Working a retail schedule I don't usually get the chance to race it and it's an extra 45+ minutes of driving through Portland during rush hour that I'd really rather avoid. Either way, I thought it would be good practice to get back riding with a group and see how the legs compared, my goal was to work on good positioning, keep my nose out of the wind and follow wheels until the finish. I did exactly that until the last few hundred meters when I broke off the front with another guy and launched my pitiful sprint for 6th place. I know I'm not a sprinter but in a race that's as flat as anything else on the planet it means you have to try like one, in this case it usually works best for met to try and get a bit of a jump on the real thunder thighs in the pack and see if I can't outrun them from a little ways out. It worked, kinda.
After that, it was a long and busy week and a half, the grand opening of my new store kept me on point and some longer hours kept me off the bike pretty consistently. I did get this last Tuesday off and instead of racing I put in a nice flat and windy 90ish miles followed by another 2hrs of moderate climbing the next day. Today it's soggy out and I've been trying to relax a bit so I'll swing my leg over the rollers for an hour with Lauren once she gets home from work.
Training has picked up now that the shop is mostly up and running, and life has calmed down a bit, we're starting to look more seriously at moving to Salem and renting a house as it would not only put us closer to Eugene but I would be closer to work and Lauren would have more opportunities for work in her field of historical preservation. The riding around Salem seems halfway decent but it will take some learning of the roads if we make it down South. For now we're focusing on getting up to snuff with racing and taking a crack at this upgrade thing. Work will be sending me to Colorado Springs for 10 days at the beginning of June and I plan on bringing a bike if I can swing it, could be some really good training if I can get a few days in at a little higher elevation before coming back to try my hand at GC contention in stage races.
OK folks, that's all the update for now, Lauren's on her way home and we've got a trainer date while watching the ITT course of the 2013 Vuelta. Until next week, stay dry and stay posted!
Cheers,
-Andrew-