This weekend was the first stage race of the season: the Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic. I really like stage races. Last year I only did 1 stage race and an omnium, but really enjoyed getting out of town, the hecticness of travel and lodging arrangements and competing with the same riders for a few days.
Up until this week I still hadn't nailed down my travel plans. Now I do have the means to get a nice hotel room and car just for myself, but am trying to save money through all this and found that it made for a much more interesting journey with either friends or acquaintances. I had gone in to get my bike tuned up and found out that the mechanic at the shop was also going to the race so I was able to get my travel and lodging taken care of which was great.
Thursday
The plan was to head out Thursday night, spend the night in The Dalles and then race Friday-Sunday. It would be with the mechanic, his wife and another racer. I got all my stuff ready and was waiting for my ride at the appointed time. Some other guy was also waiting in the driveway of the apartment for a ride as well. Then, a car showed up that looked like this:
I was very confused. Is this really my ride? Nope it was the other guy who looked like he was about to go play basketball. Next, this car rolls up:
Ahh, that's my ride! We jammed everything in there and then zoomed off to The Dalles. Here is a view from my seat:
We got to the hotel and began the ritual of unloading all the bikes and bringing them into the room. Then we all went to bed.
Friday
Friday was the first race, a 57 miler with 3 19 mile laps of one decent hillclimb and then a puncher and then a long decent leading into a sharp corner and then a sweeping finish. This was my first Cat 3 race so I was expecting the pack to have more attacks and thus higher speed. WRONG! I was surprised at how slow we went. Nearly all the race I was dangling on the edge of the right side (once I even got nudged off a bit) with the pack staying mainly 4 wide. The field stayed completely together.
On the 3rd lap, 3 theraputic riders got side-by-side-by-side on the front and led the pack at an appalling 17 mph. I was waiting for my moment - a random junction with pavement on the right to mount an attack off the front. It came and bam! I put 200 meters on the field. I was going ok, but was worried about the hillclimb coming up. It came and I couldn't hold a breakaway pace and got swallowed up.
Then, 6/7ths up the hill a crash occurred slightly in front of me. I had to walk around it on the gravel on the right and then chased back up to the lead group. The field still stayed together on the punchy climb. The decent was not that fast and consisted of a lot of positioning. When we rounded the tight corner I was 4th or 5th row on the right. Then another crash happened on the left. I safely pedaled my way to a 13th place finish for my first Cat 3 race. Not bad, coulda been worse. After this I was reflecting on how if I had just had more hillclimbing power maybe I'd be top 10.
Saturday
Saturday was a big day, a Time Trial in the morning followed by a Crit in the evening. Our crew got up and made the journey into the remote town of Dufur. It was cold. It was windy. And I had put on only my bib pants and jersey to be super aero. But it was cold and windy enough that I went on a borrowfest of extra clothing managing to score some tights and an undershirt. Those were needed.
It was grueling on way out with a fierce 20mph wind with gusts blowing fiercely. I had just bought some aero bars and also had set up a TT position so I was confident that I would get a killer time. But that wind blew the confidence out of me. I was mashing along at 16mph at times and got passed by the guy 30 seconds behind me. When the turnaround point came I was so stoked. I put the bike into a bigger gear and immediately started storming down the road at 30+ mph. I had seen two guys approaching me from the turnaround, but I must have left them in the dust I was going so fast. The wind was still fierce with crazy crosswinds. The final corner of the TT was just after a good downhill, banked upwards, with some gravel and had a nasty wind. I almost lost control of my bike there, but kept the rubber side down. I finished my TT and knew that it was not a stellar effort. I placed 31st and was 3:16 down in GC.
After this we all headed back to the hotel to take a nap. Or were we going to? Our driver said he was counting on there being a gas station in Dufur. There were some pumps on the main street, but they looked abandoned. I went in and asked someone at a coffee shop where the nearest gas station was and she said "The Dalles". The gas tank was at the E. Would we make the 13 miles back to The Dalles? Each hill I was getting nervous. On the last hill I was praying in my head "please make it up this hill, please make it up this hill". Well, we made it. Whew.
Naptime. The people I was traveling with came from sort of the same racing background as I in doing alleycats and then moving to sanctioned racing. Both of the dudes traveling with me had been messengers before and had kept their sort of punk traits. Both dudes had noserings and maybe a tatoo here and there. However, both were quite chill people. In the hotel room it was quiet save for the bicycle chatter and watching
youtube videos of Chris Hoy in the 2011 International Track Championships. We all quietly fell asleep each night. In the car we were listening to some death metal. At one point the conversation went like:
Dude in backseat: "hey what's thing song? ... what's this song? ... HEY, what's this song?
Dude driving: "I dunno it's just on Pandora. ... It's
Vader."
Dude in backseat: "Who?"
Dude driving: "VADER"
Dude in backseat: "It's pretty good"
Dude driving: *nods in approval*
Next up was the Crit, a fast 4 corner course. I was a bit tired from the previous races, so we'd see how it would go. I started out all right and was able to move up front relatively easily. On lap 3ish, the Cat 3 travel buddy I was with broke off the front and I decided to try to work with him. This lasted maybe 4 laps before we got caught. I was starting to cramp so decided to hold position for a while. Eventually a prime for a set of Armadillo tires came up. I wanted this prime. When we came around the 4th corner I was on the front and started sprinting for the line. Someone nearly caught me on the left, but I managed to get the prime with a bike throw. At this point it was 3 laps to go and all the
sandbaggers sprinters started moving into position. I could've tried harder to get in a better position, but just didn't. When I rounded the final corner in 15th I just easily pedaled in with the field for 31st. After this I had dinner with my parents and ate two orders of spaghetti.
Sunday
Today was the big day. A hillclimbing stage. I was hoping and waiting and hoping for warm weather all morning checking the internet for temperatures every 3 minutes. The sun was out, but it was edging ever so slowly above 50 degrees. I banked on the sun staying out and did this ride in just bib shorts and jersey - a first for this year. I thought that I would try attack early in the race, but proved to be a ineffective tactic. I ended up tired at the back right before the big hillclimb. The smarter guys were at the front and just stayed up there while the rest of the field shattered. However, I kept going at or faster than the front guys since I was catching up. The hillclimb must have been over 800 feet and we had to do it again with another 400+ ft climb on a dirt road in between. I was quite surprised at my hill climbing abilities and this gave me a big confidence boost.
On the way to the dirt climb I was trying to work with another guy to bridge up to the lead group. We were about 3-4 hard pulls away when all of a sudden he just flakes out and says: "oh look a chase group, let's stop." I look back and see them a ways back and see him drifting back. My gut tells me this is a wussy move. I look back again and now I can't even see the guy. I hold my position a bit and start climbing up the dirt. The chase group does make it up to me and we work hard up the dirt and then let it loose on the descent. This was crazy fun and we went so fast that we caught the lead group at the bottom.
This next time up the hill I'm making sure I'm at the front. And I was. I shifted down to the small ring and my chain derailed. I stopped and put it back on and then Andy Schlecked myself back towards the lead group. I again passed a lot of people and made it as far as the second chase group at the top. There was a slight punchy hill just after this and I wanted to be in the lead group before the crest of that hill. I was chasing them at the front of the chase group. The guy right behind me was not going to help me. So I pulled the move of my race and quickly made 4 strong strokes and blasted off the front. I could literally hear that guy behind me popping. I worked hard and was about 10 meters behind the lead field at the crest and accelerated enough to get them before the main downhill.
We all climbed up the dirt again and I held my position well. Once I could see the top I attacked a bit, but didn't really get away, perhaps I shed some slower riders tho. On the descent I led the field down again at high speed. Through the final 4 miles after this I just stayed in the group. The final 300 meters was up a major hill and I did not have a sprint climb in me so I steadily pedaled up for a respectable 10th place finish. This also earned me 10th overall in the GC. Was quite satisfied with the result and am excited to race smarter next time.
Coming up
I am now a bit tired (especially since I'm writing the blog so late), but still planning on Kings Valley and Olympic View next week and the Tour of Walla Walla the week after. We'll see how that goes, I kind of want to work on fitness and also rest a bit, but still excited to race too.
