Team Racing

Not much happened last week due to it being a rest week. I did volunteer over at Swan Island, but then headed down to Roseburg to my cousin's birthday/graduation party that happened the next day.

PIR

Over at PIR, it was a lot of chasing and getting in breaks. I felt kind of strong, but not spectacular, or it could be that everybody else's fitness is improving since it is actually nice to ride outside in the Pacific Northwest this time of year. With a few laps to go, birthday boy Eddie came over and told me that on the final lap I should try to breakaway on the backstretch and then leave the sprinting up to him and Rocky. I put down a massive sprint and pretty much died right after the sharp left on the backstretch and could only hope something good happened to the mass of riders that filled most of the racetrack ahead. It looked like they had decent position and in the end Rocky got 2nd. Nice.

Franz Bakery

I have been anticipating this race most of the year. Last year's race made me get super depressed since I crashed on the final turn when I may have just needed to finish in 2nd to win the overall points in the race after being in a breakaway for most of the race. This time around, it was a much hotter day with seriously Texas style heat with the high of the day reaching 102 degrees. I really should have made my drinks much less sugary for the race and not used a recovery powder, but whatever.

The race started and I got up to the front and kind of waited a bit. Rocky got some early points with Bedford, Liberles and Spahr all trying to get away every once in a while. Then, Austin from Team O and a Veloce guy got a decent gap about halfway through. I knew any break on this course was a threat, so I bridged up. It was tough heat and we had an uneven effort level in the break with Austin being really fresh and the Veloce rider not so much, but he was taking lap points nonetheless. With about 10 to go, another Team O guy bridged up to us and I swear it was Bedford, but he said it wasn't him after the race. I might have been hallucinating. But whoever it was, it was definitely a Team O guy because they attacked and then countered with the other guy upon being brought back. Eventually one of them got away and the other Team O guy and the Veloce guy got absorbed by the pack. I probably didn't try my best to stay out there and really should have given more effort to catch Austin, so I got absorbed with about 4 to go. I then worked to counter Bedford, Liberles and Spahr again for the next few laps. Then with 1 to go, Eddie went up and gave Rocky a perfect leadout up the hill and then Rocky closed with a flawless sprint up the final hill and around the corner for 2nd place. I was happy to be consoled with a team podium finish, but perhaps when I'm by myself I know that if I fail in the break it is all over for me so I may be more motivated that way.



Well, the season is kind of winding down now. Next week I'm going to be racing a lot. PIR, Portland Twilight, OBRA Crit and I want to do the OBRA TT as well. Then after that it's the Giro di Portland. The weekend after that is Longview which I may or may not do, and then it's time to go out big in Eugene. I can see the light at the end of the racing season and I am getting a little antsy with my dating life and am considering actually pursuing women again. But I'm waiting to see if I'm going to secure a winter job assignment in Austin, TX for the winter before I get serious about that.

And one final thing, I promise you readers I will do a post this coming week about my awesome race bike since I probably have to because I am going to take the risk of riding it in these upcoming crits this weekend.