Post title

Well, I haven't been keeping up my blog much.  I ought to be tho, since I'm starting to be able to mix things up.  I'll give it a shot at catching up a bit from when I last wrote.  I'm definitely not writing as much because I'm trying to be wayyyy more political about what I write since it apparently offends people.  I also have been adding to these unpublished venting posts which will likely never see the light (darkness?) of the internet.  The big thing is that I'm trying to get along with a lot of people who have different, opinionated and seemingly habitual learned approaches to bike racing.  And I find myself disagreeing with that a lot, and it can sometimes come off quite sharply.  I want to be a good member of the community, however I am most definitely not sacrificing my philosophy on racing.

Anyways, I'll talk racing now and hope I don't offend too much.

Cherry Pie

That was a long breakaway I got into at mile 12 of a 75 mile race.  Probably good too because I was skipping numerous pulls and then got dropped badly from the break and then the peleton itself.  I can chalk up one DFL for the season, heh.  My fitness was not there yet.  That's for sure.  The team got a pretty good result with our 40+ year olds taking 2nd and 5th.

IVRR

Nasty weather/sun kinda day.  Break got away really early and nobody from our team got in it.  On the backstretch our team decided to paceline like we were going to catch it or something, but none of us really had the desire or fitness to accomplish such a thing.

I was moving backwards while climbing Michigan Hill.  On the 2nd to last lap I bridged up to a chase group and worked with them until I got dropped and rode in no-mans-land just to get caught by 2 guys at 200m.  Still got 13th and every other Portland rider from my team except Sherm who had a cold DNF'ed.

Santa Cruz

I had two wonderful rides thru Redwood forests and got to see the California Giant Strawberry Factory.

King's Valley

Got the beer prime for the 2nd year in a row this time in a solo attack.  I got chewed out for having a $7,000 bike with the squeakiest chain in the peleton.  The break got away and Casey got in it.  The pack was satisfied with going in borderline zone 1 levels so the break stuck.  I and a few others were bored out of our minds.

Walla Walla

ok, no, I'll write a full post about Walla Walla.  Look for that later.

Just racing around

Dirty Circles (last week):

Rode out there. Got there 2 hours before race. Sat outside and got very cold. Warmed up in Byron's car. Lining up. Shivering.

 

Race time! Cold! Only 20mph. Cold! Bored. Gap on the right. Attack! Caught. Attack again! Caught again. Hot spot coming up. Go way too early, but Byron is right behind me and he gets 2nd! Colby goes solo! Chase! Chase some more! Dead after final corner. Avoided nasty crash. Success?  

Heiser Farms

Zipcar it down there. Dirt and poop all over course. Gravel/dirt 1k from finish. Potholes everywhere. Follow Soraz for futile attack. Slip and nearly fall on corner. Dropped. Zone 2. Low zone 2. Too low. Contemplating being 'that guy' who complains about shitty course after getting shitty result. Getting lapped! Try to hang on. Dropped again. Probably my first DFL ever. Wait no! Once at a midnight greenlake race in February I was 3rd and DFL.

Hmm, I have a Zipcar and I'm low on Dave's Killer Bread. Sidetrip to Dave's Killer Breadquarters in Milwaukie. 9 loafs and 5 Sin-Dawgs. Back at Zipcar spot and unloaded with 2 minutes to spare.  

Dirty Circles:

 Ride out there again. Run into Justin & Jen who are also riding out there. Blue skies! Quaint farms. Munch down half a sin-dawg during the ride. RAIN! Blue skies! Alpacas. Run into Christina and Jeff! At the race.

Figured out why it's called dirty circles: cause you get your bike super dirty riding around in the sand parking lot. Lining up for race. Right behind Beardsley and Boursaw. Fall down while standing still. Can't clip out. Embarrassing. Goal for race: pack finish.

HPC going from the gun. I'm feeling good, not attacking. Watching a veloce rider guide Rosenberg around. Rosenberg's got a train for the hot spot. Get behind Rosenberg. Fend off Bedford for Rosenberg's wheel. Sprint with Rosenberg for 3rd? in hot spot.

Back in pack. Boursaw unleashes it into a break. Almost chase down break, but Bedford and Porcella are both there. No sense in dragging pack. Pack finish is my goal. Chase break gets away. Slinky-ing peleton. Time to go. Bridge up to Liberles and a junior. Culpepper tries to stay on. Culpepper and junior done. Liberles and I catch an Evolution and veloce rider. I think to myself I ought to know these guy's names, but I don't. Pack is close. Another HPC rider bridges up. Doing best attempts at echeloning. Can't catch chase break, but ahead of peleton for finish. Cat and Mouse. Peeps looking at each other at 180. Time to go. Drag HPCer behind me, 2nd from 2nd chase break. Success!

Update Update!

My hot spot sprint points helped bump me up into the top 10 (10th place)! Super stoked! Success indeed.