We leave on Wednesday, I pick everyone up, we leave eugene at around 5:30 for our 8:20 flight, whoops, we book it up to pdx. My dad picks up the car at the airport. We get to the gate, easy-peezy. Lots of time to spare. We stay at a sweet hotel.
Thursday: Galen is out before half the team wakes up, sweet. We get up, miss breakfast, get breakfast from the back room (thanks nice hotel lady), we go back to the airport, meet the domestique (lawl lawl lawl), go to the rental car place, find out they are running out of vans, I pick out a huge ford suv instead and david insists on having at least one van (david was right for the record). We get moving head to Spokes and Slopes outside of denver. Pick 4 sets, count ‘em F-O-U-R, sets of Zipps. 1: 404 f/r 2: 808 f/r tubies 3: 808 f/ sub 9 r tubies 4: 1080 f/ sub 9 r. SICK. Thanks so much Race Day Wheels , you guys rock. We head off to Fort Collins Co, and arrive at the Hilton Hotel shortly. Lenny helps us check in, he is really good at that, we unpack bikes, we set up bikes, I forgot my seatpost bolt and so I end up riding standing up for a couple of hours, We head out to test out our legs, stop by a bike shop to get a new bolt, ride out to the Road Race Course, go almost the whole way to Masonville, then go back to the hotel. In the lobby Lenny picked up some girl from Seattle pacific and she ended up going to dinner with us. We went out for Thai food down town which was delicious, we all enjoyed the girl’s company very much, we met Tucker, lenny’s brother, went out to Icecream (I got chocolate chunk, yum) and then went home.
Friday: ROAD RACE! We woke up and got Rachelle fed and ready to race very early in the morning. Me and Lenny drover her out to the race course, listen to some sweet tunes, made fun of everyone else, got her set up, and went back to the hotel. I shaved my legs and we headed back out to the race course. We all got dressed in time to see the D-1 women’s finish and soon were getting lined up for our race. I got to be in the first row because I won our conference and dave, galen, and lenny were all stuck in the scrum trying to get close to the line. We were off quickly, no one minded the neutral role out, we started racing, everyone was constantly moving up as we had 4 lanes of open road to work with. The pace wasn’t super fast but was quick enough to keep anyone from staying on the front. A crash occurred right in front of me and I had to jump off the road to get around it. Some guy tried to move up in the gutter and ended up hitting a pothole and blowing out both his tires, IDIOT. We stayed together up a couple of rollers and soon were looking at the first big climb of the day. I started mid pack and soon realized that I was going to have to seriously move up in the climb because people were dropping off quick. I started passing people but before I made it to the top a gap had formed between me and the front group of around 30 riders. I rolled on and collected riders in my wake. We soon made it to a flatter section and started to give chase. We weren’t going very fast and the lead group wasn’t too far so I tried an attack off the front of our group. The group picked up the pace and quickly caught me as a couple of other guys tried to bridge up. A couple of other attacks were launched and we were soon close to another hill. At this point a Penn State guy started hemming and hawwing at the back of our group about how we were the worst chase group he had seen. Now I am usually mild mannered but this dude had it coming. I laid into him about how if he wanted a chase group to succeed he’d better get off the back and start doing some pulls, he whined, I called him several things, he shut up, sweet. We started getting organized and soon caught another group of four riders. I made sure everyone was taking pulls in accordance with their abilities and was feeling pretty good. We soon got to the Masonville loop section and really started to pick up the pace. I was spinning out my 53-12 on a slight downhill section with a slight tail wind. We were CRUISING. Soon another group of about 15 came into view. We knew that we had to catch them quickly or they would pick up the pace in an attempt to lose us. We chased them down for about a lap and soon had them within reach. We all slowed down because that group didn’t want to work and if they weren’t going to work we sure weren’t. We completed the remaining laps around Masonville and headed back to the finish line. After a couple of pretty hard hills we dropped around half the group and were left with around 15 guys (with around 17 up the road). We were moving quickly but I was feeling alright and wasn’t concerned about being dropped. We made it back across the dam and had one small kicker to go before a long decent and a finishing non-sprint. Before we got to the kicker a CU-boulder guy warned us about the decent and told us there had been two ambulances already call that day. We got to the kicker, I got dropped like always and the short steep stuff (stupid), I grouped up with 3 other guys, we chased, my front deraileur didn’t shift up, AGAIN, and we started the decent. I was kind of sketched out and took it real slow, there was no one behind me and only the three other guys within my reach. The decent included a 270 degree turn followed by a quick, tail-wind aided section followed by a sweeping left turn, a sweeping right turn, a tail-wind straight, a sharp left, and another left into the head wind finishing straight. the problem with the decent was that the tailwinds that got you going so quick would turn into cross-winds as soon as you made a turn. This had already caused several girls to get their wheels blow out from under them and I wasn’t about to crash at nationals. I took it slow and stayed within striking distance of the 3 guys in front of me. They were going around the sweeping left turn when an especially bad gust caught one of them and threw him into the ditch. They were going around 40 and he rolled and hit a rock with his helmet. I made it safely to the bottom and slogged past one of the guys in the finishing straight for my sweet 34th place. David got 4 places better then I did and Galen and Lenny came in in the next pack. Great day. We went out for some bar food, got Gillato, hung out with my mom, aunt, and their friends, went back, and went to bed.
Saturday: CRIT! We woke up early again, got Rachelle up and out, watched Phil Elsasser win the D-2 Crit, got warmed up, I got to go to the start line again, I dropped wheel after wheel until 20 mins in I lost the last wheel and called it a day. Sweet. I got some free stuff, we went back and got some burritos, got changed, decided we didn’t want to go to the banquet, went downtown, went to a fancy restaurant, ordered 3 different burgers that we split, got Ice cream, and met the angry pickle himself, Luke. He is doing well, has money to spend, is working a ton, has 180 clients right now, loves Colorado, got a new bike, etc. We went back to the hotel in the rain.
Sunday: TTT! We woke up and it was raining. Stupid. We headed out, got all out TT gear on, warmed up just a little, got to the line, and were off. We were going super fast in the first half, all our changes were smooth, we were all taking strong long pulls, our lungs were doing alright. We reached the half way point and we started to hurt. The tail wind soon turned into a head wind and everything came loose. We were working as hard as possible and it felt like we weren’t moving. We soon got to the end and sprinted in for third to last. It was crummy getting beat but what was even worse was the lack of pain in our legs. The altitude made it so our lungs were the bodily organ that was holding us back so we never really got to feel the burn in our legs. It was an anti-climactic end to a great weekend of racing. We loaded stuff up, packed stuff up, dropped off the wheels, got to the airport, checked out a cute girl, realized Rachelle and Lenny were absolutely blind, got on the plane, got to Portland, drove to Eug, Dropped everyone off, Went to bed.
Things I learned: Nationals is fast. Getting beat sucks. Getting beat by fast guys doesn’t make it suck less. We need to train A LOT MORE. We need to DOMINATE conference and then come back swinging at nationals next year. I need to train differently. We can train our team much more effectively. Other teams aren’t messing around. Our team is at least half a million times cooler than any other team at nationals this year. It is possible to have a 2009 Cervelo R3 with Zipp 404’s and still feel under equipped. Sodium phosphate is super. Altitude destroys people. I want to be faster than OBRA can make me. I look sweet on a 1080 and a disc.
I think that is all. Rachelle, Lenny, David, and Galen may in time tell their sides of the story. This was the best weekend of racing I have ever experienced. I hope more of you can make it to nationals next year and experience it with us. Thanks again for everything everyone did to get us there, See you all Tomorrow and Next Year.
Freshman Ty Mangum put together a video highlighting the team’s trip to Idaho for the Northwest Cycling Collegiate Conference championships, April 25 & 26. Check it out!
Greetings to everyone involved with The University Of Oregon Cycling Team,
This season was one of the best ever. We brought large, competitive teams to every race, vying for titles in almost every category we competed in. We brought many new riders into the sport and made them into champions in their first year. Most importantly, we came together as the closest team in the conference; surviving 6 grueling weeks of 14 hour van rides and constant contact with 18 other strong-willed individuals, I came out the other side with some of the best friends I have ever had. I will miss our graduating members: Mike Brunelle, Derek Newell, and David Montes; but also look forward to a spectacular year coming up. Our men’s teams, with a returning core of 4 A riders, many B riders ready for an upgrade and a rock-solid leadership core should be able to grow in number and strength and compete on a whole new level. Our women’s teams are some of the brightest, and youngest in the conference; for the first time in UO Cycling history we will return a full team of riders ready to compete at the highest level and a steady core of veterans that can help build the women’s teams into the biggest in the conference. However our successes as a team, this year and next, depend heavily on the support we get from our sponsors and the community.
I would like to personally and for the team thank:
All of the people that hosted us this season - Your food and floors were more helpful than you will ever know. We really could never afford to race if it wasn’t for your generosity. I absolutely cannot say enough about how thankful we all are.
Mom and Dad - Not just mine, but everyone’s. You have helped support us through all the road rash and broken carbon, thank you so much.
Life Cycle Bike Shop - Your training, advice, and expert service have helped keep us in the front of the pack and out of the pit. Thank you so much for helping new riders afford top of the line bikes and educating us on all of the intricate workings of a race bicycle.
Best Pots - Your top of the line services helped our road race go off without a stitch. Without your support we would almost certainly be in the red for this great event.
Tifosi - The first thing anyone sees when looking at a racer are his/her glasses. Your shades have kept our eyes dirt-free and our faces clean.
Lampros Steel - Your generous donation is helping send us to Nationals this year in Fort Collins, Colorado. Thank you so much for your support.
DeFeet - Your gloves, knee-warmers, and shoe covers have become an integral part of our kit. I was skeptical of wool at first but it is truly some of the best stuff on the market.
RaceDay Wheels - Without the sweet sets of Zipp wheels you are providing it would be very difficult to compete with the other, better equipped, teams we will be racing against at nationals. You have helped even the field and have given us a great opportunity to succeed.
Nuun - Your drinks keep our legs moving and our wheels turning.
Because of this support we were able to achieve many things this year. Some of the most prestigious were:
Division I Collegiate Road Omnium Team Champions
NWCCC Conference 3rd Place Team
Division I Collegiate Road Omnium National Qualifying Champions*
NWCCC Conference Women’s B Collegiate Road Omnium Champions
NWCCC Conference Men’s A Collegiate Road Omnium Runners-up*
Division I Collegiate Road Omnium Individual Champion - Will Niemann-Ross
Men’s A NWCCC Conference Individual Runner-up - Will Niemann-Ross
Division I Collegiate Road Omnium Individual Runner-up - David Kuhns
Women’s B NWCCC Conference Individual Champion - Kristen Fauria
Women’s B NWCCC Conference Individual Runner-up - Sonja Unrau
Men’s A Conference Championship Road Race 3rd Place - Will Niemann-Ross
Women’s B Conference Championship Road Race Runner-up - Kristen Fauria
Women’s B Conference Championship Team Time Trial Runners-up
Women’s B Conference Championship Criterium Runner-up - Kat Reinhart
*: A special thanks goes out to the B Women who competed in our Women’s and Men’s A Time Trial Teams despite the risk of not attaining their own championship hopes. We’ll see you all at nationals next year.
Many of the competitions came down to the final weekend so I have included the second to last (nationals are on May 8-10th) 2009 Race Report Below:
Traveling: We got 2 passenger vans and 2 Cargo vans from motor pool at 12:30. We drove to UO club sports and loaded everyone up. We got some food, waited a bit for a late teammate, and departed for Moscow Idaho. Myself, Lenny, Tyler, and Carl drove the entire way out. We stopped at a Subway to food and gas up in Washington and arrived at our host housing at around Midnight. The family we stayed with is one of the most friendly and hospitable I have ever met. They stayed up to greet us that night, woke up and made us breakfast both mornings, offered us several of their own bedrooms, and even made us a fantastic dinner on Saturday night. We conked out almost as soon as we got there so we could wake up the next morning at 6:30.
Saturday: We woke up way too early, all fairly tired still due to our late arrival time. We ate breakfast (Fruity Pebbles and pancakes for me) and headed out to the Road Race staging area. The Road Race (a longer race where individuals compete together in a large group) was held in the small town of Paloose, Id. The course is a 20ish mile loop that includes both hills and windy sections, a very difficult combination. The loop starts off with several miles of false flats in extremely windy roads. It soon comes to the first climb of the day, a fairly steep and long grinder that no one was going up quickly. After a terrifying decent and another extremely hard windy section it got to the second climb of the day. This climb was more gradual and we were able to climb quickly up it each lap. After a section of rollers and a fast downhill section you head back in to town. The decent into town includes a steep decent, a windy bridge, a short steep climb, a few hundred meters of flat to catch your breath, another steep windy downhill and a left turn on to the main street followed by a 400 meter sprint with the wind at your back.
The Men’s A race was one of the hardest I have ever done. An incredibly competitive field along with many competitions, including the yellow jersey and team championship, up for grabs made this race into one that was not going to be won easily. We rolled out as the first group on the course. We started out fast, with a lot of attacks surges, as everyone started to test the field. The field was not going to let anything go and with beasts like Galen, Lenny, David and Mike, we were not too worried if anything did get a little gap. We stayed together up the first hill and only dropped a couple of people in the section before the next hill even though the leaders were pushing hard and guttering the pack. We pushed hard up the next hill and into the rollers and a break formed with me, a couple of WSU guys, a MSU guy, and 3 Whitman guys. The odds were not exactly in our team’s favor seeing as only 1 in 4 had made it up but the yellow jersey was not in the group. At this point I was only 66 points behind the yellow jersey, a MSU rider named Corey Meyer, and our team had our sights set on getting this extreme honor. Our break worked together fairly well and created a fairly big gap pretty quickly. In the roller section we slowed a little and soon we saw an Oregon rider hot on our tail. Once the group saw David coming up quickly the Whitman riders started pushing the pace hard. Because it was my teammate trying to get on I was not expected to do any work and got to sit in for nearly the rest of the race. We were going fast and the road conditions made it impossible for Dave to catch up at that point. We soon got out of sight and slowed down marginally. We got through town and started the second lap. Very soon into the second lap we look back and David is nearly on us again. Once again Whitman pushes the pace and along with several attacks from the WSU riders we start moving fast enough to keep Dave away. We reach the first hill out of sight of anyone and climb at a steady slow pace. Going down the back side we see several riders hot on our tail. We push the pace again but before we are out of reach a WWU rider launches a dirty attack on Lenny and gets up to us. I don’t like this and start making his life hard (opening up gaps and then sprinting to catch up, guttering, and just generally being a pain). We push the pace through the next windy section but soon Lenny and another Whitman guy catch up to us. They are hurting from chasing back on but it is good to have a team mate with me in the break. We reach the second climb and push the pace up it. Lenny gets gapped and drops off on the ensuing down hill and I am all alone again. We finish up the lap strong but before we reach town Dave and Lenny, along with several other riders have once again joined on to our group. If you have never done a bike race this may not seem like a difficult thing but what Dave and Lenny have effectively done is worked harder than our entire group of 7+ guys combined for more than an hour at this point. Bridging solo up a group that has dropped the rest of the pack is nearly impossible and they did it 5 times between them. Beasts. Oregon has good odds in the group for the first time in the race and the yellow jersey is still not up with us. I am psyched and decide I want to start helping keep us away. I pull along with Ben Chaddock from Whitman and we keep the pace up in what has become an almost unbearably windy section. We reach the first hill and stay together up it. We get down to the other side and the Washington State riders are pushing the pace and guttering us hard. I find myself third wheel and unable to hold the wheel in front of me. I pull off slightly and look back only to see that our group has been destroyed. I am thinking, Ok everyone else is hurting as bad as I am and Uh-Oh Wazzu is freaking strong. They get up the road a bit but somehow our group reforms and we all get back together. Before we get to the climb Ben Rhodes from WSU launches a monster attack and gets off the front. We are still a ways away from the finish and he is all alone so no one chases him down immediately. We get to the second climb for the third and final time and hit it hard trying to close the gap to Ben. We drop half of our group and keep them off by keeping the pace up going down the hill. It is me, the WSU rider, the MSU rider and the 3 Whitman guys left in the group with Ben off the front. We push hard over the rollers but eventually accept that we are racing for second and start messing around. Whitman launches a couple of attacks but all are covered. I spend a lot of energy covering an attack that the MSU and WSU riders seem uninterested in stopping but am able to keep everything together. We get to the final section leading into town and are riding really quick. We hit the windy bridge and the short steep climb really hard. I am sitting third wheel at the top of the hill and through the flat section. We all catch our breath, no one wanting to be the one to launch the first attack to the finish. Soon Ben Chaddock launches an attack and only the WSU guy and me are strong enough to stay on his wheel. We burn down the twisty decent into town and hit the tail-wind aided 400 meter straight sprint to the finish. Ben is in front and has a decent lead on me and WSU. We get to the sprint and all I can think about is getting on the podium. The WSU guy races for Hagens Burman, a Seattle based elite team and is really quick. He may not have realized I was there or he may just not have had it but for whatever reason I screamed by him with about 100 meters to go. I got close to Ben but ran out of road and ended up placing 3rd. 7 of us finished then waited, Lenny, Collin (Whitman) and David finished strong, waited some more, a couple guys and Galen finished, and we waited some more. We decided to go back to the car and the yellow jersey had still not crossed the line. After a good deal of time Corey and another rider finished as the last two finishers of the day. Great Success! We scored tons of points as a team, got me into a great position to finish strong and dropped the yellow jersey hard core. Some other notes: Kristen was in a break with a Whitman girl and were told to go the wrong way. They decided to coin flip it but Kristen declined. We thought they should do a 400 meter drag race with everyone lined up, which would have been awesome, but it never happened.
We hung out a bit and eventually headed out to the TTT course. We got their and found out that I was 12 points behind Corey for the yellow jersey and we were 40 points ahead of Whitman in our Category. We spent some time debating how hard we wanted to push the TTT. A TTT or Team Time Trial is a race where your team of 4 riders competes against the clock on a 12ish mile course. The team with the fastest time wins. Because we wanted to do well in the Criterium the next day and save our legs as much as possible we decided to take it slightly easy. We kitted up, put on our TT gear and headed out to the line. We got on the course and our plan to take it easy went right out the window. The first half of the out and back course had a strong cross wind that left us working as hard as we could to keep up a reasonable speed. We worked well together and stayed together through the turnaround. We muffed the turn around a little due to bad directions but soon got back going. The tail wind lent itself to a really quick 6 miles and we soon passed our two minute man (PSU). We got to the line and went back to the vans.
Ivar, myself and Rachelle headed out to the directors meeting in Moscow. We discussed many things relating to the success of this year and the improvement of next year. The rest of the team went back to the host housing and hard what sounded like a phenomenal dinner. We got to the house, brushed the whites, and sacked out.
Sunday: Again we woke up early, eat pancakes, and headed out. My van and Tyler’s van left Ivar’s and Carl’s vans behind as Carl went to search for his wallet. We decided not to use any directions and just go for it. We got to campus but didn’t find the correct way through it. We got off on a wrong road and realized we didn’t know where we were going. I remembered from last year that the road we needed to be on was next to the water tower so I started heading on roads that went towards the race and up hill. I was following the GPS and it led us to a dead end it thought went through. Tyler, now 19 (I forgot to mention, It was Ty’s birthday on Saturday, we celebrated a little and sung a couple of times) thought he was more wise than I was and decided to find his own way to a location he had never seen with no directions or sense of where to go. Smart. I found another road that led to the water tower, followed the roads that I remembered and soon was at the staging area. After about ten minutes and several phone calls Ty showed up followed by Ivar and Carl. No harm, no foul, but hopefully a lesson learned. We all get ready for the Criterium (a shorter race similar to the road race but with more corners and a faster pace due to intermittent sprints). We looked at the results from the previous day and saw that the Men’s A team had gotten 4th in the TTT by half a second. Whitman and WSU were about 30 seconds ahead of us but WWU should definitely not have beaten us. Lame. The C’s go, Carl and Austin do well, Austin (who had taken sodium phosphate, a legal drug used to boost your VO2max) was feeling great and attacked maybe a little too early. He strung out the race but was caught by a small group in the finishing sprint. The Women’s B went, they destroyed everyone and locked up individual and team honors. The Men’s B and Women’s A races went but I was not there as I was getting ready. We got dressed, warmed up, and I got psyched up. This was the first important race I had ever been in. This race was going to decide if I was going to get the yellow jersey, if we were going to be Men’s A champions, etc. It was BIG. The only problem was that Corey is possibly the best crit rider in our conference. The previous two crits he had scored the maximum of 100 points. Also, as anyone will tell you, I get laughed at all day long for my attempts to sprint. This is a bad combination for your heros but it doesn’t matter. This is what it has come down to and this is what we have to do. The funny part was that they were scared. We had heard them several times talk about how close I was and how I was going to have 4 guys working for me. Lenny had helped the intimidation process along in the parking lot by pulling up to the MSU vans and revving the engine a couple of times before pulling in. We chilled out near the start line on our bikes and waited for the Women’s A crit to finish. The crit finished, we lined up and we were going. Immediately a huge attack went. We were strung out single file immediately and would stay that was for the next 50 minutes. I don’t remember exactly what happened during the race, I get zoned in and only focus on the wheel in front of me and any attacks or breaks that are going. David, me and Lenny stayed up near the front, attacks were going but nothing was going to stick. The first Prime (intermittent sprint) was a success in the quest for the yellow jersey. We had decided that we needed to keep Corey, who usually went for every single prime point no matter how tired he was, out of the primes by any means necessary so I would have a chance to out sprint him at the end and get enough points to pass him. The first prime was taken by several people that were not Corey. Alright! The second Prime was contested but Corey got second, darn. By the third prime Corey was squarely up at the front and ready to sprint it out for first place points. He ended up getting that one but not many more (he ended up with 21 Prime points). His ability to take primes even though the field was throwing everything at him was amazing. This was bad news for us but it was still possible to beat him in the final sprint by a large enough margin to make up enough points. We got to about 10 laps to go and I start to feel my bike shaking a little when I hit the numerous pot holes and bumps in the road. I look down and see my front skewer (the thing that keeps the wheel on the fork) point forward. I figured that this meant the skewer was loose, something that would explain the shaking and noise I was hearing. This is bad news because if the skewer is loose enough and I hit a big enough bump my front wheel could simply pop off the fork causing me to get in a major crash and probably taking out half the field. I wasn’t thinking very well and tried yelling at the official a couple of times to see if I could get a free lap. I didn’t hear anything and saw the 8 laps to go sign. I didn’t want to stop at the pit because it was in a dangerous place to stop and again, I wasn’t thinking straight. I decided I didn’t want to sprint on a wheel that may come off and found a good place to pull over. I pulled over, got off, tightened the skewer, got back on and took off. The field had about 100 meters on me but Lenny had stopped to help get me back on. We burned it for 6 laps with help from mike. We were going really fast but it just wasn’t going to happen, the field was going too fast and we were getting to close to the finish. With a lap to go I tried one last surge to get back on but there was nothing left in the legs. Me and Lenny finished it up and crossed the line. In the end, Corey would have kept the jersey no matter how I had finished in the final sprint and Whitman finished 1, 2 to decisively take the Men’s A title. It was a frustrating end to an absolutely spectacular season.
We ended up winning just about everything in D-1 and won a lot in the overall conference standings. This was a huge improvement from even a couple of years ago and was a great achievement for everyone. We are bringing back nearly everyone and have even grander championship hopes for next year. It has been a great season. You are all great and I hope to see you all at all the OBRA races coming up. No matter what kit I may be wearing I will always race for all of you first and foremost. Thank you all so much and see you all next year.
We will be thinking of you all when we compete in Fort Collins, Co in two weeks and I will try to keep you up to date as much as possible.
I am now nearly 46% recovered from yesterday and am able once again to form semi-legible sentences. Before I head off to club sports to SIGN THE GREEN SHEET, I will give you all a recap of this weekends Men’s A races.
Thursday: 12:00: Me, Sonja, and Kristen head out for spokane. We have a 7 passenger van, 3 bikes, a ton of food, 18 bags of clothes, 3 pairs of Tifosi sunglasses, countless items from Defeet, and a set of Zipps in a bag. Sweet. We got to Spokane at around 9 and watched a little tv before hitting the sack. I got a queen sized bed to myself, awesome.
Friday: We got up early and got on the road to Bozeman. Our GPS knew that we had crossed a time zone but we didn’t realized it until we were halfway through Montana. Before long it was lunch time and we stopped in Missoula for some Thai food and ice cream, yummy. We got to Sonja’s cousin’s house at around 3 and decided to head out for a pre-race ride in Montana. We went to a local Time Trial course a bike shop had pointed us to. We warmed up a bit and then started sprinting for random signs. The elevation made it so recovering took almost twice as long but we could all put out close to maximal power once we did recover. I am feeling more confident in my sprinting abilities and nearly always stand up now! We took an awesome picture (we need to take a team picture still btw) and went back to the car. Before heading to the house we stopped and bought some groceries at Albertson’s. Everyone was checking us out but we couldn’t figure out why. Doesn’t everyone wear their finest lycra when they go shop? Anyways, we got eggs and vegies and tortillas and sausage (with a lot of fat that gave the girls stomach aches, but not me, Will’s diet of 99% sugar on a daily basis wins out again). We went back to the house and Kristen made omelets. I ate 1.3 huge omelets and the girls each ate a third of one. Then we had cantaloupe and Brownies! We had to pack up the brownies so we wouldn’t eat them all but we still managed to scarf down about half of them. We went down to the basement where we were sleeping and watch Fear and Loathing in L.V. It was sweet because that is how I feel on the bike, Gotta go faster, WE’RE IN BAT COUNTRY! We went to sleep (again I got a bed all to myself, this being the only dude on the trip thing really paid off).
Saturday: We woke up early to go out to the Team Time Trial Course. We filled out bottles, eat some oatmeal, pack everything up and headed out. We went to the South-Eastern side of Bozeman and found everyone in a muddy parking lot covered in snow. We unloaded, careful to get the van as muddy as possible in the process (Kristen even got some on the Ceiling, Very Nice). After much consultation with Bill Wykov, David Khuns, and the big book of points we decided that we were going to do a Men’s A time trial. The three of us got suited up and warmed up for a bit. We were the last team to go and were one of five Men’s A teams on the course. The Course was a loop that you did twice with a turn off to a 2k hill climb at the end. The first quarter was a gradual uphill, the second quarter was a gradual downhill, the third and fourth quarters were rolly and fun. We KILLED on the first lap, I stayed at the front but often was going to slow for the girls. We made the third turn and a van that didn’t get stopped by the flagger nearly hit us. We got back together and assaulted the rollers. This made us all hurt and we slowed down a bit. We had already passed 5 teams that were in other categories and were feeling ok about our placing. We got to the second lap and all recovered a fair bit and were able to keep up the pace. On the back side a large semi turn left right in front of us and we had to go into the other lane to avoid him. We hit the rollers again and got to the turn off. We slammed into the hill and made it up without too much trouble. I needed to be pushed once or twice but we all sprinted for the line and ended up beating Willamette and nearly catching PSU for 4th.
We drove to the Crit Asap. The directions were slightly confusing but whatever. We got there. It was at a yet-to-be-built housing development with newly paved roads. They were slightly skinny but again, whatever. From the start you would turn left and then left again (both fairly easy) go down a straight stretch, make a tight and fast S turn, hit another straight section that was slightly downhill, make a really tight left turn (which had been missed by several C’s and D’s, ending up with them in a ditch), make another slightly up hill left turn and then head back to the finish on a straight slightly uphill windy section. Our race was pretty small, me, 2 MSU guys (Cory the current yellow jersey and another “local pro”, don’t be too scared just yet by the fact that he was a pro, as you’ll find out later he got dropped both days), 2 PSU guys (James (tiny) and Michael (the B that had upgraded last week)), 2 Willamette guys, and Danny from UW (Danny is cool but possibly past his prime). We started out and the MSU guys set a fairly quick pace. I was careful to watch Cory because he had aspirations of taking the yellow jersey that day so I knew the “local pro” wouldn’t try and get away unless Cory was with him. We went for a bit, dropped 3 guys. We got the first prime bell and made it through the first half of the course without much problems. On the straight section before the hard left I got worried that the “local pro” was going to let a gap form in front of him and behind cory so I attacked down the section. I got in first position, made the turn and powered through the uphill section towards the finish. Before I got there Cory came up on my left and passed me. I out sprinted everyone else and felt alright. The next 55 minutes consisted of either: me trying to attack off the front only to be chased down by MSU or PSU, me trying to figure out some possible way to beat Cory to the line (I tried attacking first, from behind him, after him, before the turn, as late as possible, etc. and came within a tires width once but never got him), and me getting second in every Prime. The final sprint came and the expected happened, I got beat by Cory but beat everyone else. Great, 82 points, second in a crit (my best result ever in a crit) and the hard day was over. Cory had the yellow and I was in 3rd.
We went home, cleaned up, went to the spaghetti dinner, got dairy queen, talked with the Idaho boys, and the UW boys, AND the Gonzaga boys…. you see where this is going. Some dude winked at Kristen and she stone stared him, haha. We went home, watched some Space Balls and went to bed.
Sunday: We woke up once again, eat what was left over of the eggs and fixings. Filled up bottles, got packed, headed out. We got to the race staging area and looked around. No one was there so we decided to drive up to the top of the hill that ended up being the finishing climb. We got up there looked around drove back down ran into some people etc. Eventually we found out that the women were starting in another location. So with 30 mins till their race and an hour to mine we drove 17 miles out to the other side of the course to drop them off. I exploded them out of the car and zoomed off in a large cloud of dust. I got back to the Men’s A start location and started getting ready. I put sun screen on, got my bike ready, got kitted up and started the race. There were 7 of us that started. The course was, once again, a loop that you did twice with a turn off to a finishing climb. It started off with some rollers, a 5 mile steady climb, some more rollers, a windy section (air blowing), a windy section (back and forth), and then a fast section with a tail wind back to the start. The first lap was pretty easy, we stopped 15 miles in to fix one dudes shifting, I started singing to myself in my head (I understand why the girls do it now), and got to talk to all the other guys. Danny is a nice guy, the “local pro” was a nice guy, Cory is a nice guy, the Willamette guys are nice, and Michael seems a little new but wasn’t too far out of his league. Cory launched a surprise attack which made me mad at first because I wasn’t prepared for it but he launched it on a hill and I easily covered it, bringing the entire field with me. He was tired and Michael let him off the front (damnit). We joked around a little, finished the lap and started on the second. On the long steady climb Cory attacked again and dropped James and the “local pro.” Whoops. He said to keep going without his teammate and I didn’t really care so I got to the front and made them all hurt a little. I was watching their faces as I dropped to the back after my pull and I felt fairly confident that I could out climb them at the end. Towards that end I started sitting on Cory’s wheel and watching him very closely. He knew as well that I would inevitably beat him up the hill and launched several attacks after long steady climb. The first was covered by the UW guy and the other two followed my wheel as a caught up to him. The second was easily covered by all of us and I launched a counter attack as soon as Cory slowed down a bit. It was covered by PSU and everyone was still together. I attacked once more on the back side, which had gotten extremely windy (air blowing) and ended up getting separation. I put my head down and barreled into the wind. At one point I looked up and found myself on the other side of the left lane (whoops). It was really windy and I thought I was gone but I didn’t want to blow myself up and ended up getting caught by Cory who pulled the entire pack with him. There were several instances of sketchiness caused by the wind and tired riders but everyone stayed up and we all went on. With 15 miles to go we got out of the windy section and into the fast section heading back to the start. We took a pee break, talked some more, chilled out a bit. I made sure to watch Cory really closely, shirking on some pulls so I wouldn’t get caught with my back turned. The other guys understood the battle that was unfolding (me trying to get to the climb together and Cory trying to get separation from us all), so they didn’t bitch at all. My stomach was going crazy at this point because it looked like it was going down to the final climb. We made the turn on to the turn off and went over several gravel sections and started the climb. My legs were fairly tired and I started worrying that maybe I wouldn’t have it for the climb. We had let Michael from PSU off the front a little ways and he led us up the first part. After the second gravel section (still at the beginning of the climb) I looked back and saw that me and Michael had ridden away from the other 3 that were there. I found out later that they thought we were going to bonk and just let us go (PSssss, as if). I thought, F’it, better go now before they make up the distance and quickly went around Michael. He hung on my wheel for 10 yards but quickly dropped off. I kept up a hard pace for several minutes and looked back to see that I had a big gap from PSU and couldn’t even see the other 3. Well, there we go, time to put the head down, shift up, and hammer it up the hill. I felt pretty confident at being able to meter my effort so I wouldn’t bonk before the top. The hill was fairly similar to the big hill on the Drain ride and the final climb at Elkhorn, so I had something to compare it to. I kept up my speed and quickly made it to the top. I approached the line, pointed out my best ASSETS, and nearly crashed as my bike decided to go in a different direction with my hands off the bars but kept it up and made it to the line. The girls went crazy, the animals were roaring, and everyone else looked at me like I was crazy. I got off, and talked with the girls while the others finished. Let’s just say we got in a full conversation before Michael from PSU crossed the line in 2nd and then another half conversation before Danny from UW crossed in 3rd and Cory finished in 4th with Jason from Willamette in 5th. We got in the car, got gas, drove to Missoula, got burritos and fish tacos, drove to Spokane (Spokane is DFL in my list of places I would like to live/visit/not destroy btw), got gas, drove to Hood river, through Portland, almost ran out of gas 30 miles from Eugene and made a bad detour to try and find gas, got back on the free way, found gas, got the Eugene, dropped ofd Sonja, dropped off my stuff, dropped off Kristen, went to Motor pool, put the van back together as best I could (there was an entire civilization of dead bugs on the front of the car), and biked back home. Tried to write something on facebook, failed, brushed the dientes, and conked out.
Monday: I got up at 7:30 in the morning for some reason, couldn’t get back to sleep and ended up spending 3 hours in a zombie like state getting caught up on email and avoiding the reading I desperately need to do. I called Gilad who was going to Best buy to get a new computer and wasn’t going to be at the shop. I pouted for a while about that and then went to Econ 313. I paid zero attention in class, found a bunch of pictures from the Willamette dude, made too many albums, looked at how much better my sprinting form has become (check out the two sprint sequences in the album), watched myself get beat again and again as I flipped though them, picked the worst picture of Cory crossing the line in the Road Race and put it next to my finish line photo, added the Cavendish photo for those of you not up to date on your finishing line poses, dropped off the receipts at club sports, went to Econ 420, wrote the first part of this race report, accidently sent it, wrote the second part of the race report, got really hungry, started paying attention to the professor for a bit, stopped paying attention again, wrote ANOTHER run on sentence and ended the emai
Friday night, David Montes and I decided to let the B’s go time trial with only 3, and we would make our own team of 2. We get to warming up in what seemed to be a nice day, but halfway into the warm up the mist/rain started to come. Waiting at the start line as the mist took out all the warmness from our souls, we then proceeded to take off. We past one other team of 2 in less then 2 minutes, then took equal pulls till the turnaround point where we passed the PSU team. Right in front of the PSU team was the Whitman’s woman team, who coincidentally turned at the exact same moment as I did (on the outside of me), I made my turn so sharp that I had to clip out with my left foot to stay upright, then hopped right back on to finish strong (nearly passing another team) thanks to Montes pulling for a bigger portion then I did on the back stretch. 3rd place out of 9 was good enough for our 2 man team.
ON TO THE ROAD RACE!!!
Cutting it close doesn’t even begin to describe how the mens C’s almost missed the start. The head organizer calls out David’s name for roll call and all I could reply with was “Uhhhh he’s not here yet…” He then looked at me puzzled and asked “Well where is he?” I replied “Don’t worry about it.” Turns out Whitman got there at the same time as us. Finally after the roll was called and D. Montes and Karl showed up with 30 seconds to spare, we took off.
After the lead car pulled away, a WSU guy at the front joked about keeping this neutral pace the entire race… turns out he wasn’t kidding. We kept it mutually slow for the first 2 laps, but had a few hard efforts on the hills. Karl was enjoying his ride, staying with the group, talking and making a few jokes until a mechanical issue halfway into the 2nd (or 3rd?) lap stopped him. All I heard was a profound word after some clicking noise, I said my goodbye and on we continued. David and I both kept in the back of the peleton, including till the final climb. The field was 3 wide at most points, making it hard to pass someone safely. As the final climb and explosion of speed came, we were too far back to catch on to the whiplash of the group and disappointingly watched a gap open up. One WSU guy threw montes and I off with some sketchy climbing, but we were still able to finish in the 10 and 11 spots.
Crit:
A few laps into the race and an avoided crash later, David decided to break on the flat side before the hill. I couldn’t make my way up to the front to slow the peleton down, so I just prayed for his well being. Sadly, 1 lap later, one PSU guy (who pulled almost half of the race) reeled David back in by himself and brought all of us with him. We both stayed at the back of the peleton again (I did for literally the entire race), until the final 4 laps where I worked for better position. The final sprint came quickly, and with a fresh set of legs I passed 4 people at the very end, including the PSU guy by literally inches (I did one of those lunging the bike forward things, it worked perfectly). I ended up in the 7th spot, David came at 12th.
So much love
Nearly a dozen organic cookies and free bread later, the day was over for us C’s.
woke up at 4:45 to get the vans in the rain - loaded up and drove to OSU with the UO cycling team. Spent the next 6 hours bumming around eating breakfast, hanging out, sleeping in the back of a cargo van, and cheering teammates on. Good job team today! The ladies kicked some serious ass and represented. I’m proud to be in such a good group of cyclists.
Drock and Lenny at the starting line.
Lenny, Will and I warm up on the trainers in the rain. They tell me that they’ll be trying to help me out. I’m stoked and hope this will be a good race but deep inside I’m still remembering how I couldn’t clip my pedals in at the State Championship Crit and lost about 30 places almost instantly. We get warm, line up, the whistle blows and boom, its like magic. Both shoes clip instantly into the pedals. Ahh yeah! I say and get a good kick in to the head of the pack. Oh, I feel good. Let’s go! All of a sudden I find myself off the front with about a 30M gap. Sweet, this is just like Lenny did yesterday! I push through the technical back section of the course turn left, do the 180 and look over to see that the pack has just started the turn. Wow! Ok, I’m off the front, but do I really have the power to hold this? Am I a TT guy? hmmmm….I think the answer right now (”now” being a very important word, I would love to be able to do this in the future) is no. So I sit up a little to wait for the guy who is bridging up and he passes me so quick I can’t even get on his wheel. uh oh. How about I wait for the main group? Ok, i latch onto the back of a group of 10 and my legs are just loaded up. Jesus, these dudes kick out of corners and Im doing everything I can to maintain distance. 2 laps later of hanging on my legs are done. Will is yelling at me to “keep going dude, lets sprint!”. Sprint? are you kidding me? I can’t even maintain a 60 cadence.
So Will and I both drop out about a lap later. When I think about it now, we should have stayed in, got lapped and latched back onto the field for more practice. Lenny did it and honestly, I was a little bit jealous that he was still racing. It was a great course.
So what did I learn?
- no more jumping off the front at the gun until I know I can hold it.
- economy is key
- I need to adjust my workouts to more closely mimic the demands of these races.
- Clipping in quickly does not necessarily mean it’s time for a solo break.
Anyway, I hope there’s a good picture of me off the front somewhere (Adam???). I’m gonna try this again in a couple of weeks.
Road race: The mens d field started out going I would say 4 miles per hour, I think they thought that the neutral roll out was the whole first lap but as the terrain started pointing up the people who wanted to race moved up. Through a serious of crashes attacks and subsequent accelerations to catch those attacks the field was widdled down to ten riders, yes me and Ty (hard ass that got a cramp right before the last hill and still finished eighth) were in the group. A solo attack went and stayed away thanks in large part to a lack of cooperation from his teammate, for good reason, and a beaver, who’s reasons were not so obvious. About a mile before the finished I did a pull that could very well qualify as the worst idea ever and was soon passed going up the last hill to the finish line by 4 of my compatriots. I got six Ty got eighth Karl and the rest of the C field better watch out because next week we are coming for them.
Ty Mangum
Time Trial: We didn’t get dead last hooray! but we did get passed by girls… not so hooray but then again they got first so maybe they are just really strong but it was technically a C time trial so I will leave that for Karl.
Crit: We went around in circles a lot, I was never in the lead group so there are people on the team from other cats that could probably tell you better what happened. Ty got sixth though because he is a BAMF, I got 18th because I am not a BAMF. I’m out of things to say and you probably didn’t want to read the rubbish I already wrote so I’m out, Try and do better next time.
Road Race: The day started out cool, with a touch of water on the ground (which was quickly picked up by our wheels and spat into our faces). The pace was moderate as everyone was anxious and getting comfortable riding in the pack again. A few comments made about one’s lack of training and the hope that we don’t get caught by the womens field. Once we were all settled in, the racing began. One attack off the front and two guys followed, they only held for a few minutes and were soon reabsorbed into the peloton. As soon as they were reeled back in, two more guys shot up the left side and nobody went with them, the official car zoomed past us and when we caught up with him, he had news that the two guys had about a minute on the rest of us, it was decision time. As there was only three of us on the Oregon team, I don’t think we felt up to bringing them back in alone so we waited for the decision of the other teams who were also unwilling to work. Instead we remained at the front, trading pulls, eating and drinking. A few counter attacks went off with one finally staying away and bridging up to the two men up front. When we heard about their three minute gap we decided it was too late and they were going to stay away for the remainder of the race. With this shift, our race was now for 5th place. A little over halfway into the race and Ivar made a breakaway attempt which looked solid, he too three other guys with him and they quickly gained about a minute on the rest of the field. Azul and myself continued to trade pulls at the front while working with the other teams. About fifteen minutes after Ivar went off the front, we found him alone on the road as his group of three has disbanded. We took him back in and quickly found the other two guys up the road waiting for a wheel to recover on. The race for 5th place was still on. Our final two laps were pretty standard, we slowed down a bit, attempted to echelon with a guy from Wazzu trying to orchestrate but ending up like a dictator and everything falling apart to his disgust. On the final climb everyone’s gears are clicking up and down as we’re all trying to find the right one for the uphill finish. Halfway up the climb we’re all still together, 2/3 of the way up theres a launch off the left side and everyone follows, Azul and Ivar take it to the line with the rest of the field as I come in trailing behind the pack (my legs didn’t have it in them that day). Our two Oregonians finished strong, while clipping a few guys at the finish getting those few extra places higher.
TTT: It’s spitting rain and the wind is pushing everything sideways for about 5 minutes and then it’s completely calm the next 5 minutes. Our weather cannot make up it’s mind. Oh and the temperature’s dropped considerably as well. Our TTT times have been pushed back quite a bit as we’re getting everyone set up and off the roads for our final event of the day. By now, all the teams are closely huddled in their vans for protection against our harsh Oregon elements. Some teams have decided to scrap the TTT and begin their long drive home. With only a few teams remaining, we begrudgingly decide to suit up and relinquish our warm car seat for a cold, wet bike saddle (delicious). Ivar, Azul and myself are first and foremost not wanting to time trial. Secondly our legs are spent from the road race, this is not looking to be a fun time on the bike. We suit up and make our way to the starting line; it’s an out and back TTT, up one big hill, back down the big hill and over a few rollers to the turn around (at least the descents will be fast). We discuss strategy and decide that I’m going to pull the majority of the way, Ivar and Azul agree to sit on and trade some pulling, easy up the climbs and we’ll all stay together. We’re off, Azul and Ivar clip in quickly and begin getting their legs up to speed, I struggle to clip in but quickly catch on and we’re rolling. We begin to trade short pulls up to the first climb where we stay together. On the decent I’m out in front and they’re sitting onto my wheel. The ground is soaked and we’re getting plastered by grit and mud from our wheels. We make it to the set of rollers, Ivar pulls us up the first one and I pull on the descents. We make it to the turn around with our bodies screaming at us to stop. Instead, I begin screaming at Azul and Ivar to dig deeper and push those pedals (this is in hopes of providing encouragement). We’re all hurting, yet we continue to push as hard as we can. Our climbing ability is not there anymore and we’re barely making it to the crest of the hill, at the final climb (I’m screaming this whole time to “come on!” “push it!” etc.) and can hardly make it. I tell them that if they can make it to the top of this climb I’ll pull the entire way to the finish line. We make it and begin to descend, apexing the corners and hoping that our rubber side stays down. We’re on the false flat before the finish line and I’m still screaming at them but this time my focus is on pain “I like PAIN!” “Get on the PAIN TRAIN!” “Come ON!!!!” we’re pushing as hard as we can, we’ve achieved a tan line of mud where are glasses are and our bodies hate us but we finish.
Azul and Andrew wait to begin.
Criterium: We’re still tired from the road race, TTT and the 5 am wake up call. It’s raining and we’re huddled in the vans, waiting to start. We get warmed up and arrive at the start line. Ivar has his helmet camera on and is ready to get some footage of this event to recap later. We get our instructions, the whistle blows and we’re off. Ivar and Azul are in good position up front and I’m struggling to hang on, two laps in and my hamstrings decide to cramp and I head back to the warm car to change, kicking Sonja out of her seat. Azul and Ivar are hanging on, then Ivar’s out front and hammering through the corners, Azul’s with the pack and looking strong. They continue round and round fighting for primes up to the finish. Ivar drops back to the peloton with Azul, they finish in the bunch sprint with no crashes on the dodgy corners or man hole covers.
Overall we held our own in the road race, were too tired in the TTT to make a good effort and ended up 6 minutes back from everyone else and our criterium was decent however we were still tired from the previous day’s events. For the first race of the season and Azul’s first race as a B rider, we did pretty well. Now it’s time to step up our game and hammer a bit more.
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Cheers,
Road Race: Women’s B and C fields were combined for the first road race of the season. Started with a group of about 30 girls; 6 Bs and 25 or so Cs. Oregon women pulled at the front for the beginning of the race and then continued the steady pace up the first little kicker. After descending and taking the right-hand turn at the stop sign, I looked back at realized there were only 11 other girls. Eager to keep the break going, I yelled at everyone to get organized. After a bit of confusion, we were able to organize an efficient double paceline, lengthening the distance between us and the first chase group. Starting up the second climb, I began to feel a tightness in my chest but ignored it. As we picked up the pace, I began to feel really nausea. Let’s just say my breakfast didn’t stay down and the lead group rode away from me. We weren’t going especially hard, so I don’t really know why I got sick. I think it may have been a combination of what I ate and nerves. Anyway, I was able to finish up the race, mostly solo, remaining in front of the two other B girls that had been dropped… good enough for a 4th place finish.
Kat, Sonja, Rachelle, and Kristen
Team Time Trial: Waiting for our start time in the hail and pelting rain, there was talk of not competing in the team time trial. However, after chiding from Will and Lenny in their cozy set-up in the back of Lenny’s Jeep, we decided to go ahead and race. We had a bit of a rough start, as Kat could not get her foot clipped into her new pedals. We quickly got organized and began climbing! We caught the Central Washington men’s team shortly after the first descent which gave us an extra boost of confidence. Coming around the turn-around cone, we had yet to see our 2-minute chase group. We started heading back, smoothly rotating through our paceline. Unfortuantely, before reaching our second climb of the time trial, Kristen dropped her chain so we had to leave her behind. Sonja, Kat, and myself brought the team in, with Sonja giving a hard pull before the finish line, and Kat and I racing across the line together. It was good enough for 1st.
Crit:The start time for the women’s B crit was moved from 10am to 10:30am to noon, making it quite difficult (and frustrating) to prepare for the race. However, when the race finally started (combined with the women As) there was little time to think of such frivolities. Soon after the race began, a group of 3 A women broke off the front. I was able to stay with the first chase group which consisted of two As. Sitting on the back and doing as little work as possible, it began to rain. That’s when the race got interesting… Probably halfway into the race, we came around the hairpin turn. Both As were in front of me, and took the corner a bit too fast. The leading girl slipped out on the wet crosswalk paint, and the second girl quickly followed. I slammed on my brakes and veered to the left to try and avoid crashing, and miraculously stayed up. However, in the time that it took to avoid the crash, the main peloton had rode by and passed us. I jumped back on my bike and chased back onto the main peloton. Both girls that crashed in front of me were out for the race. Sat in and recovered in the peloton, gearing up for the finish. There were two other Bs in the group, which I kept a steady eye on. With two laps to go, one of the B girls went to the front and dragged us around the course for a lap and a half. Coming around the finishing corner I had perfect positioning, situated behind a strong A. *Sprinting, we rode around the only other B in front of me, and finished. Although I didn’t “win” the sprint against the A I did get first in the Bs.
That’s all until next week! Enjoy Spring Break!
~Rachelle
Oregon Cycling Action says, “Karey Miles (Therapeutic Associates Inc) won the women’s race in a bunch sprint ahead of Cat 3 Beth Burns (Veloce/Felt) after the field stayed mostly together during the four-lap 44-mile Banana Belt opener.”
Karey (left) takes the sprint!
Men’s 3s
Lap 1. Lenny Stewart launches an attack at the gun. Reeled in after 2 miles. Will launches, Lenny launches. Over and over I see these guys attacking.
Lap 2. The hot lap. 50 bucks on the line here for the winner of this lap. Last mile I find myself behind Will and Lenny. “Ok boys, lets do it!” They look at me like I’m crazy. Apparently, they did not know it was a hot lap. So I somehow manage to get Will to tow me to the front. 200m I look over and see Sam right next to me. He goes, I know he has it and pull back to save energy. Enjoy the 50 bucks.
Lap 3. Everyone was eating and resting. Still a nice fast pace though.
Lap 4. Attack. I look up the road and see Lenny, Will, and someone from Collins all together with a good sized gap on the field. I say out loud to myself (because yes, I do talk to myself out loud) “this is a strong break up the road” and the people next to me immediately move forward and start chasing for the next few miles. oops
At the dam, Lenny goes off with 2 other guys and this time I’m hoping it sticks. I stay near the front, refuse to pull through, and in general try to subtly mess things up. Its too bad these guys were not working well with Lenny. He drops them on the last climbs and tries to solo it in. Pandemonium in the peloton breaks loose when we catch the women’s field and their follow car doesn’t pull completely over. I end up weaving over on the right side of the car, getting super close to the ladies (which I’m sure they loved), and reattaching myself way too far forward. I wanted to be about 10th wheel here and found myself 5th. Luckily I had JLV with me and he started a good leadout at about 1.5 k to go. We pass Lenny at something around 28mph, JLV burns out a little before the 200m sign. I’m at the front of the race here, not where you should be before 200m. I drop back slightly and John Kim comes roaring by me. It’s on. Full Speed ahead 200m. It gets super tight in the sprint and I get slammed by someone on my left (mad props to the bumping exercises) but have to stop pedaling for a second. I regain composure, sprint again, and throw my bike at the line hoping to gain a couple places. In the end I finished 6th, behind my arch rival Sam Nicolletti. Not bad considering this is my first real cat 3 RR that I finished. Fun time. I hope the breaks make it next race.
Spring Classics
One funny thing: We decided to watch the Men’s 5 race take the lefthand dam turn on our way out. For some reason, everyone turns except for Azul, who came straight at myself and Lenny. He had a weird blank look on his face. We were just like “AZUUUlLL…TURRRRRN..what are you doing man? TURN!!!!”
