again. I would have at least like to have been able to finish going full power. Needless to say I'm taking measures to make sure that doesn't happen again.
Monday, May 20, 2013
2013 Tour de Bloom Omnium / Washington State Masters RR and Crit Championships
A couple of months ago we saw info that the crit and road courses would be the 2013 Masters State Championship races I started looking for something else to do that weekend. Without going into much details I will just say that was not a huge fan of the crit and road courses. Some will tell you they love both of them. "The crit is fast and dangerous!" I don't mind that. I love crits. I just never liked racing in that alley with crappy pavement and lighting. The road race is epic and usually is raced in temps around 90 degrees. I've always lost contact with the pure climbers five miles into the race. I think a few years ago I rode the last 40 miles solo, thinking I'd finished around 30th only to be surprised that I finished 7th. So many guys went out super hard only to quit before starting up the climb again. I wasn't sure if I'd make the trip or not.
That all changed when I found out that both the crit and road courses were going to be changed....."I'm listening!" The crit course was moved up a block and it looked like the front and backstretches were a little longer. The overall road surface was better and instead of a downhill corner 2 we had a downhill corner 4. The road race was wiped off the map and moved over to the town of Waterville on the other side of the river, high up on the plateau. It was stated to have NO long, sustained, steep climbs. They said there would be a lot of rolling terrain and that the wind and heat would be our biggest enemies. OK, sign me up!
Denise, the dog and I loaded up and headed over to Leavenworth Friday night for a little relaxation. The weather and scenery were incredible and we had a great time. The temps for the weekend looked like they could rise to near 90 degrees. That could be a factor for the West side crew.....as usual.
Day 1: Time Trial:
Skipped it. It wasn't part of the Masters State Championships for some reason and I decided I'd rather sleep in than battle the wind. Oh...I can come into the crit with fresh legs. :)
Day 1: Criterium:
My big complaint leading up to the crit was that it was only 30 minutes. I know they had to make adjustments to get all the races in (Pro/1/2 race was at 8:50PM) but 30 minutes for a higher category state championship race seemed like a joke. We were also racing at 4:15 which was the hottest, windiest time of the day......hydrate or die!!
I was able to get in a couple of laps on the course before our race. Seany Like!! Just like in previous years we were racing the course clockwise. The Start/Finish was on the lower side of the course so the uphill section was after corner 1 instead of corner 3. That meant that the finish was after going downhill through corner three. With the wind at our backs the finish was going to be insanely fast.
We had a talented field that included our local sprint freaks and guys from Montana, Oregon and Canada. There were only three from Garage lined up (me, Kevin and Mike B.) With primes, and a 30 minute race were were going to be in for a barn burner. Here we go!
Right from the start Matt(Montana Velo) took off hard and got things going. He was out for a lap or two before Brad(HSP) and Paul(Veloce Racing) decided he needed to be brought back. After they pulled for a while I jumped to the front and put in the final effort to bring him back. After that there were a lot of individual attacks that really kept the group strung out. Anytime there was the slightly lag, Brad jumped to the front and forced guys to feel the pain. Midway through the race I started noticing that Audi and Tete de la Course (aka the Frenchies) were doing a lot of talking. Rob(Audi) was sitting 2nd in the Omnium and I knew wanted this to end in a mass sprint. Gary(Tete de la Course) has been on his game (won the crit at Walla Walla) and I knew they would be trying to set him up. Mike was doing a great job covering attacks and before I knew it we saw the timer shut down and 6 laps to go on the board.....Time go. I pushed super hard through corner one and made my way to the front. I knew that if you would have no chance if you didn't come through corner 4 up front. I think Paul attacked and the surge was a little painful. I had to work really hard to stay up front. The next four laps seemed brutally hard and we were strung out in one long line. I was sitting right where I wanted when we got the bell for the final lap. When we started the climb between corners 1 and 2 I thought I was done but everyone else must have been feeling it as well because no one came around me. As we neared corner 3 I was sitting 3rd wheel when Jeff(Oly Ortho) jumped hard. I went to respond but I think it was Nathan(Tete de la Course) that jumped first. Jeff had a small gap but I felt I was sitting pretty when Nathan sat up and I was left to hang in the wind. Shit!! This is a long as finish. I had no other choice but to put my head down and go. I had no idea who was on my wheel. With about 50 meters to go I realized I was not going to get Jeff but 2nd was looking good. Little did I know that super sprinters Rob and Gary were on my ass and they literally got me at the line.......Normally finishing 4th behind guys like that would have me smiling but finishing one place out of medal contention totally sucked. I got over it during dinner. Jeff deserved that win by taking a huge chance and jumping like that. No guts, no glory!!
Day 2 - Waterville Road Race:
We picked up Erik Anderson on our way out of the campground and made the 20 mile trek up to Waterville. It was going to be hot, windy and hot...Yes, I said that twice! Guys from the morning races who did 48 miles looked haggard. Most said that it was a much harder race than they anticipated. Great, I'm getting ready to do 82 miles in what seemed to now be hotter and windier conditions. Would the hills be longer and steeper too? They combined our field with the 35+ guys so we had a pretty good sized crowd. This road race was the time this year that the tables were turned on us. We only had four lining up (Me, Kevin, Ed and Mike B.) Audi had 9 or 10, Bikesale had about 8 and Tete de la Course good numbers as well. If Audi and Bikesale started throwing people off the front early and often things could get messy.
Rob(Audi) was sitting first overall in the omnium and he was corralling his troops. He mainly just sent guys up the road to cover early attacks. Brad(HSP) and Matt(Montana Velo) were active early, keeping the pace high. I made up my mind early that I was going to go all or nothing today. I was either going to get a medal or I was going to die trying. A couple of early breaks got gaps and I had no problem jumping on to help pull them back. I wasn't sure how long I could keep that up but I wanted to have one of us in any break attempt. About five miles in Brad attacked hard and got a nice little gap. I waited to see if anyone would follow suit but no one did. He stayed out there for a bit but was finally brought back. I jumped to cover another break that had about 5 guys in it and after that prayed that no one would jump for a bit. That's when things got interesting.
I think we were just 10 miles in when Joe(Frenchies) jumped hard and got a gap. No problem, let him suffer out there for a while. Then David(Bikesale) bridged up. Still, no problem. Then Rob told Doug(Audi) to go cover the attack....Big problem! Now we had the three biggest/strongest teams represented. This could suck. I made a split second decision to bolt. I jumped super hard and no one followed. I was actually hoping that Brad would go with me but he didn't. It took some work but I managed to get on Doug's wheel and we motored up to David and Joe. Joe took control and got us organized. At first we took super hard, short pulls and once we got a nice gap we started forming an echelon pace line to minimize our time in the wind. We were on these super long, straight, rolling roads and at times we could see miles back. We were not getting any info from are follow cars so it was hard to judge how big of a lead we had. It didn't matter, we just kept grinding. I was pretty amped. I was with strong guys from the right teams and the legs felt good. It would be hard for a group to get off the front to chase us. Oh shit!.....We have to do this for 70 more miles. This was getting real.
When we were about 30 miles in Doug started skipping pulls. We didn't let him drop because he was super valuable to us. If he fell back to the pack Audi would put all their guys up front and chase hard. A while later David started skipping a pull here and there as well. When they did come back up to pull they worked their asses off.. Joe was riding super strong and at the moment so was I. We did the brunt of the work and we finally got word that we had over a two minute gap. Sweet!! It motivated us but we just tried to ride tempo at this point. I felt I was hydrating perfectly but was craving the feed zone for some more fuel. The other guys had bottles in one of our follow cars but no one was behind us. They were getting a little worried as we neared the feed zone. I think the car finally joined us after our lead grew to around three minutes. They all got their bottles and a few minutes later my awesome feed zone wife handed me mine. All was good.
I was now starting to feel that we might actually pull this off. We were just over half way through the race and the pack was not digging into our lead. That was about to change. We drove past the start/finish area and started on the short course. We went up the first hill in the headwind (the hill did seem a lot bigger this time) and Doug finally fell off. He said he would race until he was caught. Crap, It was only a matter of time before we would start getting chased down like criminals. We kept a steady pace and with about 20 to go I started to falter for the first time. We reached another short climb and this time I was not able to stay on Joe's wheel. He could have dropped us but he still needed us for a while. He slowed up and we regrouped. I recovered and started going hard again. I was about to enter the pain cave!!
The next several miles were hell. My legs felt good but for the first in a road race my lower back started to aggravate me. I tried stretching and then got out of the saddle. Nothing really helped. I kept eating and drinking, hoping the pain would magically disappear. Was someone in the field carrying a Voodoo doll? Then, for the first time since our break started we got word that there about seven guys had separated from the main field and were charging hard. We still had about a 2 minute gap. I still felt if we could make it a few more miles we could pull this off. A few minutes later we were told that our lead was down to 1:40, then 1:00 and finally under a minute. We finally turned around and could see them coming. I was both pissed and relieved at the same time.
Joe decided to lift the pace one more time. I jumped out of saddle but the stabbing pain in my lower back said NO! I looked over at David and told him I had nothing left and he said the same back to me. Time to hang my head and try to jump on the back of this fast moving chase group. We sat up and waited for their arrival. When they flew by both of us had no trouble hitching a ride. We got a lot of "nice work" and "that was insane" by the guys but it didn't put the wind back in my sails. I was going to just sit in, do no work hope to have a little something left for the finish. Joe managed to hold a one minute gap and I was kind of hoping he would pull it off. For the first time in 60 hellish miles I was able to sit in and take a breather. I actually started to feel better again. I was battered but the next five miles seemed super easy. And then.....depression set in.
Finally, Matt decided that if we didn't go now, Joe was going to solo in for the victory. He jumped and we all followed. After about 1/2 mile of hard pedaling I felt that sharp pain in my back again. we reached a short kicker and when I jumped out of the saddle I had to shut it down. I tried stretching for a few seconds and then gunned it to catch back on. Shit, my legs felt good but I just couldn't do it. It was a horrible feeling. I had worked so hard for so long and now I was going to fall off and get left for the vultures. The group slowly disappeared up the road and I was no on my one with no one else in site. I hung my head started to soft pedal. The pain was now constant and I looked back to see if any cars were coming that could hall my sorry ass back to town. I was f'ing done!! I didn't want to finish anymore. There was no one in site and I still had about five miles to go. I hit another small kicker and tried to get out of the saddle to drag myself over but couldn't. I had to dismount my bike. I was standing on the side of the road when the main pack came by. They all asked if I was OK and I waved them on. I jumped back on the bike and started pedaling again. It felt better than to just stand in the heat. Finally I saw some cars coming up they road. Both of them were associated with the race but had no room for me. Mother F8#ker!! I kept pedaling and finally saw two guys from Audi coming up the road. I slowed up and when they arrived I saw it was Doug, who had been in the break with me and Bob. They basically babysat me the rest of the way in...Thanks guys!! It was the longest 5K of my life. . I don't remember crossing the line but I guess I did. I figured I would be listed as DNF but somehow came in 22nd. In the span of about 15 miles I went from being three minutes up the road to thirteen minutes back.
I had trouble getting off my bike after finishing and couldn't sit for a few minutes. I had trouble walking and could barely get out of my kit. My legs were feeling OK but I've never felt this shitty after a race. I didn't feel too bad about it. I told myself I was going to go "All or nothing" and that is what I did. Of course, I was hoping for the "All" part of that statement. Great job to Joe who managed to still finish 4th in the race. Well, there's another race next weekend and I'll be ready to wage war again.
That all changed when I found out that both the crit and road courses were going to be changed....."I'm listening!" The crit course was moved up a block and it looked like the front and backstretches were a little longer. The overall road surface was better and instead of a downhill corner 2 we had a downhill corner 4. The road race was wiped off the map and moved over to the town of Waterville on the other side of the river, high up on the plateau. It was stated to have NO long, sustained, steep climbs. They said there would be a lot of rolling terrain and that the wind and heat would be our biggest enemies. OK, sign me up!
Denise, the dog and I loaded up and headed over to Leavenworth Friday night for a little relaxation. The weather and scenery were incredible and we had a great time. The temps for the weekend looked like they could rise to near 90 degrees. That could be a factor for the West side crew.....as usual.
Day 1: Time Trial:
Skipped it. It wasn't part of the Masters State Championships for some reason and I decided I'd rather sleep in than battle the wind. Oh...I can come into the crit with fresh legs. :)
Day 1: Criterium:
My big complaint leading up to the crit was that it was only 30 minutes. I know they had to make adjustments to get all the races in (Pro/1/2 race was at 8:50PM) but 30 minutes for a higher category state championship race seemed like a joke. We were also racing at 4:15 which was the hottest, windiest time of the day......hydrate or die!!
I was able to get in a couple of laps on the course before our race. Seany Like!! Just like in previous years we were racing the course clockwise. The Start/Finish was on the lower side of the course so the uphill section was after corner 1 instead of corner 3. That meant that the finish was after going downhill through corner three. With the wind at our backs the finish was going to be insanely fast.
We had a talented field that included our local sprint freaks and guys from Montana, Oregon and Canada. There were only three from Garage lined up (me, Kevin and Mike B.) With primes, and a 30 minute race were were going to be in for a barn burner. Here we go!
Right from the start Matt(Montana Velo) took off hard and got things going. He was out for a lap or two before Brad(HSP) and Paul(Veloce Racing) decided he needed to be brought back. After they pulled for a while I jumped to the front and put in the final effort to bring him back. After that there were a lot of individual attacks that really kept the group strung out. Anytime there was the slightly lag, Brad jumped to the front and forced guys to feel the pain. Midway through the race I started noticing that Audi and Tete de la Course (aka the Frenchies) were doing a lot of talking. Rob(Audi) was sitting 2nd in the Omnium and I knew wanted this to end in a mass sprint. Gary(Tete de la Course) has been on his game (won the crit at Walla Walla) and I knew they would be trying to set him up. Mike was doing a great job covering attacks and before I knew it we saw the timer shut down and 6 laps to go on the board.....Time go. I pushed super hard through corner one and made my way to the front. I knew that if you would have no chance if you didn't come through corner 4 up front. I think Paul attacked and the surge was a little painful. I had to work really hard to stay up front. The next four laps seemed brutally hard and we were strung out in one long line. I was sitting right where I wanted when we got the bell for the final lap. When we started the climb between corners 1 and 2 I thought I was done but everyone else must have been feeling it as well because no one came around me. As we neared corner 3 I was sitting 3rd wheel when Jeff(Oly Ortho) jumped hard. I went to respond but I think it was Nathan(Tete de la Course) that jumped first. Jeff had a small gap but I felt I was sitting pretty when Nathan sat up and I was left to hang in the wind. Shit!! This is a long as finish. I had no other choice but to put my head down and go. I had no idea who was on my wheel. With about 50 meters to go I realized I was not going to get Jeff but 2nd was looking good. Little did I know that super sprinters Rob and Gary were on my ass and they literally got me at the line.......Normally finishing 4th behind guys like that would have me smiling but finishing one place out of medal contention totally sucked. I got over it during dinner. Jeff deserved that win by taking a huge chance and jumping like that. No guts, no glory!!
Day 2 - Waterville Road Race:
We picked up Erik Anderson on our way out of the campground and made the 20 mile trek up to Waterville. It was going to be hot, windy and hot...Yes, I said that twice! Guys from the morning races who did 48 miles looked haggard. Most said that it was a much harder race than they anticipated. Great, I'm getting ready to do 82 miles in what seemed to now be hotter and windier conditions. Would the hills be longer and steeper too? They combined our field with the 35+ guys so we had a pretty good sized crowd. This road race was the time this year that the tables were turned on us. We only had four lining up (Me, Kevin, Ed and Mike B.) Audi had 9 or 10, Bikesale had about 8 and Tete de la Course good numbers as well. If Audi and Bikesale started throwing people off the front early and often things could get messy.
Rob(Audi) was sitting first overall in the omnium and he was corralling his troops. He mainly just sent guys up the road to cover early attacks. Brad(HSP) and Matt(Montana Velo) were active early, keeping the pace high. I made up my mind early that I was going to go all or nothing today. I was either going to get a medal or I was going to die trying. A couple of early breaks got gaps and I had no problem jumping on to help pull them back. I wasn't sure how long I could keep that up but I wanted to have one of us in any break attempt. About five miles in Brad attacked hard and got a nice little gap. I waited to see if anyone would follow suit but no one did. He stayed out there for a bit but was finally brought back. I jumped to cover another break that had about 5 guys in it and after that prayed that no one would jump for a bit. That's when things got interesting.
I think we were just 10 miles in when Joe(Frenchies) jumped hard and got a gap. No problem, let him suffer out there for a while. Then David(Bikesale) bridged up. Still, no problem. Then Rob told Doug(Audi) to go cover the attack....Big problem! Now we had the three biggest/strongest teams represented. This could suck. I made a split second decision to bolt. I jumped super hard and no one followed. I was actually hoping that Brad would go with me but he didn't. It took some work but I managed to get on Doug's wheel and we motored up to David and Joe. Joe took control and got us organized. At first we took super hard, short pulls and once we got a nice gap we started forming an echelon pace line to minimize our time in the wind. We were on these super long, straight, rolling roads and at times we could see miles back. We were not getting any info from are follow cars so it was hard to judge how big of a lead we had. It didn't matter, we just kept grinding. I was pretty amped. I was with strong guys from the right teams and the legs felt good. It would be hard for a group to get off the front to chase us. Oh shit!.....We have to do this for 70 more miles. This was getting real.
When we were about 30 miles in Doug started skipping pulls. We didn't let him drop because he was super valuable to us. If he fell back to the pack Audi would put all their guys up front and chase hard. A while later David started skipping a pull here and there as well. When they did come back up to pull they worked their asses off.. Joe was riding super strong and at the moment so was I. We did the brunt of the work and we finally got word that we had over a two minute gap. Sweet!! It motivated us but we just tried to ride tempo at this point. I felt I was hydrating perfectly but was craving the feed zone for some more fuel. The other guys had bottles in one of our follow cars but no one was behind us. They were getting a little worried as we neared the feed zone. I think the car finally joined us after our lead grew to around three minutes. They all got their bottles and a few minutes later my awesome feed zone wife handed me mine. All was good.
I was now starting to feel that we might actually pull this off. We were just over half way through the race and the pack was not digging into our lead. That was about to change. We drove past the start/finish area and started on the short course. We went up the first hill in the headwind (the hill did seem a lot bigger this time) and Doug finally fell off. He said he would race until he was caught. Crap, It was only a matter of time before we would start getting chased down like criminals. We kept a steady pace and with about 20 to go I started to falter for the first time. We reached another short climb and this time I was not able to stay on Joe's wheel. He could have dropped us but he still needed us for a while. He slowed up and we regrouped. I recovered and started going hard again. I was about to enter the pain cave!!
The next several miles were hell. My legs felt good but for the first in a road race my lower back started to aggravate me. I tried stretching and then got out of the saddle. Nothing really helped. I kept eating and drinking, hoping the pain would magically disappear. Was someone in the field carrying a Voodoo doll? Then, for the first time since our break started we got word that there about seven guys had separated from the main field and were charging hard. We still had about a 2 minute gap. I still felt if we could make it a few more miles we could pull this off. A few minutes later we were told that our lead was down to 1:40, then 1:00 and finally under a minute. We finally turned around and could see them coming. I was both pissed and relieved at the same time.
Joe decided to lift the pace one more time. I jumped out of saddle but the stabbing pain in my lower back said NO! I looked over at David and told him I had nothing left and he said the same back to me. Time to hang my head and try to jump on the back of this fast moving chase group. We sat up and waited for their arrival. When they flew by both of us had no trouble hitching a ride. We got a lot of "nice work" and "that was insane" by the guys but it didn't put the wind back in my sails. I was going to just sit in, do no work hope to have a little something left for the finish. Joe managed to hold a one minute gap and I was kind of hoping he would pull it off. For the first time in 60 hellish miles I was able to sit in and take a breather. I actually started to feel better again. I was battered but the next five miles seemed super easy. And then.....depression set in.
Finally, Matt decided that if we didn't go now, Joe was going to solo in for the victory. He jumped and we all followed. After about 1/2 mile of hard pedaling I felt that sharp pain in my back again. we reached a short kicker and when I jumped out of the saddle I had to shut it down. I tried stretching for a few seconds and then gunned it to catch back on. Shit, my legs felt good but I just couldn't do it. It was a horrible feeling. I had worked so hard for so long and now I was going to fall off and get left for the vultures. The group slowly disappeared up the road and I was no on my one with no one else in site. I hung my head started to soft pedal. The pain was now constant and I looked back to see if any cars were coming that could hall my sorry ass back to town. I was f'ing done!! I didn't want to finish anymore. There was no one in site and I still had about five miles to go. I hit another small kicker and tried to get out of the saddle to drag myself over but couldn't. I had to dismount my bike. I was standing on the side of the road when the main pack came by. They all asked if I was OK and I waved them on. I jumped back on the bike and started pedaling again. It felt better than to just stand in the heat. Finally I saw some cars coming up they road. Both of them were associated with the race but had no room for me. Mother F8#ker!! I kept pedaling and finally saw two guys from Audi coming up the road. I slowed up and when they arrived I saw it was Doug, who had been in the break with me and Bob. They basically babysat me the rest of the way in...Thanks guys!! It was the longest 5K of my life. . I don't remember crossing the line but I guess I did. I figured I would be listed as DNF but somehow came in 22nd. In the span of about 15 miles I went from being three minutes up the road to thirteen minutes back.
I had trouble getting off my bike after finishing and couldn't sit for a few minutes. I had trouble walking and could barely get out of my kit. My legs were feeling OK but I've never felt this shitty after a race. I didn't feel too bad about it. I told myself I was going to go "All or nothing" and that is what I did. Of course, I was hoping for the "All" part of that statement. Great job to Joe who managed to still finish 4th in the race. Well, there's another race next weekend and I'll be ready to wage war again.
2013 Olympic View Road Race
The race starts down in Brady, WA, viewing distance from the old Satsop nuke site. When we were about 15 minutes away I got a text from my wife asking if I'd forgotten anything. "No", I replied and wondered what was up. Then I got this photo on the left. Mutha F$#k*r!!
I don't think I've ever left my numbers or jersey at home before. I'm glad she let me know or I would have ripped the whole car apart looking for it. After plenty of ribbing from my teammate Mark found a spare jersey in his bag for me to use. I wear a medium and if you know Mark you know my noodle arms would not do this thing justice. Dave, always thinking of his teammates even crafted me a nice new number for me to use. The officials got a laugh out of it but told me to run in and grab a rental. Damn, I missed the Cat 5 race.
I stepped out of the car with my baggy jersey and yellow rental wondering what else could possibly go wrong..........Then it started to rain.....and the wind picked up. I jumped back into the car and grabbed more gear. I didn't come back out until it was time for us to stage. I figured I'd have plenty of time to warm up during a 90 miles race.....Right?
Lang, Joe, Zach and I rolled to line for the start of the Pro/1/2 race. HSP, Audi and Bikesale were all well represented. The course an 18 mile loop that is mainly flat with a few rollers. There is on short kicker not far from the finish that lead to a gnarly little hairpin downhill about 2k from the finish that can get really fun when wet. Oh yeah, it's wet!! Here we go.
We rolled out neutral and pretty much as soon as we were let go there was an attack. I think there were eight in this initial group. It three from HSP, two from Bikesale, one from Apex, one from Olypic Ortho and two from Garage(Lang and Joe). It was a good mix from all the big teams with the notable exception of Audi. There were several counter attacks and I jumped on one that got a small gap. I figured with all the HSP guys up there Lang and Joe could use some help. We were brought back and I went with one more unsuccessful attack. Mind you, this is all happening during the first couple of miles. I'm not sure when it happened but at one point Dave and Brian form HSP along with Ian from HB jumped and got a gap. I wanted to jump with them but I really didn't think Audi would let them get too far, but........They started to disappear up the road and pretty soon Audi did get all their guys to the front and started to put in a big effort. Sweet, Zach and I just sat in and enjoyed the ride. The gap wasn't that big and I really thought since we still had 80 something miles to go that they would eventually get pulled back.. No one else from teams not represented in the break really came up to help the Audi guys. They were doing all the work for the next three laps. I think they got the gap down to around two minutes at one point but that was it. I think on lap 4 a few guys did come up and help some.
It had been wet and a little cold the whole race and when we got near the end of lap 4 kind of hoping everyone would do a group "let's bag this thing" and pull into the lot. A bunch of guys did but a few attacked through the finish so I decided to stay for the fun.
Our last lap was pretty nuts. There were constant attacks by HSP and a few others. After 80+ miles of racing I was still feeling good and I was NOT about to let a 2nd break get up the road. Zach and I both jumped responded to everything. There were a few times when I thought we'd get away but by the time we reached the final kicker we were all together. All I knew was that I wanted to be at the front when we reached the downhill section so I could pick my own line at my own pace. I think it was Will(HSP) who jumped first and I was the first to jump on. When we reached the false flat I looked back and I think I was in a group of about seven. We hit the gas and pushed as hard a we could. We reached the downhill and I was sitting 2nd wheel. We made it through the hairpin with no issues. but just as we were coming out of it Will lost traction and went down. SHIIIIIIIT!! Lucky for me the wet pavement caused him to slide and I avoided hitting him. I came into the homestretch sitting 1st wheel. Oh, don't get too excited. Need I remind you that this was for 11th place. I put my head down and started to drive. The wind was in our faces and I finally let someone else come to the front. I think it was Tony(Bikesale) that put it in overdrive to make sure rest of the pack didn't catch us. At the fake 200m mark it was game on and I was just edged out by Lonny(Novo Nordisk) and Rich(HB) and ended up 13th.....How exciting!!
Ten guys finished in front of us with Dustin(HSP) taking the win. Ian(HB) was just 3 seconds back followed by Lang. Then the gaps went all the way up to 2:50. It must have been crazy. Joe ended up 7th and I was super happy with our teams effort.
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