Oh boy what a week! Let's jump right in. After the OBRA TT Champs I was feeling pretty good, my fitness was showing a bit and my confidence was also on the rise after a solid 3rd place effort. The beginning of the week was a bit rough - we had to do inventory at work which went until 2 AM. I was wiped out for the next 48 hours and didn't have the energy to ride. Actually listening to my body for once, I take the time to rest up and get some riding in later on during the week. Thursday before the race I was feeling particularly good and aggressive on my ride but knowing I needed to conserve my energy for Fridays prologue I found an old man riding his bike and politely sat on his wheel for an hour. (Don't worry I asked for permission, although I don't think he understood why I stopped on the side of the road, waited for him to pass, caught back up and asked to draft him, oh well.)
My goal for this stage race is to snag a top 10 GC spot in the Cat 3's to finish out the season. If I wasn't in contention for a top 10 by the last stage criterium, we'd pack up and go home. No sense ending the season with a crit, which is a pure sufferfest for me anyway.
As an attribute to my persuasion skills I convinced a new friend of mine, Jay, to schlep down to Eugene and do his first ever stage race. Not knowing how much this was going to hurt he willingly followed me into the depths of hell...tee hee...
My goal for this stage race is to snag a top 10 GC spot in the Cat 3's to finish out the season. If I wasn't in contention for a top 10 by the last stage criterium, we'd pack up and go home. No sense ending the season with a crit, which is a pure sufferfest for me anyway.
As an attribute to my persuasion skills I convinced a new friend of mine, Jay, to schlep down to Eugene and do his first ever stage race. Not knowing how much this was going to hurt he willingly followed me into the depths of hell...tee hee...
Stage 1: McBeth Uphill Prologue
The race didn't start until 7:00 PM so I went for a short spin in the morning, Lauren and I went out to breakfast, packed the car and lazily headed south to Eugene. We got into town, had lunch and went over to see Mr. and Mrs. English. They were in high spirits, Rob is making progress towards his recovery and Misha seems to be doing alright. She made us some of her amazing double chocolate chip cookies as we sat on their back patio and talked for a while before the race. Since Rob holds the course record for the hill climb, we talked about pacing and he passed along some sage advice for my race that evening. Eventually, Lauren and I made our way down the road (literally right down the street) to the staging area for the evening frivolities.
The race didn't start until 7:00 PM so I went for a short spin in the morning, Lauren and I went out to breakfast, packed the car and lazily headed south to Eugene. We got into town, had lunch and went over to see Mr. and Mrs. English. They were in high spirits, Rob is making progress towards his recovery and Misha seems to be doing alright. She made us some of her amazing double chocolate chip cookies as we sat on their back patio and talked for a while before the race. Since Rob holds the course record for the hill climb, we talked about pacing and he passed along some sage advice for my race that evening. Eventually, Lauren and I made our way down the road (literally right down the street) to the staging area for the evening frivolities.
One of our favorite pastimes is people watching. When you take a bunch of eccentric folks who like to ride really fast in brightly colored spandex, pour on some race pressure, give them two porta-potties and uncontrollable bladders it's quite a sight. Everyone walking nervously around, peeing, warming up, checking out their competition, putting on war paint and a spandex onesie, peeing, listening to their special race playlist, peeing...in a word: hilarious.
One girl was at the prologue with her boyfriend, after parking next to us her man begins to unpack his bike, setting his disc wheel against the car. Girlfriend says, "Oh no! your wheels is broken!" Man, "No babe there's a hole so you can air up the tire." 5 minutes later girlfriend says, "Babe get over here, there's a huge scratch on my car! Come see what your bike did to my car!! I will not have any bikes near this car EVER again. I am ashamed of what YOUR bike did to MY car." Man: "I'm going to go warmup." Good thing we're at a bike race. People watching is better than any TV program, you can't write this shit, thanks blondie.
One girl was at the prologue with her boyfriend, after parking next to us her man begins to unpack his bike, setting his disc wheel against the car. Girlfriend says, "Oh no! your wheels is broken!" Man, "No babe there's a hole so you can air up the tire." 5 minutes later girlfriend says, "Babe get over here, there's a huge scratch on my car! Come see what your bike did to my car!! I will not have any bikes near this car EVER again. I am ashamed of what YOUR bike did to MY car." Man: "I'm going to go warmup." Good thing we're at a bike race. People watching is better than any TV program, you can't write this shit, thanks blondie.
I get in a good warmup on the trainer, Lauren drives to the top of the hill to see me finish and I roll up to the line just before my official start time. Turns out they're running 15 minutes late...So.....I turn around and ride back down the road to keep warm and my legs from seizing up. Finally I'm toeing the line in the start tent, I'm counted down and the suffering begins.
The course record on this 5k uphill drag race is 10:15, I was feeling pretty good and paced myself well, caught a few guys and finished in 12:11:56 for 5th place, 1:03 behind the leader. Not too shabby. Not knowing my result until the next day, my benchmark of success was the aforementioned vomit, so it must have been a decent result.
Jay started a few minutes behind me on the prologue and put up 14:42:91, not bad for his first hill climb to do 5k under 15 minutes. That evening we went out to dinner to talk more about the race and the upcoming road stage tomorrow. We also shared lots of good stories, including one about his daredevil kids hitting themselves with hatchets and launching their bodies down rocks at Trillium lake, oh to be young again.
The course record on this 5k uphill drag race is 10:15, I was feeling pretty good and paced myself well, caught a few guys and finished in 12:11:56 for 5th place, 1:03 behind the leader. Not too shabby. Not knowing my result until the next day, my benchmark of success was the aforementioned vomit, so it must have been a decent result.
Jay started a few minutes behind me on the prologue and put up 14:42:91, not bad for his first hill climb to do 5k under 15 minutes. That evening we went out to dinner to talk more about the race and the upcoming road stage tomorrow. We also shared lots of good stories, including one about his daredevil kids hitting themselves with hatchets and launching their bodies down rocks at Trillium lake, oh to be young again.
Stage 2: Briggs Hill Road Race
Going into the road race without any teammates the plan was to be reactive and follow wheels all day, stay toward the front 15 riders, and limit any losses. We arrive to the start to see my teammate Adam Kennedy driving the wheels car for our race which is always awesome. We receive our race instructions from the OBRA official and begin our neutral roll out to the course. Since the fields were relatively small, the 3/4/5's were all combined to form the mega-field. Knowing how guys like to race when fields are combined makes life difficult for the less experienced racers. It means lots of hard accelerations and guys wanting to shred the field. I keep towards the front the entire race, got caught on the second lap pushing a little too hard, and found myself shelled off the back of the main peloton on the descent. A few of us found ourselves in a spot of bother, but we organized quickly and chased back to the group.
On the third lap one guy was off the front and nobody wanted to go after him so he put nearly a minute into the rest of the field. We kept it together on the final climb, strung out on the descent once again but everything came back for the last 5k. We hit the 1K sign, I dropped back a few wheels and launched an attack to try and get away at about 800 meters. No luck there, so I get swallowed up by the group just before the finish line. Holding onto the tail end to receive the same time as the lead group. Whew!
Going into the road race without any teammates the plan was to be reactive and follow wheels all day, stay toward the front 15 riders, and limit any losses. We arrive to the start to see my teammate Adam Kennedy driving the wheels car for our race which is always awesome. We receive our race instructions from the OBRA official and begin our neutral roll out to the course. Since the fields were relatively small, the 3/4/5's were all combined to form the mega-field. Knowing how guys like to race when fields are combined makes life difficult for the less experienced racers. It means lots of hard accelerations and guys wanting to shred the field. I keep towards the front the entire race, got caught on the second lap pushing a little too hard, and found myself shelled off the back of the main peloton on the descent. A few of us found ourselves in a spot of bother, but we organized quickly and chased back to the group.
On the third lap one guy was off the front and nobody wanted to go after him so he put nearly a minute into the rest of the field. We kept it together on the final climb, strung out on the descent once again but everything came back for the last 5k. We hit the 1K sign, I dropped back a few wheels and launched an attack to try and get away at about 800 meters. No luck there, so I get swallowed up by the group just before the finish line. Holding onto the tail end to receive the same time as the lead group. Whew!
The field absolutely shattered on the first small climb of the day. We started with 41 riders, and finished with 13 in the main group (I finished 13th, which totally counted for my goal of being in the top 15). Jay unfortunately got popped at the first climb but when he crossed the line he was still smiling so he must have had a good time. Plus he didn't finish last, mission accomplished.
The nice thing about racing early in the day is to have the rest of it to recover and hang out in Eugene. Lauren and I drive back to the hotel to unpack and shower before walking through campus to find a late lunch. There's a mediterranean restaurant called Caspian that has the most amazing gyros, fries and syrupy orange fanta drink. In college this was our spot to meet for lunch, so going back there brought back loads of fond memories of college. Afterwards we wandered the aisles of Smith Family Used Book Store, I think they have over 6 billion books there and it's awesome, the smell, the atmosphere of dirty hippies sitting on the floor reading, and all the little treasures you can find there. Pure bliss.
Our afternoon on campus wouldn't be complete without stopping by Cafe Roma for some college coffee. As usual they messed up our drink order...ahh nostalgia. We slowly made our way back to the hotel, and Lauren and I turn on the TV to relax some more. At this point there's a Disney movie marathon on TV, so between that and Shark Week we're in heaven. We began with Mulan, and Alien Sharks of the Deep, followed by Great White Killing Machines, and the Little Mermaid. I think that will forever be my secret to stage racing, watching Disney movies makes you laugh, relax and enjoy life. Complete stress removal and you get sweet songs stuck in your head. Also, I'm sure watching great white sharks rip apart elephant seals helped too.
Our afternoon on campus wouldn't be complete without stopping by Cafe Roma for some college coffee. As usual they messed up our drink order...ahh nostalgia. We slowly made our way back to the hotel, and Lauren and I turn on the TV to relax some more. At this point there's a Disney movie marathon on TV, so between that and Shark Week we're in heaven. We began with Mulan, and Alien Sharks of the Deep, followed by Great White Killing Machines, and the Little Mermaid. I think that will forever be my secret to stage racing, watching Disney movies makes you laugh, relax and enjoy life. Complete stress removal and you get sweet songs stuck in your head. Also, I'm sure watching great white sharks rip apart elephant seals helped too.
By now it's dinner time and there's only one place to go for dinner in Eugene... Cornucopia. Best burgers in the world. Total Eugene hippie place, tons of beer on tap and always busy. Tonight was a fundraiser for national honey bee day presented by 'Beyond Toxics' a non profit advocating to stop using pesticides and promote honey bee growth. Our evening included not only the best burgers ever, but announcing of the "bees and other pollinators" photo contest, the two winners were titled: Minty Fresh Bee & Two Bees and a Beetle. They earned an illustrious organic tote bag and a mug with "pesticides suck" printed on the side. Plus 20% of our bill went to their campaign. You're welcome bees, I think I get a pass from being stung for a while after that. Damn I love Eugene.
Stage 3: Coburg Individual Time Trial
Refreshed and ready, we load up the TT bike and head to Coburg for the time trial. My legs felt pretty good and I was planning on putting up a solid time in an effort to maybe bump up in the GC standings. Again more glorious people watching to relieve the tension, good warmup and I even had my very own fan club show up. Ok, it was our friend Hannah who came out to watch, but still that's pretty huge considering how much of a crowd our sport draws. I get to the line ready to go deep into the bowls of pain for 30ish minutes. 5...4...3...2...1...GO! I get up to speed, tuck in and quickly find my rhythm. It's a headwind on the way out so I push knowing everyone will be doing the same relative speed on the way back, I catch my 30 second guy and close the gap to my minuteman. On the back straight we turn right and I find myself leaning into the crosswind and riding my disc wheel and deep dish front like a sailboat. Finally making the last right hand turn for a tailwind back to the finish I kick into gear catch my minute guy and scream for home. What I didn't realize was that I was being trailed by another rider with the same goals as me. I see his shadow as he closes in on me. I push harder and we cat and mouse each other to the finish. I only had a little vomit this time and crossed the line for 33:57:09 and 4th place on the stage. No change in my GC standing but I further solidified my 5th place spot.
My buddy Jay put up 42:07:80 he was definitely a little tired after yesterdays road race and without a proper TT bike I'm sure he would have been quite a bit faster. Either way he is still sitting 15th in GC. All that remains now is the criterium in the afternoon.
Refreshed and ready, we load up the TT bike and head to Coburg for the time trial. My legs felt pretty good and I was planning on putting up a solid time in an effort to maybe bump up in the GC standings. Again more glorious people watching to relieve the tension, good warmup and I even had my very own fan club show up. Ok, it was our friend Hannah who came out to watch, but still that's pretty huge considering how much of a crowd our sport draws. I get to the line ready to go deep into the bowls of pain for 30ish minutes. 5...4...3...2...1...GO! I get up to speed, tuck in and quickly find my rhythm. It's a headwind on the way out so I push knowing everyone will be doing the same relative speed on the way back, I catch my 30 second guy and close the gap to my minuteman. On the back straight we turn right and I find myself leaning into the crosswind and riding my disc wheel and deep dish front like a sailboat. Finally making the last right hand turn for a tailwind back to the finish I kick into gear catch my minute guy and scream for home. What I didn't realize was that I was being trailed by another rider with the same goals as me. I see his shadow as he closes in on me. I push harder and we cat and mouse each other to the finish. I only had a little vomit this time and crossed the line for 33:57:09 and 4th place on the stage. No change in my GC standing but I further solidified my 5th place spot.
My buddy Jay put up 42:07:80 he was definitely a little tired after yesterdays road race and without a proper TT bike I'm sure he would have been quite a bit faster. Either way he is still sitting 15th in GC. All that remains now is the criterium in the afternoon.
We head back to the hotel, I shower and begin to realize just how little energy I have left in me. We go to brunch (or elevensies) with our friend Hannah. Our waitress sucked (college town...) and we think she was still drunk from last nights activities. We then pack the car, checkout of our Best Western and go spend a few hours at Hannah's apartment. Here's why this is important to write about. Hannah has this blue chair, it's enormous, soft and comfy, did I mention it's enormous??? Every time we visit her we always spend time in this chair, someday it will be ours and our cat will live in it. I get the glory of taking a nap in this chair as Lauren and her catch up. I'm finally woken from my slumber to go finish the stage race.
At this point I'm exhausted (see my face above), all I have to do is roll the crit with the group and my 5th place is secured. Thankfully aside from very windy the course is safe through every corner so I'm not worried too much. We set off and as usual the first 10 minutes are breakneck speed with attack after attack trying to shatter the field. At one point a group of 8 guys established a gap and it was slowly growing. I knew this was the selection for the day so I needed to get across to them. I drift back a few spots, wait for my opportunity and jump hard to try and get up the road to these guys. I come close but can't quite get there so I drop back to grab a wheel and recover. As soon as I find some draft, there's another hard acceleration and I'm not recovered. Pop! I'm off the back of the field, now it's time to chase. There are guys littered along the course, a combination of the wind, high speed and general fatigue of stage racing. A few of us try to work to bridge up but they weren't working well no matter how much I yelled at them to turn at the front. I jumped to another guy up the road, the two of us continued to close the gap but I was running out of steam fast. We got to within 2 seconds of the back of the lead group but I couldn't shut it down and my batteries went out. I was done. A few more laps and the official pulls me from the race, I made it 25 minutes of the 40. Thinking my hopes of GC standing were shattered I roll up to Lauren and watch the rest of the race finish without me. Knowing I'd get a prorated time was a nice gesture but I also knew I'd be out of contention for top 10. I finished 19th out of 22 riders that day.
We packed up and headed North to Tualatin, I'm pretty bummed to end the season this way but considering that was my second circuitron of the season and my lack of training it was to be expected. After driving through loads of traffic and accidents on the I-5 we make it home, unpack shower and I take Lauren out to dinner to celebrate the end of season and to thank my beautiful, wonderful, perfect wife for being my chief sogineur this season. I get a call from Rob who congratulated me on a great race and successful season, looking forward to next year.
A few days later the final results were posted for the Eugene Celebration Stage Race and despite being pulled from the criterium I slipped only 2 places to 7th overall in GC! Holding onto my ambitions of finishing in the top ten I am pretty pleased with my performance.
Next time we'll be looking at this past season as a whole, the good, bad, ugly and smelly. Tune in next week for more adventures. Now I'm going to drink some hard cider and eat Cheetos.
A few days later the final results were posted for the Eugene Celebration Stage Race and despite being pulled from the criterium I slipped only 2 places to 7th overall in GC! Holding onto my ambitions of finishing in the top ten I am pretty pleased with my performance.
Next time we'll be looking at this past season as a whole, the good, bad, ugly and smelly. Tune in next week for more adventures. Now I'm going to drink some hard cider and eat Cheetos.