My Bikes: FOR SALE: Centurion Fixie $250

Asking Price $250

Equipment

Frame & Fork:	61cm Centurion Lemans (steel frame)
Crankset:	Some cheapo road cranks from a used bin probably.
Chainring:	44t Messenger style chainring (messenger because it says so!)
Stem & Handlebar:	Probably from the recycled cycles used bins
Seatpost:	It's silver
Chain:	It's yellow :)
Brakes:	Long reach brakes for 700c wheels
Saddle:	Not entirely sure, but this is another old saddle I got from Tacoma Bike back a few years ago.
Water Bottle Cages:	Cages strapped on with automotive hose clamps.

Front Wheel:

Rim:	Mavic Open Sport
Hub:	Surly
Tires:	Conti Ultra

Rear Wheel:

Rim:	Velocity Deep V
Hub:	Shimano XT Front Mountain Bike Disc Brake Hub
Cog:	Tommy Cog custom made 16t cog
Tires:	Specialized Roubaix

Personal Stories about this bike

This is my super ultra-hip fixie bike. Actually, when I first bought it, it was this hunk of junk centurion with stem shifters and all. I did a little tour of Oregon with this bike wayyy back in 2007 and rode it all the way from Roseburg to Ashland and back (2 rides total) both in one day in a time when I didn't believe in using Chamois cream! That was painful.

Then I converted it to a fixie after buying an identical but maroon Centurion frame. All of the old parts were transferred to the maroon frame with the help of my friend Rodrick up in Seattle and the task to build it up commenced. I had won a pair of wheels for coming in 2nd at the Dead Baby Downhill Messenger Challenge that year and was gonna build it up to be a fixie because I felt like a bit of a loser competing in alleycats with a road bike, it just wasn't legit.

I first started out with this wheelset and was riding something like 84 gear inches. However, one day I was attempting to descend 15th Ave in Tacoma entirely brakeless all skidding and I was skidding so hard that the lockring popped out and I started coasting down the hill and stopped ironically right outside the Marcato!  I had heard from my evil laser-building friend Robin that some people instead have bolt-on cogs for the rear that are a much stronger setup. So I went in and had Tacoma Bike build up a custom rear wheel as described.

The very first ride I did with the bolt-on cog I was heading down Pacific Ave past the courthouse. I could sense the Tacoma Streetcar traveling beside me. The streetcar is approaching it's special phase where it gets a green and everything else except the crosswalk from the Art Museum gets a red. I am approaching said crosswalk at speed and there are 3 women entering the crosswalk. I immediately go into a skid and make a 90 degree turn leveling out flush with the crosswalk where I proceed to bike up the ramp following the streetcar past the stop on 15th back to my office. I knew that it was a truly solid setup from then on.  This bike has been on many a drunken evening ride and numerous alleycats, the last one of which was the Alleycat from last September put on by 2nd Cycle where I came in first!

I am honestly not sad to see this bike go. It is from a bygone era in my life where I was trying to be cool, but I am not such a purist because I believe in technology and thus freewheels and derailleurs. It's just hard on the knees riding this bike, but it was a fun ride.

All Your Wins Are Belong To Us by Fake HSP

For the next post on the DJStroky Racing Blog I shall interview Fake HSP (in a style inspired from some great interviews (like this one, or this one) from the PruDogBlog), the winning team of the last 5 road/crit races in a row in the Oregon Pro/1/2...

Fake HSP: Wait a second, are you saying we weren't racing in the 3s?

DJStroky: Yes you were in fact racing in the OBRA Pro/1/2 field.

HSP: Oh wow, we just assumed that all OBRA races were category 3 since you can't get a Cat 1 USAC upgrade from those races.

DJStroky: uhhhhhh, anyways, you guys have really been on a roll these last few weeks. Your team brought down a two-person squad to each of the last three weekends where a different person won each weekend in every single road and crit race. First of all, what made you all want to come down to Oregon to race?

HSP: Well, we're really a road racing team and like to compete, but all that was left on the WSBA calendar during August seemed to be a bunch of track races. It was a bit of a drive, but the OBRA races had some good money to be won.

Giro di Portland

DJStroky: Your first victory was at the Giro di Portland. Brian, tell us a little about that.

Fake Brian Hitchcock: Man talk about a crashfest! What is with the Oregon riders? Can't they keep their bikes up straight? I didn't really do much here except just hope someone in front of me didn't do something stupid and then in the end I had a great chance and was really stoked about that win.

DJStroky: As you should be, you came in front of Guinness's David Klipper (master national chamion on the track) and Scott Gray (current OBRA road race champion).

BH: Yeah, but then they made me wear this white Jersey on the podium. I dunno, I guess that's nice, but I was kinda sad because I only ever wear my HSP jersey (even around the house). Can you still see the HSP logo through that other jersey?

Longview Grand Prix

DJStroky: Moving on to the next weekend, there was the Longview Grand Prix. This race was on both the OBRA and the WSBA calendar, but only 10 people showed up for the 1/2 Men's race. There were 3 Guinness guys, 2 Team Oregon guys, 2 from HSP and then 3 other racers from Oregon. Why do you think more people didn't show up?

BH: Well, it may have been a little tricky for the WSBA'ers because on the WSBA website calendar it does say Longview, but there is no link to any event flyer. Luckily I had checked it out from the OBRA site where there was a link to the flyer. I told my teammate Aaron Shaw about it and that there was $1,000 6 deep, so we decided to give it a go. Plus there was the Squirrel Festival at the park next to the course! I love squirrels!!

DJStroky: The Squirrel Festival was pretty cool. Aaron, tell us about your win.

Fake Aaron Shaw: Well, since I let Brian win last week, he agreed to let me win this race.

DJStroky: It's that simple huh?

AS: Well if you all just let me ride away from the field what am I gonna do with that? Am I supposed to wait for you slowpokes or something? I don't think so. Why didn't you chase after me that final time, DJStroky, you were on every other move?

DJStroky: I got a flat with 5 to go and didn't have any spare wheels.

AS: Sucks to be you! Haha!

Eugene Celebration Stage Race

DJStroky: The next HSP winner to come to Oregon was Max 'Missle' O'Neal. Max, was Eugene on your calendar or had you been planning on doing this race?

MMON: Well, after Carnation got cancelled I was really bummed and I also really wanted to get in one more Time Trial before I sold my bike. DJStroky was pestering me a little bit about Eugene on Facebook, but then Brian told me how easy it was to win races in Oregon and what really sealed the deal was that there was a KOM on Strava up for grabs!

McBeth Prologue

DJStroky: Well, turns out Colby beat you on the McBeth prologue according to Strava.

MMON: Lies! I won that race!

DJStroky: Yes, according to OBRA you won, but Colby got the exact same time to the hundredth of a second.

MMON: Doesn't matter, I'm the one at the top. I'm Max 'MISSLE' O'Neal! Haters gonna hate.

DJStroky: Fine, you won, but on another note I got 50 seconds faster than my time last year.

MMON: Nobody cares!

DJStroky: Shutup, my Mom and Eddie French do!

Briggs Hill

DJStroky: Seriously, HSP stop it!

MMON: Hey, it's not like I'm the moron out there attacking the entire final lap just to get dropped on the final climb up Briggs Hill. All I did was defend my GC lead and in the end everyone else was much more worn out and much older in age than Colby and I, but I've got the better sprint. ;)

DJStroky: All right, you definitely deserved that win based on how well you did. I was amazed at how you and Colby bridged up to the break after the 3rd time up the climb to Fox Hollow Rd. How did you make that happen?

MMON: Rumor has it that our secret domestique from the Kehler Rohrbots gave a good jump for Colby and I to follow up the hill and after that it was only a matter of time before we closed in.

Coburg Time Trial

DJStroky: The HSP Win Streak is broken! Halleluiah! There was no chance in Eugene to hold up to the prowess and time trialing abilities of the likes of junior national team member Colby Wait-Molyneux, the reigning National Masters 45-49 time trial champion Brendan Sullivan in town getting ready to defend his title in Bend the coming week, a former 7th place British time trialist and now Eugene local Rob English and the newest name out of Eugene, Lee Ordonez. And I myself finally got a nearly complete time trial setup - the frame, the integrated aero-bars, front carbon deep dish rim, disc, skinsuit and an awesome looking Rudy TT Helmet on loan from Team Guinness. My time was only 47 seconds off Colby, 1:30 faster than my time from last year and ahead of Max!

HSP: You can't win them all...

Celebration Criterium

And now for a running commentary of the Celebration Crit...

Fake Brian Hitchcock: Oh look a OBRA Criterium! Don't mind if we win that and nearly all the primes!

MMON: Oh hey, one of the only moves I pick to chase happens to be this Soraz guy.

DJStroky: Oh crap, that's Kyle Medlin up the road. There goes the race.

BH: Oh oh! Field prime! Got it!

MMON: Oh dang gap down to 24 seconds. C'mon Soraz!!

BH: And relax back into the pack after the field prime.

MMON: Nice, gap up to 45 seconds! We are flying!!!

BH: Oh Oh! Another field prime! Weee!

MMON: Oh crap! Oh crap! Gap down to 27 seconds. Must push harder!

Kyle Medlin: I'm riding a bicycle super hard! Aaahhh!

BH: And relax.

MMON: Yes! Gap up to 40 seconds, I'm back up to 2nd GC! 10 laps to go!

Rob English: All right chaps, let's bring this back to 30 seconds and then I'll win the field sprint. By my calculations I'll hold 2nd GC by 1 second. Brilliant!

MMON: I am a winning machine!

Rob English: Well done lads, I held onto 2nd place GC by 1 second.

DJStroky: Oh gosh that was hard I hope I held onto 6th GC.

OBRA official: Results are posted!

Colby: Oh I won, cool I guess.

Rob English: My calculations were correct! 2nd place for me.

MMON: Gahhhh!!! 1 second!!

DJStroky: Whew 6th place. I really wanted at least 5th, but I did good this weekend.

And that's a wrap for this bicycle racing season of DJStroky Racing.

My Bikes: 2012 Cervélo R5

Here is the first post in a new series called "My Bikes". I really hope this doesn't come across as bragging about my fancy toys, since I very strongly believe that fitness, intelligence, creativity and bicycle handling skills are much more important than equipment. I have a few goals for this series:

1. For the entertainment of my fans? readers who are really into equipment.
2. To showcase the awesome products that are provided by gracious sponsors such as Athlete's Lounge, ROTOR, American Classic, a whole lot more through the awesome Guinness Cycling Team and other awesome sponsors. A little disclaimer, I am not going to discuss how much I paid for each part.
3. To provide a reference in case one of my bikes get stolen.
4. To showcase my bikes that I want to sell.
5. To tell some personal stories that me and the bike have gone through.

Let's Begin With a BANG!



Purpose of this bicycle

I had no idea I was going to get this bike until Klipper called me up and told me we were about to get a absolutely screaming deal on this awesome bicycle. I could not refuse. This bike is a road racing machine which is incredibly stiff, incredibly light and most noticeably to me incredibly stable. I'll ride this bike in road races and important criteriums.

Equipment

Frame & Fork:	61cm Cervélo R5
Bottom Bracket & Headset:	I am not entirely sure, but I know that the shop had to glue them in.
Crankset:	ROTOR 3D Plus Cranks and ROTOR standard 53/39 chainrings (chainrings are ovular).
Stem & Handlebar:	Some take-off 44cm handlebar and unknown stem from Athlete's Lounge.
Seatpost:	3T Dorico LTD seatpost
Shifters:	Shimano Dura Ace 7900
Deraileurs:	Shimano Dura Ace 7900
Chain:	ROTOR Chain
Brakes:	FSA something or other
Saddle:	Not entirely sure, but this is my good old saddle I got from Tacoma Bike back two years ago. Still like it!
Water Bottle Cages:	Arundel water bottle cages.

Pictured Wheels:

Wheels:	2011 American Classic Carbon 58s
Tires:	Vittoria Corsa Evo CX 23mm Tubular Tires
Cassette:	Shimano Ultegra 10speed 11-28T.

Gadgets:

Power Meter:	iBike Newton+ Power Meter
GPS:	Garmin Edge 500
Sensor:	Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor.

Personal Stories about this bike

I think the only thing I am superstitious about is bragging about something before it actually comes to pass. Sure enough, I posted that I was going to finally write this blog post and then the next big race I did (the OBRA Crit) this bike was involved in a crash. Fortunately the only thing that happened was that the derailleur hanger got bent and the right shifter got some scratches and the rear derailleur also got some scratches.

DNF Streak

Well, I'm definitely not on a win streak at the moment. I was recovering most of last week from the OBRA crit crash, so I didn't do PIR. Saturday came around and it was time for the Giro di Portland. And I was very unprepared for it. I didn't pre-ride the course, but I knew there were some cobbles, but I didn't know that they were nasty cobbles. Then, I got in a so-so warmup. And I didn't completely check my tire pressure or even make sure the skewers were tightened. Since I hadn't pre-rode the course I did a practice lap instead of lining up immediately. I went around corner one and was like "OH CRAP!" I lined up ok, and then we were off and it was tough. I got caught behind a crash and was able to get a free lap where I moved up a lot. But then, the skewer on my front wheel was all over the place. I got off the back and tightened it and the pack was gone. I sort of tried to catch up, but could hear the motorcycle and got lapped by Bedford and then decided to pull out. And that was I believe my shortest race of the year with a time of about 25 minutes.

That's about it really, I feel like I really disappointed a bunch of people who came to watch me race: my sister down from Seattle, my church friends, my new teammates and whoever else is out there following. I also feel lazy to myself for just pulling out like that. I really admired how Rocky raced since he dropped a chain and was a lap down and still finished the race and did work for the team at the end. And then Klipper got 2nd so that was good. More and more I feel like I'm a little less committed to performing well since I have my teammates in the field and am not reliant on myself or for winning money to stay financially viable in life. Furthermore I feel like it's a bad example I'm setting for our new teammates to bail out so soon. I'm realizing more and more that people really do pay attention to what I do and I don't want to set a bad example of being a quitter or having poor racer etiquette.

So this coming week it is a rest week, but I have really had it and am pissed off looking at my last 3 results: DNF, DNS, DNF. This streak must end! I am in fact going easy all other 5 days, but tomorrow at PIR I WILL MAKE IT IN THE BREAK and then I'm going to be trying hard to get a top 10 at Longview.

Those last few weeks

I think I may be getting close to that point where I was last year. The point where a long long season of racing, frustration upon frustration and poor result after poor result ate away at my psyche to the point where I didn't want to race anymore. Last year the summer was a real downward spiral where I got pushed over the edge at Cascade and was left with broken dreams.

And now the past few races have been sort of leading toward that direction. I performed just ok at Cascade was feeling a little maxed out at the Franz Bakery Crit last week. This week I had a strong lineup of races, Portland Twilight, OBRA Crit and OBRA TT.

But first, PIR

As the season goes on, the races here have seemed to get faster and harder to make a break happen. The highlight of my race was when I tried to follow Tuckerman's wheel when he attacked hard. I knew he was going to explode with that break attempt, but I was sad I couldn't at least follow it. In the field sprint I should have just followed Eddie, but let that wheel get away.

Portland Twilight Criterium

Now I dunno, but when Klipper called me up on Thursday night and told me that my goal was to not crash, I thought that was a lame goal. I knew the race was going to be fast, but I thought I was fast and after blaring some techno before the race I was feeling pumped. I made the mistake of riding a warmup lap once the course opened and found myself much further back than I wanted to be. After the call-ups, I sprinted to get a spot in the 3rd row for the start, but really wish I had done better about lining up.

Once the race started it was strung out for the entire race. I was barely holding wheels the entire race, but I wasn't moving back too much staying pretty much 20th-30th the whole race. The whole race I was in the drops sprinting to hold wheels. With 10 laps to go I was the back of the field. The photo below sums it up:

Photo credit to SmugMug user stoneandsteel

I finished 21st after making a lousy sprint against the giver-upers at the very back. I didn't once get to the front of the race and that was that. I was disappointed that I couldn't do better.

OBRA Crit Champs

Off to Bend which I swear I'm now calling Bad Luck Bend! I thought maybe I'd warmup a little harder to feel fresh for races by doing a quick Archie Briggs climb. That got up my heart rate and I was feeling pretty good at the start of the race doing a few attacks off the front. However, it became apparent that a monster was among us. This kid broke away about halfway through and was holding an insane pace all by himself. But then he started coming back to the field and it was game on again. But then I saw him getting ready to get back in from the pit and knew he had a flat and was about to crush us again. And he did and when he and two other guys broke away I hammered on the front trying to do something to bring it back, but it seemed that none of us had the legs in us to chase him down. He broke away from the other two guys and he was gone. And then I was just struggling to get a good field position again. And then out of nowhere I got a flat on my front wheel in the middle of corner 2 and went down on my right side. And that was the race. I didn't feel like doing the TT the next day so that was my week.



I'm pretty sure I'm pretty tired after this whole season. Combine that with losing a bunch of blood and I was feeling quite tired Sunday. There is the potential for negative thoughts to enter my mind and I've got to fight that and remain positive not only for the last few races of the season, but more importantly for the upcoming dating season. However, this year the extra support from more bicycling friends I have made and above all else my teammates has made it much easier to bear. Hearing the random voices yelling "EVAN MOVE UP!!" 30 minutes into Portland Twilight and then "ALL RIGHT EVAN HANG IN THERE GOOD JOB!!" once they realized I was so tired helps me finish the race. Every race has been salvaged by Eddie or Rocky getting Top Ten or better, by hanging out after the races and all of us taking care of each other.

It looks like the Giro di Portland and Eugene are going to be the last races on my calendar. Almost there!

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.

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.