I had it in me

That was a fun fun fun weekend.

Saturday:

I took the MAX out to Hillsboro and attempted to partly crash the Oregon Cycling Challenge, which had a ride of 400 miles that if finished qualified the cyclist for Race Across America.  But I was out to crash the 60 mile ride which just went up Bald Peak and then back via Spring Hill.  I rode for a little bit with some riders who were actually able to do a good pace up the hill, but then I did 15 minute z3 interval and was gone. I then did a z4 up Bell Rd and then took a wrong turn a few times, tried to draft this group of Porsches out for a day drive and then finally found Scholls Ferry and rode back.  I would've taken some pics, but I no longer have a memory card in my phone and there is some melted remnants of a power bar on the camera glass anyways.

Banana Belt 2:

I had to convince Klipper to commit to giving me a ride despite the forecast suggesting the small possibility of rain.  He came over nonetheless and we drove over arguing discussing about whether one should use the directions a promoter gives you to get to a race or just put in an address into the nearest navigation-enabled device you have.

I didn't quite know how I would feel in the race, seems like the Oregon races are hard to read sometimes, but I wouldn't try breaks too early and try to have good positioning for hills.  I guess I tried a lot of breakaways, but mainly after lap 3.  There were a few good ones including one where it was Zach Winter (he's now on Planet X) and myself.  My rear derailleur was skipping all over the place in the critical range that was needed for the hill sprint, so I was sort of resigned to a so-so finish, but decided to stick it out. 

On the final lap there was a fair amount of action on the backstretch and there was a 2-man break of Rapha and HPC up the road.  It seemed like Bedford was covering a lot of stuff at the front and that a lot of people were tired, so on the last riser before the long flat I decided it would be best to try to be in a break so I'd get last in the break due to the failing derailleur.  I attacked and the derailleur skipped two or three times until I could finally mash without issue and then I was off.  I almost didn't catch the break on the last big hill, but convinced myself to dig deep and finally caught them.

There was a fair amount of cat and mouse going on with the HPC guy who at the time I thought was Trevor Spahr trying to drop us more than a couple times, but I could always catch up.  HPC tried once more to drop us about 200 meters before the wall, but I chased it down and then waited.  Rapha guy took off close to the bottom and I waited while we took the right hand side up the hill.  Right after the worst of the pavement, HPC sort of jumped, but I really kicked it up and passed HPC quickly... and then I passed Rapha... and then I had to shift down for the finish... and with a stroke of very good luck I shifted and the rear derailleur skipped into the perfect gear for the finish... but then I heard a guy coming up hard on the left... and I heard a woman yelling "C'MON STEVEN!!!"... but the gear I was going in was solid... I mashed it through the line before any other wheel and threw my fist in the air with a big smile.