Meh

Well, it's been two weeks and there honestly isn't much at all to wrote home/to my loyal fans/to the internets about.

The week before

Man, I can't even remember what I did during the week. Oh, right, I just looked at my workout history, now I remember.

PIR

So Tuesday (7/10) I did PIR and it was kind of boring really. It was a really long race again and I got in the break again. Bedford, Hoefer and Austin represented Team O in the break and then there was Benno, two Rapha guys, Corey Stayton and a river city guy. I guess I don't know everyone's names yet. Anyways, it was a little boring since the break was easily staying away (at least easily for me), but it was good because I got to work a little bit on the timing of my sprint. I am not sure if I have the sprinting power of all the other guys in the break, but I at least had a chance to work on positioning. Ended up 6th which was good for me.

Tabor

The next day I got in a Mt Tabor race while I still could since it was the last of the year. I managed to get a prime, but got dropped hard on the final lap after Bedford attacked so fiercely on the final lap.

Camping

Then I finally picked up my new road bike on Friday and set out towards Timothy Lake. I took a bus out to Estacada and biked from there. The scenery was pretty good and with the help of some random people from OBRA chat I found a way that was mostly paved.

While camping I honestly didn't enjoy myself as much as some other happy campers did. I dunno, I guess my tolerance levels for adrenaline are just so high that I don't get a kick out of seeing Mt Hood. And furthermore, I spend time outside in nature for better or worse (read in freezing rain and beautiful northwest summer sun) almost every single day. Descending at 45mph on single lane paved logging roads however does get me excited. And on top of that, more than half of the original people that expressed interest in going bailed out. I slept up there Friday and Saturday nights and didn't do any exercise on Saturday (a 3 mile hike doesn't really count). Sunday I biked back almost all of the way into a headwind, but got done with the ride in good time.

I may even have regretted going camping that specific weekend since there were some big money crits such as Boise and Redmond that I could've gone to.

Cascade

No PIR this week, but Thursday I finally picked up my TT Bike. It felt really fast and easy to hammer away on that thing.

Cascade Lakes

So I couldn't find a ride over so I rented a Zipcar and drove out to the Cascade Lakes Stage. I have decided that this stage doesn't really suit me since I'm not a pure hillclimber. There was an early break right after the downhill ended of course and that break eventually grew to 4 riders after the feed zone. Once we got onto the long straightaway, I had a bit of an argument with Rocky since him and Kaler Marshal were attempting to breakaway, but seemed to be arguing about breaking away more than actually riding. I bridged up and said "c'mon let's go" but Rocky thought I was chasing him down. After discussing this post race it did make sense that since it was just two of us teammates in the race that I should only bridge by sitting on a bridge if he's in a break. Fine, my mistake.

Anyways, I attacked again after having a chat with Rocky about this and was joined by two other willing compatriots. At this point, we were the 4th break up the road. We caught 2 other guys and then three more so we were 8. And then pretty much all of the people we caught suddenly didn't want to work with us. I was so pissed and eventually we got caught. So at this point, all that mattered was to try to be as close to the front as possible before the big climb. I was maybe 30th wheel going into it which was sort of ok. I was getting popped and was always just so close to the back end of the first pack, but just couldn't bridge up. I ended up 21st. Meh.

Afterwards

After the race I did not have a very good post-race diet and ate way too many blueberries and not enough grainy carbs (rice, bread) so I felt quite ill. It was also my 4th week of hard workouts so I was strained a bit. I was making quite a fool of myself over at the Serna's house being all sick and finding any flat surface to lie down at - couch, floor, bed, bench at the burrito place.

Skyliner TT

Finally, a full TT setup. TT Frame, integrated TT bars, Disc, Skinsuit, TT Helmet. Well, guess I was missing shoe covers. Anyways, I did considerably better than last year's TT where I missed my start time by over a minute. This year, the course was slightly different, but my time was 28:37 compared to last year's 31:29. It's hard to say where exactly I improved, but it's still probably a tough course for me since there is a lot of climbing and that is where the majority of the time spent on the course occurs. I ended up 40th in the TT which I wasn't happy about.

Crit

My biggest fear in the crit was wrecking my nice new road bike. Fortunately that didn't happen and Rocky got 13th. It's a tough course to read. Actually, I made a mistake again of being unaware of how many laps were left. It wasn't until 3 laps to go that I finally spotted the lap board and at that point it was probably too late to move up. Corner 3 wasn't as hectic as any of the other laps on the final lap and people didn't sprint for 50th so all was fine.

Awbrey Butte

Again a tough race for me to do well in due to Archie Briggs. Rocky went from the gun, but got dropped at the feed zone. The 4 other guys stayed away until Archie Briggs on the final lap. I counter-attacked right before the riser before the roundabout on Mt. Washington and got a good gap on the field. Unfortunately nobody had the power to bridge and work with me and the break up the road was quite powerful. I could see the pack closing in on me just before the Tumalo Reservoir descent, so I decided to maintain my break and make it a little easier going into the hill with a gap.

The rest of the race I mostly sat in except that I was in survival mode going into the feed zone climb and Archie Briggs and moved up as far to the front as possible. Ultimately I really screwed myself over in this race by not eating enough. I even had enough food with me 3 power bars and 2 gels but I only ate 1 of each. Shame on me. I got dropped the last time up Archie Briggs and pedaled in with other popped guys to finish 59th on the day and 31st GC.

"Meh" pretty much sums up my weekend of racing. Good news is I didn't get in a crash like last year. But I've got a lot to work on still. I feel like I need a better TT fit, need to force myself to eat properly, not have so many blueberries and peanut butter and be more persuasive to fellow breakmates. Oh and I need to figure out a way to thwart stupid three-time winner Randy in next year's Fantasy Tour de France.

Unexpected Win

Coming into Saturday's race, the St Honoré Criterium, I was feeling kind of OK, but was looking forward to racing with a bunch of teammates. I got in a so-so warmup.

There seemed to be a decent amount of good racers there, Beardsley and his team, Bedford and his team, Liberles, and a few other threats. I started at back with Rocky. It was a fast pace with lots of corners, so there were very few places to move up. However, I eventually found that the back stretch was a good place to move up. But, I didn't get to the front until 30 minutes in. Once I got to the front we had just caught Trevor on his move from the gun, but then I drifted back again. I was feeling like the efforts were really getting to me and it felt borderline Texas hot (ok, not really, but it was warm) and my water bottles had too much sugar.

Nonetheless, with 8 to go I focused on trying to move up again. On 5 to go I took the final corner on the inside as far inside as I could which helped me move up about 10 positions. On the back, I suddenly had an opening to the front. Klipper was sitting 2nd wheel and the pace slowed, so I attacked thinking this may distract people from watching Klipper. Apparently they were still so focused on Klipper that at least Beardsley and Liberles didn't even see me attack. The rest of the laps I just rode as hard and as safely as I could. I also made sure that I was counting the laps correctly and the final lap I looked back and saw no other racers despite the hecklers chanting "they're coming up!" I checked the lap board and it said "00", so I did the best poster finish I could.

Photo credit: Dave Roth

Klipper was waiting to see the finish and did a victory lap or two with me. After the race I got to see my friends who came to watch me race and took some pictures with my teammates. We all had dinner over at the Lucky Lab and were eventually joined by the women's winner, Jade Wilcoxson. Everything felt awesome about that night except it would have been better if another Guinness rider was also on the podium picture.

Photo Credit: Josh Liberles's Girlfriend

So there, after no pictures of me winning in Walla Walla or Texas, the third time is the charm for getting a good picture of me finishing. Ha, that makes it one win in each state this year. Cool!

Post-race Embarrassment

I actually am pretty embarrassed by a number of things that happened after the race. The first thing is listening to a heckler in the crowd who suggested I wear my piece of bread like a crown on my head. I immediately saw at least 3 faces including Rocky's in the crowd express disgust at this major hygiene violation. I would have shared the bread, but nobody else wanted to eat it after that, except me.

The next thing is that I was wearing last year's jersey. This would have been ok, except our big sponsor this year of Athlete's Lounge now has a prominent logo on the front of this year's jersey. I apologized to Scott at Athlete's Lounge for this faux pas.

And now, me winning is THIS BIG DEAL. I made up for the lack of winning finish line pictures and then some at this race. I'm even on the front page of OBRA right now. So now EVERYBODY knows who I am so it is going to be 10 times harder to sneak away. At least 2 people immediately recognized me out of the blue at PIR this week.

Screenshot of OBRA website.

But maybe that is a good thing because I have gotten some flack for this race victory from Oregon Cycling Action:

The field pulled back Sheagley and Edgergton and seemed capable of reeling in Siroky, but confusion about how many riders remained up the road stalled the chase and allowed the Guinness rider to solo in about 10 seconds ahead of the field. Steven Beardsley, who took the bunch sprint for second, momentarily thought he had won before realizing Siroky had finished first. Josh Liberles (HP Chiro/Alpine Mortgage Planning) couldn’t get past Beardsley in the field sprint and finished third.

Oh, and Lang Reynolds rates the Baker City Race where I got 3rd as one of his "top 10 stupidest races."

From Lang Reynolds's Twitter Feed.

So hopefully bike racing will be hard again and that will make my next victory that much more special. Please Oregon Peleton, pay attention to me next time so that I can win while you are giving your hardest effort. Here is a pro-tip for all of you who have trouble figuring out I am up the road: if the follow car or police motorcycle in the crit is not within sight, it means somebody is up the road!

Racing Like an Idiot

Stage 1 of the Baker City Cycling Classic seemed to start out as it did last year with a lot of action to see who would be the morons that would breakaway at mile 12 of the 72 mile race. I guess I just couldn't help myself, I was up there seeing what would happen and I saw that nobody was going after one of the original protagonists who was going hard on the front, so I bridged up. Some other guy followed me too and it was the three of us - these two Idaho guys and me.

I did expect us to build up a bit of a gap and it was 50 seconds, then 2 minutes then we got to the hill. We made up the hill with the pack nowhere to be seen, so this break had a really good chance of making it. Going down the hill we heard a report of 2:50 and we knew we had a great opportunity, but I knew those remaining hills that never seem to end were still ahead. When those hills came, I sat on the back almost the entire time barely holding on. Climbing up what seemed to be one of the final hills, the follow car came up and told us 1:15 and we got a bit worried but he said this was the very last hill. So I sort of foolishly attempted to pull, but my breakmates still set the pace. That last hill did not end around the next wind at all! It kept going and I got dropped at the next wind around the hill, but at this point we were still way ahead of the pack.

Luckily, the hills finally ended and I began descending and watching the other two guys ride away. I time trialed the best I could and got 1:14 behind the leaders and nearly 3 minutes ahead of the pack. All in all, I was rather stoked about getting 3rd place in my first p12 race.

Photo Credit: Vitek Siroky

Time Trial

Not much really to say with the time trial. I still haven't been able to get the TT bike setup and it just seems like I can't get to my upper z5 heart rate in a TT. At least my disc wheel didn't flat.

Photo Credit: Vitek Siroky

The Crit

In the Crit I missed the break. I saw Erik Slack go and then Liberles chasing after Slack and then I didn't see those guys again until they came up from behind after lapping the field. Nothing got organized and I was slightly confused and stupid going into the final sprint because the lap board definitely said one to go, but that was for the leaders, so I ended up sprinting all out on the 2nd lap and then had nothing on the actual final lap.

Photo Credit: Vitek Siroky

Mt. Dooley Tour d'Horn

I certainly regret the move I made on this final race. Initially I had thought I'd try to get in the very first idiotic break and hope to win the overall. However, I didn't think I was warmed up enough when that break went, so I didn't make it in that break. I tried to get away a few times and eventually did at mile 20 and nobody followed me. I worked alone until I caught a dropped Bob's rider. Then on the climb to the feed zone I dropped Bob's and the field caught me right at the feed zone.

I thought I could hang on, but after the attacks that Lang Reynolds and Erik Slack threw down, I just couldn't make it up the hill to the long downhill with anyone. I was dropped for good and was all alone. I pretty much didn't see another racer or a hint of a bike race except for the 2nd feed zone until the climb where I believe I saw Trevor Spahr waving at me from atop another switchback. I had ran completely out of food too once I hit the climb. By the time I got to the finish I was 26 minutes back.

After the race, I had some good conversation with Sam Krieg, one of my breakmates from day 1, who did think my move was crazy, but that it was good that I raced my bike. I dunno, I've heard this sentiment from a few others and do think that tactics are a part of racing your bike and that sometimes the best way to race your bike is to sit in. And that is something I do think I need to practice doing more often.

Photo Credit: Vitek Siroky

For the Record, Erik Slack is a Badass

Erik Slack winning Stage 1
Photo Credit: Vitek Siroky

Stage 1: Erik Slack starts out the day long break. At mile 50 in the race, his rear wheel is definitely wobbling out of true. He then proceeds to win the race. After the race, it becomes apparent that the reason his wheel is out of true is because a spoke is broken on his rear wheel.
Stage 2: OK, so the TT isn't Erik's thing, but he only loses a minute to the winner Sam Krieg.
Stage 3: Laps the field and then wins the sprint.
Stage 4: Pulls the field for almost the entire race. Counters all attacks and winds up 4th place at only 41 seconds back. He wins the overall a full 50 seconds ahead of Krieg and nearly 4 minutes ahead of 3rd place. Erik earned the overall jersey and if there were a sprinter's jersey or hillclimber's jersey he would have won those too.

More Idiocy at PIR

Yes, it all continues again at this Tuesday's PIR. I got in an early break with Klipper which was really good because he was yelling instructing me to sit in when the break got a little slow. That break got caught probably because Rapha didn't have anyone in it. Then Eddie got in a break and I started to get really ancy. When the pace sort of slowed for a bit, Klipper and Liberles launched off and I followed. Klipper couldn't handle it and wished me good luck. Eventually Liberles, a Theraputic guy and myself all made it up to the break.

Once I made it to the break, I think I was actually being smart through the next hot spot which I contested in a reasonable fashion against Bedford, Liberles and Eddie French. I got 4th in that hot spot, but then I started to act like an idiot. I attempted to breakaway right after that hot spot and Bedford was the only person to take me up on that while the rest of the break chased us down. Then I tried all these other attacks for reasons I can't quite explain now, except for the all out sprint with 3 laps to go where I seriously thought we were on the final lap. All the while, some other Team O and a Theraputic guy were riding away for the win from the break. On the final lap, wherever I was, it was a bad position and in the final 400 I tried to lead the last splinter of the break up which included Eddie, but that entire splinter passed me at the finish so I got dead last in that break.


I guess I'm at a point where I'm really strong, but really dumb not smart enough. Getting myself into breaks though is pretty much my only strategy thus far, but once it comes to actually sprinting I am way outclassed. In the last 3 successful breaks I've got myself into, I've gotten dead last in each of them. I need to wise up really quick and I am very happy to be surrounded by much smarter teammates who will hopefully guide me towards the path of enlightenment in all these upcoming crits.