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

p.o.d

A ride worth a blog

So, last weekend in Portland, I did the De Ronde van Oeste Portlandia ride in west Portland. This ride is set up to mimic the Tour of Flanders. It is not an organized ride, however. The website that was created for this ride states, "the De Ronde ride will not be happening this year, however an invitational ride with be happening at 10 am ..." So, I showed up at 10, and so did 700 others.

What I knew of the ride was that it was up and down all day long in the west hills of Portland. mapmyride said it was about 5400 feet of climbing over it's 47 mile course.

So, here goes. I road in from my house to the start about 8 miles away. It was looking like a great day for a great ride. Like I said earlier, I showed up to find a large group of riders looking the conquer De Ronde. Right at 10, we took off. This was a sight to be seen, looked like the beginning of a Tour stage. As soon as the legs started to warm, we hit the first hill. It was about 1000 feet of climbing up a dirt fire road. By the time, we hit the top, I was smokin hot. Vest was off and jersey was unzipped. Next few miles were just rollers, but fun and fast. Keep in mind I am just following the crowd as I have no idea where the route actually goes. As we were descending at a pretty decent clip, I noticed the group was turning up the road. A

s soon as we turned left, we hit a 12% grade little climb. Chains were popping and derailleurs were cracking as riders were trying to make the quick adjustment. I got to the top of the first section with little problem, turned the corner and realized the road keep going and the grade got steeper. All riders at this point, were in the granny gear standing up to a cadence of about 30. Half way up this section, I bailed onto a level driveway, road one little circle and then started climbing again. I hit one other driveway on my way up, but it was brutal. Never put a foot down though! After the ride I was told that section was 24% grade and about 1/4 to 1/2 mile long. It was nasty to say the least.

The next 20 miles or so, consisted of going up slowly and down very quickly....rinse, and repeat. I knew there was one climb that was on a single lane mossy road that hit 28

% grade...it now lay before me and I was ready. Well, I was ready for the first 20 feet. I found myself gasping for air, cadence I'm sure was in the 20's. Difference here is no real relief. As I was trying my best to just look forward, I noticed a driveway that was half way up the climb. As soon as I got there, I opted to take it. Did my own little circle and then headed back up the rest of the way. Again, no foot down, so that made me happy. It was a brutal climb. As soon as I got to the top, I realized our climbing was not over, the grade came down to 5 or 6, so it wasn't bad at all. The rest of the ride was more of the same, up and down, up and down. We finished the ride at the top of Council Crest park. This is the highest point in Portland (very fitting). Now, to just ride those 8 miles back home. Thankfully, 6 of those miles were all downhill.

All in all, it was a great ride. My buddy and I finished in just under 4 hours,

I did about 62 miles (according to my PowerTap), and 8500 feet of climbing.

Here is the garmin file - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/30363467.

This was much deserved!

A little more Max

Ok, so it has been 5 days since Max was born...and they have flown by. We had a pediatrician appointment yesterday and he checked out pretty well. He was slightly jaundice, but what baby isn't right? Jackson however has strep throat and Margaret has an infection...both are doing much better today.

It is interesting how things are already pretty different with the addition of another child. It is going to take me a couple of weeks to decide what is actually different, so for now it is just a feeling. My mom has been out here as well to help out, so I'm sure it is going to feel even more different once she is gone. This saturday will be a true test.

Anyway, I appreciate all of the calls and emails that I've gotten. It is always nice to reconnect with folks. I have a few pictures that I wanted to share with you all. There were from the hospital, all taken off of my phone. I'll add some other photos from a real camera to a different post. Thanks for looking!

About an hour before Max arrived

Margaret laboring in the tub. She was a champ!

Max about 30 seconds old.

Jackson's first visit at the hospital.

Here is a quick little video I took from my phone at the hospital the day we left. Enjoy!

Margaret is going to write up a nice description of the birth of Max I'm sure. So, check out dtw2pdx.blogspot.com in the next few days. She is a much better writer than me.

Maxwell Steven Dale

Well, I haven't really had anything to write about as of late, but that all changed yesterday. Max, who was not named until today, came into our lives at 3:57 yesterday afternoon (4/9/10). He weighted 7 lbs 6 ozs and was 19 inches long. Margaret did an awesome job and took the pain like a champ. From our time of arrival to the time of delivery was a little under two hours. I will write more later and post a video or two, but here is a picture of Max and Jackson.