Fun Weekend!

Oh man, this weekend was fun. But first, a recap on what has happened since I didn't have a weekly post last week.

Last Week:
It was supposed to be a rest week for me, but I'm not the best at resting and relaxing. I worked late on some nights and then over the weekend I went bike camping with a friend. While I took it quite easy on the bike camping trip I still put in a decent amount of miles for being a rest week. And on top of all that I didn't sleep enough. I kinda like the idea that I need to work on relaxing a bit. I think I could really get into that, maybe not go as far as putting cucumbers in my eyes and taking mud baths or something, but at least getting a consistent 9 hours of sleep.

This week:

PIR
I was supposed to get back into it this week firing it up. I did my first PIR (Portland International Raceways) of the year in the 1/2/3s. It is challenging for sure and will be really good for me. There were a lot of attacks and I figured out quite quickly that unlike the 4s and even 3s sometimes there is no way I can chase every one of these attacks. At the finish I found myself quite far back not able to do anything. Moreover I learned that at this level people have fitness, but the good ones also have brains.

Eugene Roubaix
Saturday was Eugene Roubaix - a road race with a 1.5 mile stretch of gravel. I got a ride down there with with Cliff and Bob. There were a lot of attacks in our race - more than usual for my field and I suspected it had something to do with the collegiate kids in the mix now. I was holding up quite well, but then got a flat tire on the 3rd lap. The wheel change was ok, but I couldn't catch up after that. I was at this point sort of trying to use this as a time trialing opportunity trying to get up to 180 bpm without racing which is hard for me to do.

By the time I got to the final straightaway, the field was just gone. I came up along a Cat 2 rider who also had flatted out. Just before we hit the gravel I offered "want to sprint for the finish?" He said, "sure, let's take parellel lines" [so we don't get in trouble for riding with another field or for whatever reason]. He hadn't been pushing himself as hard so he obviously had more in him, but I was getting up to 180bpm. After the gravel ended it was 200m to the finish and he was just checking to make sure I didn't sprint. When I gave it a final effort he completely took off. However, he then stopped to talk to some friends at the 2 meter line and I pipped him at the finish! BOOSH!

After this, Cliff found a ride home with some other people, Bob raced in the Cat 5s and I volunteered as a corner marshal in the afternoon. Basically, all I do is wave a stop sign and point in the direction where the riders should turn maybe about 20 times and then chill out and get to race for free, which saved me $30. I drove Cliff's car out to the corner of Crow and Petzold and went for the chill factor by blasting music out of the doors of Cliff's car. This was going all nice and well, but I thought, hmm maybe this isn't good for the car's battery. Maybe I should check if the car will still start. I turn the key and the car doesn't start. I accept the fact that I'm a moron and decide to radio in for help after the last field passes. I do so, but the car then starts right after this! Yes!

Vance Creek

Vance Creek is apparently the Washington State Road Race Championship of the year. Or as my local bike racing hero Jamie Stangeland would've said a while ago The Undisputed Championship of Nothing. I scored a ride out there with another Guinness teammate Joe (one of several Joe's on the Guinness team). It was a long race of about 77 miles with some hills, but not pure hillclimber hills. Since I was tired from my rest week, tired from Eugene Roubaix and slapped in the face for being dumb at PIR, I tried to race smarter and conserve energy. I tried only a few break attempts in the race and managed to save some energy on the hillclimbs. A break of 3 and then 2 riders was off the front by the final lap. I could see a lot of the teammates of these riders bunching up at the front of the pack, so decided it was time to get away while I could. There was another guy that was bridging up and I was joined by a strong Hammer kid guy as well. With 4k and the hills to go I was on the front and Hammer kid yells "let's drop these guys." I turn back and say "you ready?" and then attack off the front. Me and Hammer kid have left the other 3 off the back and take pulls until the final hill. This kid is probably 40 pounds lighter than me, so my goal at this point is to not explode and get swallowed up by the pack like the Friday at Walla Walla. The final hill wasn't too steep so I kept it in the big ring and mashed it up. I could see the pack coming up but from a safe distance - that is until Hoover started attacking. So I dug deep and gave it one last push for 2nd place. Fist pump!

And with that I've just finished eating my celebratory Pizza and Total Domination IPA (yeah that's right Osama). And I may even get to bed before 11pm. Signing off.