Moving
I have finally moved and hope to take care of the last mess I made while moving into my new place. The move was the worst and most unprepared I have ever done. The highlight of it for sure was the first move of the day. I drove into the loading dock with a pickup Zipcar loaded with 4 of my bikes. I then go check in with the front desk to say that I'm beginning to move and am informed that the building policy forbids bicycles anywhere except in the bicycle storage area which is completely full.
Now some people argue that I should've known this beforehand, but I present you this counterpoint: ARE YOU SERIOUS? What kind of building prohibits bringing bicycles up to your unit? Common sense should prevail. And in this case, this outlandishly strict bicycle policy (remember, this building is in downtown Portland) has met an abnormally fervent bicycler. I am raising a big stink about this to the HOA and hope the policy gets changed.
Over the Memorial Day moving weekend I pretty much had a meltdown in my old apartment. I was supposed to go on a 3 hour ride, but felt so overwhelmed and stressed so I layed down for a bit, and then lay on the garbage strewn floor and cried out "I donwannaridemabiikee noooo!" It was very pathetic. I was like a dog eating its vomit or an abused girlfriend staying with her abusive partner or in my case my disgusting life-sucking apartment. But on Monday I forced myself to get my move done and I did. Everything was out except for my race bike which didn't have a home.
Last week
Tuesday PIR came up and I had moved every last item out of the old apartment. And this time I left my new place at 5pm, got to PIR with plenty time to spare. It was an interesting race with a fair number of riders visiting the area specifically for Mt Hood. An early break formed which normally never gets away, but once we all saw that it would, I was able to work myself into a chase break and although I didn't have the sprinter skills it was good enough for 15th - the first time I've cracked the top 20 at PIR.
On Wednesday, my race bike still didn't have a home and I was ready. I was ready to drop $5,000 for a van to store my bikes in. All the things I hate about having a car I was willing to put aside for the sake of bicycle racing. My Dad spurned me on to give it one last shot to find somewhere else to put my bikes and also my roommate with his BMW and his friend with her Mercedes make much better fits for the garage than a beater van would. On Thursday this lady with PBOT that rents out bicycle lockers finally got back to me and hooked me up with a bike locker right across the street that costs $50 for 3 months. I could've gotten 2 lockers, but by having to take off the wheels of my race bike it will force me to clean my bike after every ride which is something I need to be doing.
And one more random thing about why the new condo is great is that there is a 24 hour fitness right across the street which will be great for weight training in the off-season.
Mt Hood Cycling Classic
At the advice of my coach I decided not to be a quitting wussy and race in the Mt Hood Cycling Classic. It was a great decision to do so, it was the funnest race weekend I think I've had all year and I didn't even get a podium.
Friday:
Friday was a 56 miler with a big climb in the later half of the race. Before the big climb there was more than just a few miles, so I tried my Wenatchee strategy again. I attacked just before the Rowena descent and eventually a Recycled rider bridged up to me. On the flats going back towards The Dalles, the Recycled guy was absolutely hammering taking 20 seconds pulls and resting only about 2 seconds on my wheel. At some point I realized he thought we were nearing the finish of the race (the course passes the finish line one time) and indeed he sprinted for the line. All I could do is say "you're not done!" and try to maintain a break. The hillclimb came and it was long. The climbers caught me about halfway up. I stayed with them as best as I could, but got dropped on the last mile of the climb and could literally see the pack begin their descent with no chase group in sight. Eventually a chase group caught up to me, but we were only able to get within 1:30 of the climber kids. I ended up 20th and had a fun race with the gorgeous scenery.
Saturday:
Time Trials can suck it. I did absolutely horrible in the TT. A number of things make me bad:
1. I don't have a TT Bike
2. I don't have a Disc
3. I don't have a skinsuit
4. I am borrowing a really small TT helmet that I believe cuts off blood circulation to my head.
This got me to thinking that if I was willing to drop $5,000 on a van, I have got to be willing to drop $5,000 on a TT setup. I therefore made a promise to myself: I will have a full TT setup before Eugene which I will then win by 3 minutes. Back at Mt Hood/Adams though, I got 51st and dropped 9 places in GC. Uggh. But, again the TT race had something great to make up for it: Good things to look at: Mt. Adams and Pro Women Cyclists!
The crit was coming up later in the evening and in the meantime I got to chill over at a house that one of my teammate's friends owns. It had a great view of the river and was 3 blocks from the crit. Most people I had talked to about the crit had warned me that it was super sketchy and/or a crash-fest. After having done the Wenatchee Crit in super sketchy and rainy conditions I need something really crazy to get me nervous. Something like a bridge with a metal grate or maybe a 30 foot cliff on the outside edge of a corner. The hood river crit had none of these, was dry and sunny. I thought Walla Walla was a sketchier crit course. Anywho, the crit has happened like a lot of other crits I have done which seems to be a maximal effort for 40 minutes. I can't even tell when the primes are usually because I'm so gassed. But with 3 to go, I latched onto a great wheel that ultimately set me up for 9th place. Still not good enough for prize money, but a top 10 is always satisfactory.
Sunday:
I honestly can say that I don't care if I'm a crappy climber, I love climbing and the ensuing descending. We had a 70 mile course with three major climbs. The Recycled guy jokingly told me I should go from the gun. Little did he know, that was exactly what I was going to do. The pack kept me within sight for a while, but once we got into orchard country I joined a 3 man break. At the very bottom of the hill the race officials had a lapse of course awareness and turned us around once only to realize that the direction we were going the first time was actually correct. The officials still gave us our break before starting the field and our 3 man break turned 4 man break made it to the top of the first climb before the rest of the climbers caught us. The next climb I got dropped and began the inevitable joyride back to the finish.
I don't think I have ever had more food and water in a race than in this one. I drank 2 water bottles with heed, ate 4 gels (including one I begged for from another rider), 2 packages of power energy blocks, 3.5 neutral water bottles, 1 plastic water bottle from the com car, 0.5 bottles of gatorade from the illegal feed zone (I regret throwing the rest away) and still felt like I could or should have eaten more. The final descent was amazing - I was all by myself and just cruised down at about a 35mph average down this paved logging road. I managed to catch and pass a few other 3s on the final climb and ended up 21st.
This next weekend is the Capitol Stage Race and it is perfect for me. Two longish road races with no epic climbs, a technical crit and a really short 3 mile time trial that includes a turnaround. Oh and then Elkhorn is the weekend after that. I'm stage crazy this month.
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