Mt Tabor Circuit Race

I raced the Mt. Tabor Circuit race this past weekend. The short of it, is that it was wet and super fast. I ended up in sixth, so was pretty happy. The race was all out the entire time. Margaret, Jackson, and Max all made it out so that was the best part! Here is a cool picture that was snapped during the race.

Monday PIR

Raced again last night in the 4/5 PIR race. It was a complete downpour for most of my 10 mile ride to the race, 100% of the race, and just a little on the way home. When I rolled up to the registration, I noticed that no one was warming up...everyone was under the tents. It was pretty amusing, but I quickly joined in on the fun (if you call it that).
20 minutes later we were off. I was shocked at how quick the pace was for a race in the rain. I had water being shot up at me off of the road the whole time. Weird thing was, the water coming off the asphalt felt really warm, so it wasn't as bad. Anyway, we were again doing 13 laps or about 25 miles. Hot laps (what they call primes out here) were laps 8 and 5. For the first one, I was set up perfectly, finished second in the sprint, and then realized the officials messed up and didn't ring the bell, so that sprint didn't count, but the bell was ringing so it was on the next time around. I didn't fair as well and finished the sprint in 4th. There were about 25 guys in our race and at this point I was trying to hang on. I was whooped. During the next lap, I got a much needed push from a buddy that got me spinning my legs again. Ok, now I am back in it. I decided not to sprint for the next hot lap and save something for the finish.
The last 5 laps I rode really well and always stayed in the top 6 or 7 riders. Coming out of the last corner I was sitting 6th wheel. There are two guys who always get a leadout and sprint pretty well, so I was looking for their wheel...Got it. Just as I latched on, the other rider I was worried about went way outside and started to sprint. Could he actually sprint all the way to the finish? I stayed on the wheel I was on and with about 200 meters to go, I went around and finished with a nice 2nd place. Made my ride in the rain all worth it.

Cheers.

Silverton Road Race

This past Sunday I raced in the Silverton Road Race. It is about an hour south of Portland. My race started at 9, so hit the road with my buddy Josh about 7. It was beautiful out and scheduled to be about 65 degrees at the start. We rolled in about 8, registered, and starting getting ready. We rolled around for about 30 minutes to warm up prior to the race starting...



Race time. Whistle goes off and we are rolling. The field was about 50 (I guess it was supposed to be 78, but that didn't happen). The course was a 17 mile hilly loop that we were doing three times. Right out of the shoot there was a downhill section for a couple of kilometers. In the first minute, the peloton was doing 40+ down these hills. That quickly changed as we started to climb about 3 kilometers in. By the top of the first major climb, we were split in two. Well, I shouldn't say that. The group was split into a group off the front and then everyone else gasping for breath on the way up. Luckily, I was close enough to the front and stayed with the main group. For the entire first lap, we were all together, about 20 of us in total. I stayed in the middle and did really no work. Lap two started off with a bang as one rider went off the front. The group let him stay up for a few miles, but eventually he was reeled in at the top of that first climb. At some point in the next 10 miles our group split into two again. This time I was not positioned very well. I ended up in the chase group. At this point, there were about 6 of us working together well as the first chase group. I was taking my share of pulls at about 500 watts and feeling it on the way down. Up to this point in the race, our average pace was about 22 mph. The break was about a minute ahead of us as we started lap three. At the top of the first climb on lap three, I had popped. Realized I wasn't even though one water bottle yet. Bad idea, I know. Anyway, I tried to push hard to catch the chase group again, but they were working well together and I couldn't do it on my own. I knew I was sitting right around the top 20 and was content with my third lap being a 'Sunday afternoon' ride. I took my time and actually waited up for an approaching rider behind me. He and I rode the remainder of the loop together. The finish was at the top of climb of about a 1/2 mile. About half way up, I used whatever energy I had left and won our little sprint. Came in 18th. It was enough for me to upgrade. I guess I am happy about that.



This is the only picture I could find. I know it is me, because there are zero other MCG riders in Oregon.

Monday PIR

Raced again last night...did the Monday night PIR Races.

In Portland, every Monday night there is a Masters (30+) race at the Portland International Raceway (PIR), and every Tuesday anyone can race. I raced PIR last night in the 4/5 Class. It was nasty windy around two of the corners and had a fast headwind to the finish. The course is about 2 miles long and we were doing 11 laps. The pace was quick right out of the shoot, and our group of 40 was strung out by lap two. My goal was to stay in the top 10 throughout the race. There was a prime on laps 4 and 7. I went for the first and came up about a wheel short, but was happy with my effort. A small break of 3 got away on the 5th lap. I bridged up with one other. Our group stayed together only until lap 8 when we were brought back in. Laps 8 through 10 were fast, but fairly boring, I am still sitting in about 7th wheel. Last lap, pace picked up…obviously. With three turns to go, a couple guys bump wheels and one went down...hard (busted clavicle - had surgery last night actually), right in front of me. I was able to escape the carnage with about 20 others, but I was near the back. The sprint started early, but I latched onto a wheel pretty quickly. I ended up 9th. Most likely would have only been up a few more places had the crash not occurred. I think I was the first Cat 5 to come in. At this point, I should get my upgrade. If the rain stops, more fun tonight!

Eugene Roubaix

Race Recap -

The Eugene Roubaix is a 14.3 mile loop that Cat 5 does three times. It is relatively flat, but has some climbing right out of the shoot. We started out with a neutral start, up the first climb and down the back which was a tight steep downhill. It must have been about 2 miles in total and the lead vehicle honked his horn and the racing started. Well, the racing did not start, we kept our same pace...about 20 mph. For the next 5 miles or so, it was like a Sunday afternoon ride in the wind. I was shocked, couldn't really figure out what the heck was going on. 7 or 8 miles into the loop, a few guys tried to break, but they were almost immediately pulled back in. My goal was to stay at the front and go with any break that happen to form, but not really try and be a hero and go off too early. The last turn of the lap put us on a 3.5 mile straight away with the wind at our backs. For some reason the guys at the front decided to slow up a bit as we went around this corner. About 500 yards into this section, I had had enough. I was sitting about 5th wheel and took off. Very quickly I had a gap of about 50 yards or so. I had no intentions of going at it by myself but wanted to get our group doing something. After a minute or so, I sat up and waited for the group to catch up. They did catch up, but no one passed, they just sat on my wheel. I wasn't going all that fast, but no one felt like working. At this point, I wanted to break again, but have a few guys go with me. So, I slowly picked up the pace this time instead of just taking off. This time, I brought a group with me. One thing I forgot to mention is the last 1.5 miles of the loop is on a dirt road with 200 meters of pavement to the finish line. I made the mistake of literally doing all the work down this entire section. I was pushing about 400 watts for what felt like forever, but was really only about 2 miles. Once we hit the climb at the start line, we were down to 11 of us. I went straight to the back and was dropped just as I crested the summit. The other 10 riders had about 300 meters on me. It all happened so fast, I was pissed at myself for working too hard too early.

Anyway, lap two starts on the wrong foot. I told myself that now was the only chance to catch back up, so I put my head down and tried to hammer back up to the group. It took me 3 miles, but I finally caught back on. I was whipped and didn't want to take a pull the rest of the day. The majority of this lap was uneventful until one of the last corners a rider was going way to fast and layed it down right in front of me. Luckily, he took only himself out. At this point I was about 7th or 8th wheel, but this guy was about 4th. The guys up front heard the crash and took off. 3 of them got away. I tried to organize the other 3 guys around me to catch, but only two of us were working. We stayed this way for the rest of the lap and all of the last lap. When we hit that last right turn onto the straight away, I was leading. For some reason we decided to right side by side. So, I was riding in front on the right and another guy was on my left, each of us with a rider behind. I did not want to continue this all the way to the finish, but the other two would not pull. We hit the dirt section doing about 20 mph. About a mile from the finish, we picked up the pace, but I was still leading. About 1k from the finish, we were pushing about 27 mph, I was still up front...mad at this point, but still up front. We hit the pavement, 200 meters to go, guy next to me starting pushing the pace, 100 meters, I downshift a few gears, stand up and start the sprint...smoked them all by about 40-50 feet! I was pretty happy after doing all that work near the end. Power meter said 1275 for that last little section.

I am happy with third after wasting all the energy on the first lap. Lessons learned I guess.

Until next weekend....

Here is a picture that I found(the photographer is on the finish line, this was our group of 4)...enjoy