I lost to a Triathlete

Well, I guess I should finally just say it.  I lost the Mt Ashland Hillclimb this year.  But more disappointingly is that I lost to a triathlete.  It was bad.

My sleep was so-so going into the race, but whatevs.  I didn't have a floor pump and was using my hand pump instead so I probably only put in 100 pounds.  At the top my front wheel was quickly going flat.  But the big thing was that when the triathlete made his move I didn't follow.  But he didn't even make a move was the thing, it was kind of like Eugene where everyone else is looking at each other waiting for someone else to do something and before you know it someone is up the road.  I guess nobody took him seriously, but damnit, he won.



That just really irks me about Oregon road racing is that it always seems like when you lose, you lose for a stupid reason and not because it was a hard bike race.  At least in cyclocross you do get your ass handed to you by the likes of Shannon Skerritt and Carl Decker, but all the roadie pros have left or just don't enter many Oregon road races.  Please Pros, come back and whoop on us so we are all taught what it's like to race a proper Pro/1/2 road race.

But hey, at least I won these in the raffle!

My Bikes: Cervelo S1

Purpose of this bicycle

This bike was an incredible spur of the moment purchase to ensure I had a bike to race at the 2012 Mt Hood Cycling Classic. At the time I reasoned that it was ok to get the bike because eventually I'd use it for the upcoming winter since my Felt was getting a little too beat up. I ended up racing this bike in numerous races through the 2012 season and got some great results including 3rd at the Queen stage of Mt Hood, 3rd on the first stage of Baker City and I even rode it to a win over at St. Honoré!

Equipment

Frame & Fork:	Aluminum 61cm 2010 Cervélo S1
Crankset:	Compact FSA Gossamer
Chainring:	Compact FSA 50/34
Stem & Handlebar:	FSA something or other
Seatpost:	Aero Cervelo seatpost
Pedals:	Speedplay Zeros (I'll swap these pedals between this bike and my R5)
Shifters:	Shimano Ultegra
Chain:	Shimano Ultegra
Deraileurs:	Shimano Ultegra
Brakes:	Cervelo Brakes
Saddle:	San Marco saddle
Fenders:	Strap-on fenders with Tacoma Bike flaps

Wheel Set:

Rim:	American Classic Hurricane
Hub:	American Classic
Tires:	Maxxis Detonator 23c
Cassette:	Shimano Ultegra 10 speed 25/13

Gadgets:

Power Meter:	iBike Newton+ Power Meter
GPS:	Garmin Edge 500
Sensor:	iBike Speed/Cadence Sensor.
Lights:	Cygolite Bike Lights (Mom, you will be glad to know that these are very bright). However, I need to figure out how to mount the light to the non-cylindircal seatpost, maybe my friend Eric can use his 3d printer to make something.

Personal Stories about this bike

I have decided that this blog series is bad luck!! This morning I got up and one of the first emails I got before even leaving to work was a nagging email about cleaning up the office kitchen of which one of the points was to not put in peanut butter jars caked with sesame seed and coconut oil remnants. Uggh, how am I going to clean all my jars now? Getting my bike to go to work I realized that I must have at one point forgot my floor pump outside my locker because it is nowhere to be seen inside my locker. I took forever to get prepared and finally got into the office at around 11am.

Then on the bike ride that night I really got started at around 9:30pm and got a flat on totally new tires. And it was raining. Then after I got back and had done the bike's photoshoot I opened up a brand new peanut butter jar full of applesauce I was about to devour, but I lost grip of it and it fell to the floor shattering into an inedible pile of glass and apples immediately outside the door to my bike locker. Come to think of it there are really a bunch of other crappy first world problems in my life, but I also blame all of them on this unfounded superstition of this bad luck blog post series!

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!

Ready for Cat 2

Ready. Set. Mt. Hood.

Got into PDX at midnight. Got into Athlete's Lounge the next day and my bikes are not available at all, all parts are still in the boxes. I call my teammate and travel buddy for the weekend, Todd Gallaher who then calls Klipper who then both proceed to lecture me on how much of an idiot I am for expecting two bikes to be ready within 3 days notice and no extra details provided. On top of that, Athlete's Lounge was completely slammed for the biggest triathlon weekend of the year busy assembling bikes even more expensive than my upcoming Cervelo R5. For a moment, it seemed that I would not be racing this weekend. However, the shop owner whipped out an amazing deal on a bike on the sales floor a 61cm Cervelo S1:



Sold! And for such a good deal I will not say on this blog. Combined with the pedals I had brought from my Felt which I left in Texas for my 2nd Austin business trip, it was ready to go with only adjustments to the seatpost height and saddle position. The rationale behind this rather sudden and unexpected new bike was that I really wanted to race and that the Felt is probably nearing the end of its usefulness - at times I have heard something rubbing hard during sprints that I don't think is the wheel.

So off me and Todd went to The Dalles and we managed to get in a nice ride that evening. The bike actually came with a compact crankset which at first I was concerned about, but later very very thankful for.

Friday

We raced out in the hills southeast of The Dalles. With all the clouds and gadgetry I still could not figure out if we were going to get rained on or be 2km away from the rain and was concerned for having forgetten my bibshorts at the hotel. Turns out it rained a little bit.

Anyways, the race seemed like a hold-back-fest. Nobody wanted to play. On the only decent hill, the hillclimbers would always get a gap on the rest of the field and then proceed to let up allowing most people to catch back on. I was off the front probably too much. The final lap up the long false flat I couldn't stand it and attacked out with a Bob's rider. I pushed it hard up the hill hill and dropped Bob's, but probably should've waited for him. And then I was attempting a 10 mile solo break into the finish. It was windy and I thought that if I could make it to the downhills I could still have a chance against all the climbers who can't descend. Turns out I myself couldn't really descend as fast as I wanted which I speculate was due to a slight lack of eating. The peleton of about 40 caught me with about 2km to go. And then I had nothing for the final hillclimb finish and got gapped off the back at 17 seconds back.

I was pretty pissed that nobody else wanted to try to do a break in the 3s. Tactically at the time, that was the place to make a move for all people unsure of their climbing abilities. Yet out of who knows how many teams, I guess nobody else wanted to or perhaps they already had made up their mind that they were going to get beaten. But don't take my word for it, on the 3rd lap we were just mosying up the hill and someone from beside the road yelled at us "GROOOUUPPP RIIIDDEEE!!" He was so right, nobody except Garmin Kid, Bob's and me were trying to attack. People were having conversations in the field. The race was not hard at all.

Scenic Gorge TT

This race was just injury upon insult for me. I was doing somewhat ok in my race up to the Rowena Hills. I had passed one or two maybe even three guys and only had gotten passed by the ultimate winner. But then I got a flat about 2/3 of the way up the hill. Game over. I got a ride to the finish and got the worst actual finisher's time of 25 minutes back. GC fail.

As I got the flat, I set down my bike and started cheering on my other competitors as I waited for a ride. Then I saw a nice shady area to wait at and picked up my bike which then caught the 30mph wind with the disc and aero frame causing the downtube to slam into my leg giving it a nice looking bulge. Cherry on top!

Hood River Crit

Redemption time. A crit with hills is usually a crit I can rock and roll in. In this crit, Garmin kid really wanted to play from lap 3 and soloed away. I knew he would get it because the only team that may have been organized enough in the peleton to bring it back was Team Guinness - yes me alone bringing back that break slowly but surely over many laps but also dragging the rest of the field with me in the process. I seriously think that in the Cat 3 peleton I have tried to breakaway so many times (and been successful in half as many attempts) that the rest of the riders have an instinctual reaction to immediately chase down that break I get into. So I had to watch out and let Garmin kid ride away and hope for the best because I'm not going to chase down 1st just to get 30th.

Anywho, I don't remember much until the few final laps where I maintained a decent position and moved up on the final lap. This year the same thing happened where on the backstretch some people in the middle were on the front with the left sort of encroaching and the right side wide open. This time I punched in hard up the right and took as much of the final 3 turns as I could. Coming out of the final turn I sprinted with what I had left and managed to get 4th in the crit.

Photo credit: Dave Roth

Now there are a few things to mention about "bad style" in the above photo. First off is Jeff Gaeckle's bad style for getting a little too excited about getting 2nd place - a one handed wave or fist pump is probably more suitable than whatever Jeff had going on there. And yes he got 2nd, Garmin kid was 23 seconds ahead of him. And then after that is that weirdo Guinness rider wearing a little too much clothing. If you look closely, he is the only rider in the whole peleton with bib pants or even leg warmers on. Word from other riders was that he also has a knack for always wearing wool socks and always putting on his race numbers such that they inevitably tear off. But in my lame defense, I just came from Austin, Texas where the low temperature is 75 degrees!

Three Summits



Time for some real climbing! This year, I tried a different race strategy: not attacking from the gun. According to the senior Guinness Cycling Team race strategist on hand, Todd Gallaher, this race is always won on the final hill. Ok, so the course has 3 hillclimbs. The first isn't too bad at 2300 feet spread out over 13 miles, but there is a quite steep section for about 3 miles that a lot of people get dropped on. The next climb is 2000 feet over 7 miles. Definitely steeper and this will whittle out to close to the final selection of riders. The final climb is 2400 feet of climbing over 10 miles with a gradually increasing grade most of the way to the finish. Explosion avoidance is critical on the final hill.

For me the race didn't get very dramatic until after I had to hammer very hard by myself after taking at least a minute long nature break. I time trialed quite hard and was glad to have caught the slow field just before the steep section of hill 1. I made it over the top with the lead group and then descended carefully. Usually I descend very aggressively, but my brake pads were squeaking hard and the valve was making an unpleasant rim-whacking noise. Despite going somewhat easy on the downhill I still was first to the bottom.

Then going up hill 2 Garmin kid goes again. I guess I convinced myself that I would just hold on and not attack with him since by the laws of physics and me being the tallest if not heaviest Cat 3 in the peleton I was disadvantaged on the hills. Nonetheless I stayed with the lead pack and then mosied along with the now 7 man pack and again descended with squeaky braking.

Immediately at the bottom the pack slowed down a ton. It was a very slow pace for me so I just started setting a pace off the front. It looked for a moment that Bob's was following me, but then I was solo. Going up the final hill is interesting because the first section is this long and straight section where you can see a long way up or back down the road. And whenever I looked back it always looked like the chase group was within striking distance. I wasn't even attacking all that hard, my heart rate said I was in low z4 at the time, but I was going steady.

But then Tim Smith bridged up to me and we started working. And then a Mellow Johnny's rider from St. Louis bridged up too. I really wanted a podium and resolved in my mind that I would fight for it. Just before the cut-off to the ski area, Mellow Johnny's attacked us and we let him ride away. I sort of worked with Tim, but with 500 to go I attacked and then rode on up to a 3rd place finish in the stage! Podium!



Well with that I am pretty confident in my decision to upgrade to Cat 2. Ever since Walla Walla where I finally had the fitness to perform, it seems that it has been easy enough for me to get a podium if not win as long as I don't do constant futile attacks most of the race. Or I can still do lots of attacks and stay away in places where people don't know I can stay away... like in FRESH Road Race in Texas. And honestly, it really seems silly to see that podium shot of the final stage with me, this monster of a biker securing a podium performance against the likes of true climber-type bodied racers. It's time for me to seek tougher bike racing.

And now I'm back in Texas for another 2 weeks. I'm planning on doing the San Antonio crit again and then will be flying back just in time for Baker City.

Don't Mess With Texas!

And now for some completely different weather.

For these past two weeks I've been down in Austin, TX on a business trip. And since it was a full two weeks, I needed to bring my bike to train and race. The first week, I was on a week-long break from riding and just drove around in my Jeep Patriot. The weather was hot! Well, to this northwesterner it was. But while driving around, I thought it was bearable and a non-issue inside the air-conditioned buildings.



It wasn't until I went for my first half hour ride on Sunday that I realized...

IT IS HOT!!!

On the next Monday I went on a wake-up-the-legs ride for 3 hours. I originally had thought I'd go to the office and do some work and then do some riding in the night, but I just went for a ride once my key card failed to grant me access. I had 3 waterbottles on me and had already drank an entire bottle during the 30 minute commute to the office. I started riding out some more and filled up my bottles at a gas station. And then I did the rest of my ride consuming all of the water before I got back to the hotel. Usually 2 big bottles is fine for a 3 hour ride up in Portland, but that would have been a disaster down here. Tuesday I got out to a late start and didn't do all of my intervals, but still managed to get a 9th place on a strava segment.

The Driveway

Thursday was time to race at The Driveway! This race was fun and rather serious for a weekly series. $300 five-deep finish, TEN primes and a new helmet for the most aggressive rider (the rider first across the line the most laps). 60 minutes total. I had been sort of hydrating while warming up, but not throughout the day, so when the race started in about 90 degree heat, I began to feel fatigued much more quickly. The race was hard. A big break of like 12 people got away on the first lap and then I tried to bridge with another guy, but just a little later the field came absolutely roaring past and caught the break in no time. During this whole race I was either in a small break riding super hard or in a motivated and organized chase group.

The highlight of my night was not the finish, not even a prime lap, but a plain old lap. I was on the front for some kind of reason and wasn't going too hard. The finish line was coming up in about 200m so I figured I might as well make a pull to get some aggressive rider points. Usually in Washington or Oregon, the pack would have just let this happen, but not down here! Someone laid down an attack and took that lap away from me! This was actually an awesome feeling because it meant that any time getting across the line first was something you better damn well have earned.

With 4 to go I had an opportunity to take a prime and laid down a sprint probably a little too hard for that late in the race and got the prime. I was exhausted after this effort and tried hard to get a decent sprint position, but the reigning Elite National Criterium Champion David Wenger and 20 other racers easily outsprinted me to the finish.

FRESH

Friday I carpooled 250 miles with a guy I met through the txbra forums to Jacksonville, Texas where we stayed in a hotel. And then it was time for the FRESH Road Race and fresh was a feeling I had not been having lately it seemed. The course was your typical race around a lake. 18 mile laps and the 3s got to do 4 laps. The organizer was pretty sweet and had managed to secure enough prizes to make it a prime lap each lap. It started out with some attacks and early breaks. I tried to bridge up to the break to get a prime the first lap, but was 3rd. But I had gapped the field, so our break worked for a while and eventually got caught. It was a field sprint for the next prime and I think I got 2nd or 3rd again. After this, a break got away and was hanging out there. Just after the biggest hill of the course which was flat by northwest standards I bridged up to the break.

I was drinking quite a bit of fluids on the ride and packed four water bottles of which 3 had powder. There was also neutral water which I took advantage of on laps 3 and 4. I drank half of the neutral water and poured the rest on my back since it was starting to warm up into the 80s already at 11am. By the end of the race I had drank all of the water in my 4 bottles and also the equivalent of about 1 neutral water bottle.

The three of us were holding on and again I got 2nd in the prime sprint. At this point we had dropped the other breakmate, so the two of us starting working. It seemed like I was taking longer pulls than my breakmate, but I had to make the break work. By the time we had about 6 miles to go the pack was nowhere in sight and we were still cooperating. I had made the decision in my mind to try to solo and waited until a slight incline about 3 miles to go and put in an attack. My breakmate couldn't keep up and was soon far out of sight. Not knowing how far back the peleton was, I kept pushing hard until about 500m when I eased up and poster finished! 2nd place was 46 seconds back and the field was 2 minutes back! For this feat I won some cash and the strange, but quite useful prize of a foam-fitting pillow.

Again, it would be nice to have a pic of the finish.

San Antone

And then we drove all 250 or so miles back to Austin. The next day I drove myself down to San Antonio for the crit. This was an all right course. Kind of wide, but not very wide. Corner 1 was more than 90 degress and then it went into a slight uphill. The road bended to the right and then was slightly downhill into another bend which was almost a corner and a final corner onto the straightaway which was about 350m to the finish.

Since the course seemed lacking of dangerous corners and had decent pavement, I decided to ride on my American Classic 58s which was the first time I used carbon wheels in a crit. It actually felt incredible as those wheels always do. But in the corners it was just so smooth such that at one point I was riding a bit too close to another wheel in front of me with about 2 inches maximum to spare, yet at the same time I felt completely in control of my bike and the line I was taking. We didn't rub wheels at all, but this did scare off another rider who observed this happen. At least it wasn't as close as the encounter David Wenger had in Athens.

Photo Credit: Walston Photo

It had to have been in the high 80s when the race started and was warming up still. I had 3 bottles on me and probably should have drank more often. The pace seemed slightly less intense than the driveway, but was still hard. Breaks were happening and then getting reeled back in and then one stuck which I didn't get into which was a mistake because I knew the guy getting into that was strong. Eventually I got myself into a chase break which was working hard to bridge. We could see that we were closing in on a break ahead of us, but we had 5 to go. With 3 to go, we were nearly within striking distance. With 2 to go I put in a hard effort and was able to bridge with one guy from the chase break. Final lap I started winding up already on the backstretch and then kept going hard on the straightaway and took 3rd from this break. However, there were 6 other riders in another break up the road, so I ended up 9th. It also became clear that my front wheel got a flat, so perhaps that hindered my sprint a bit.

The week of Mt. Hood

And then I went back to my car and proceeded to sweat off unprecedented amounts of water. Then it was out to get some fajitas and drive back. Monday was an easy ride and then Tuesday I tried to beat Kristian House's (a former British National Champ who was doing some winter training in Austin) KOM of Lost Creek on Strava. The best I could manage was a minute behind... on a 1.1 mile climb. It's just unreal what the pros can do. Another highlight was that I glued on my first tubular all by myself. It was hard and I ripped the skin off my right thumb three times in the process.



And I'm finishing off this blog post while on the plane to PDX. The plane was delayed so I'm probably going to get home at about 1am tonight which isn't good for my sleep, but hopefully that foam fitting pillow will make things better. Tomorrow I go to Athlete's Lounge to hopefully pick up both of my new bikes. All the parts have been sourced and it's just a matter of whether the mechanics can work some magic since the parts didn't all get there until this Sunday. But things are in motion and the bikes will be ready soon. I'll be sure to have a whole post just about these bikes. As for Hood, I'm going for GC in what will probably be my last race as a 3. And then I fly back to Austin on Monday to work another 2 weeks and will fly back to Portland just in time for Baker city. I'm dreaming and trying to secure a winter-time job through my company in Austin and a summertime job up in Portland - I hope I'll be that lucky.

Roller Coaster

Guess I better update this blog. Last time I wrote, I was high off of the stage win and ultimate 6th in GC at the Tour of Walla Walla. So clearly, I was back on track towards a future pro career in racing, just like I may have believed last year. Not!

Next up was winning the Washington State road champs of course up at Olympic Valley. Now, all right, this year I think I have a little different perspective on racing. At this point perhaps I have given up on being the next Lance Armstrong overnight, but I have not given up on improving my aptitude and fitness as a bike racer. I approach races considering what the course is like and learning from mistakes which always happen, but the fewer, the better.

Olympic Valley

Honestly, Olympic Valley wasn't much of an event to write home about. Apex and Olympia Ortho sent some guys out on an early break and then proceeded to sit on the front. At one point, an Olympia Ortho rider went to the front and seemed to be actually doing some work. A douchebag concerned Apex rider thought out loud, "gosh does that OO rider know he has a breakmate off the front? I better go up and tell him." At this point, I just got so pissed off at this lack of racing and put in a hard attack and closed about half of the distance to the break with Apex sitting on my damn wheel and no other teams doing anything. The race after that was rather boring except for all the pointless crashes and slow-speed jockeying for position towards the end. It came to a field sprint and I ended up following a dumb move at about 200m meter sign which was actually 500m. Once the real 200m actually came, the actual sprinters sprinted past me. However, on the plus side, I still rode hard enough to avoid getting rammed into from behind.

PIR

Again at PIR, it became apparent that I have to work on my field sprint. I tried to breakaway a lot and didn't have much of positioning or sprinting abilities. Good thing this race is every Tuesday and there are hot spots which makes for lots of practicing opportunities.

Vance Creek

And now for a course that isn't mostly flat! As I drove to the course, I noticed that the finish line was moved about 200m further west than last year so it was a false flat followed by very slight uphill immediately after the big hill. A finish very suited for me. This turned out to be a really fun race for me. The weather was really interesting in that it was dry on the western half of the course, but then rainy on the east side. We were going to do 6 laps, but on the first lap a big breakaway with all kinds of teams got away. Another highlight from the first lap was that there was another random pointless crash that I nearly missed - in fact there was a wheel of a bike flying in the air that I nudged out of the way with my right hand. There were perhaps 7 riders in the break so I decided that I should try and get in on that break since although it was really early, it may have a chance of surviving. So me and an Olympia Ortho rider attacked the filed and took about 2/3 of a lap to catch the break. But when I got to the break, it became apparent that the pace was a little too relaxed. It was so weird, there were like 9 of us - all from different teams - and on lap 4 we lost the entire 1:40 gap.

Well, back to the drawing board. There were some attacks after that, I can't really remember, but nothing was sticking. On the final lap Alex from Old Town made a good move for his abilities by attacking right before the farm road. He held a good gap, but lost it on the rollers. It was going to be a field sprint again. I positioned myself on the right and kept following wheels and scooting around people getting dropped. By the time we got to the top, I was third wheel and then Matt attacked. The wheel I was following jumped out and I had to give him some room to not take me out, then I followed that wheel, jumped around it and sprinted for 2nd! Woot Woot!

Montinore

On the way home from Vance Creek, I ended up getting to bed later than desired and not sleeping as much for the 9am race start the next day at Montinore. The course was really cool with lots of corners and a long power hill. The Klipper-mobile came by and we all got to the race with less than an hour to prep which is usually not enough for me I have found out. I kind of need to do everything before the race. Change, go to the bathroom, get the carbon wheelz ready, get my food ready, get my numbers ready. Perhaps I'm just slow at this prep work, but I got to the start line barely before the race started without having made as much use as desired out of the bathroom.

The pace was fast from the beginning and I was already getting slinkied off the back due to no warmup. The first time we went up the hill I knew I was in trouble. I was moving backwards in the pack and had to chase on the downhill. I also really had to go to the bathroom. The 3rd lap I had managed to get to the front and figured that since I was probably going to get dropped anyways, I might as well put in a good pull since not many other teams were racing. Just before the hill, I used some sharp corners and speed up and really strung out the field going into the hill. And then I proceeded to drop back through the field and ended up off the back at the top. I had to chase with a few other people for a while on the flats to get back on all while being in pain in the groin area at that point. Next lap I was dropped for good and detoured to the porto-potties at the staging area. But I still went for some riding after that and paced the women's field up the climb again. However, on the descent I noticed that my rear wheel was noticeably flat, so now I just called it quits altogether.

Rest Week

I'm pretty sure I still have not figured out how to execute on a getting a good rest week. The afternoon of the Montinore race I hung out with Klipper originally intending to hangout and help him with some yardwork. Instead, that turned into drinking 5 beers, watching the Giro, then watching Rugby 7s, then watching the Giro again and me finally biking home slightly intoxicated at about 11pm.

Two days so far this week I have gotten 9+ hours of sleep which were immensely needed, but the rest of the days have been around 7 hours and I am now grumpy. And I'm probably going to not do the OBRA champs tomorrow cause I'm grumpy due to lack of sleep. And now something smells in my apartment which is probably due to me not cleaning it. Right now I am in such a grumpy mode that I just want to yell "SHUTUP" to those little children nextdoor; I am entertaining going on another Facebook unfriending rampage against some people for really petty crap; and I want to even further highlight how disgusting some of my friends are for eating ice cream with a topping that had - I am not making this up - lactic acid as one of its ingredients. But I know all these things are counter-productive. Kids are actually very positive and fun, I regret unfriending some people from previous rampages and now it'll be weird if they ever find out, and there is actually debate as to whether lactic acid is as bad as it is made out to be.

Next rest week I seriously need to start it out right with going to bed at 9pm the first night. All this unpreparedness and lack of sleep I'm blaming on myself not getting a good start of getting to bed early enough and then not starting my day right enough the next day. I feel like a bike chain that hasn't been lubed in a while right now.

Coming up on DJStroky Racing...

1. Mutual of Enumclaw is going to be a serious race for me next weekend.
2. I'm getting a new race bike
3. I'm getting a TT bike
4. I'm not upgrading to the 2s yet, however I calculated all my upgrade points and I am still in the zone where I have enough to upgrade, but not enough for a forced upgrade! So all you people calling me 'sandbagger' can ponder that info. I actually don't have anywhere near enough points to upgrade if only my Oregon races are counted. My plan is to upgrade after Mt. Hood.

Bike riding is fun

No racing this week, but riding as always. Some highlights:

Tuesday

Steep hillclimb intervals and then some more hillclimb intervals after that. Felt great.

Wednesday

Had a confrontation with a MAX fare inspector for being the 5th bike in the train car. He wanted to see my ID because I was supposedly blocking the walkway. I didn't comply and a bunch of other people argued against him too.

Thursday

More hillclimb intervals, but didn't feel as strong. Maybe it was because that by the end of the ride I had realized that my front deraileur cage had broken. The top metal holder had broken so now the right side of the cage was rubbing on the crank, but the left side was rubbing the chain no matter where I shifted to.

Saturday

Rode my own Ronde Von Flaanderen. Went up the SW hills via Terwilliger/Westwood then out Fairmount/Hewett, then up 59th, then out Skyline and down Old Germantown and then up North on Kaiser back to Skyline, back down Old Germantown again, then up Springville then down Thompson and I still hadn't had enough so I went out to 82nd/Glisan and then headed back on Burnside.

Sunday

Was trying to avoid the intense rains, but eventually made my way out to St. Johns then along Marine View where the fun started. There was an intense crosswind that was nearly blowing me off my bike all along the airport. Then I got a slow leak just after that on the front tire. I put in a new tube, stashed my bag with all my gear behind a tree and headed out for some intervals. Halfway out to Troutdale in the middle of interval 2 of 3 my rear tube exploded. I started walking back and eventually hitchhiked with a very nice old couple back to the I-205 path where I had left my bag. I put my slow leak tube back in and then attempted interval 3 up the 205 trail to Gateway Max. And then at the Gateway MAX I was threatened by another fare inspector with a $159 fine for not walking my bike on the platform - but by walking he meant that I couldn't even straddle my bike and stand up.

I need me some more racing to push myself though. Piece of Cake is coming up Saturday and I'm looking forward to it.

Fun Weekend!

Oh man, this weekend was fun. But first, a recap on what has happened since I didn't have a weekly post last week.

Last Week:
It was supposed to be a rest week for me, but I'm not the best at resting and relaxing. I worked late on some nights and then over the weekend I went bike camping with a friend. While I took it quite easy on the bike camping trip I still put in a decent amount of miles for being a rest week. And on top of all that I didn't sleep enough. I kinda like the idea that I need to work on relaxing a bit. I think I could really get into that, maybe not go as far as putting cucumbers in my eyes and taking mud baths or something, but at least getting a consistent 9 hours of sleep.

This week:

PIR
I was supposed to get back into it this week firing it up. I did my first PIR (Portland International Raceways) of the year in the 1/2/3s. It is challenging for sure and will be really good for me. There were a lot of attacks and I figured out quite quickly that unlike the 4s and even 3s sometimes there is no way I can chase every one of these attacks. At the finish I found myself quite far back not able to do anything. Moreover I learned that at this level people have fitness, but the good ones also have brains.

Eugene Roubaix
Saturday was Eugene Roubaix - a road race with a 1.5 mile stretch of gravel. I got a ride down there with with Cliff and Bob. There were a lot of attacks in our race - more than usual for my field and I suspected it had something to do with the collegiate kids in the mix now. I was holding up quite well, but then got a flat tire on the 3rd lap. The wheel change was ok, but I couldn't catch up after that. I was at this point sort of trying to use this as a time trialing opportunity trying to get up to 180 bpm without racing which is hard for me to do.

By the time I got to the final straightaway, the field was just gone. I came up along a Cat 2 rider who also had flatted out. Just before we hit the gravel I offered "want to sprint for the finish?" He said, "sure, let's take parellel lines" [so we don't get in trouble for riding with another field or for whatever reason]. He hadn't been pushing himself as hard so he obviously had more in him, but I was getting up to 180bpm. After the gravel ended it was 200m to the finish and he was just checking to make sure I didn't sprint. When I gave it a final effort he completely took off. However, he then stopped to talk to some friends at the 2 meter line and I pipped him at the finish! BOOSH!

After this, Cliff found a ride home with some other people, Bob raced in the Cat 5s and I volunteered as a corner marshal in the afternoon. Basically, all I do is wave a stop sign and point in the direction where the riders should turn maybe about 20 times and then chill out and get to race for free, which saved me $30. I drove Cliff's car out to the corner of Crow and Petzold and went for the chill factor by blasting music out of the doors of Cliff's car. This was going all nice and well, but I thought, hmm maybe this isn't good for the car's battery. Maybe I should check if the car will still start. I turn the key and the car doesn't start. I accept the fact that I'm a moron and decide to radio in for help after the last field passes. I do so, but the car then starts right after this! Yes!

Vance Creek

Vance Creek is apparently the Washington State Road Race Championship of the year. Or as my local bike racing hero Jamie Stangeland would've said a while ago The Undisputed Championship of Nothing. I scored a ride out there with another Guinness teammate Joe (one of several Joe's on the Guinness team). It was a long race of about 77 miles with some hills, but not pure hillclimber hills. Since I was tired from my rest week, tired from Eugene Roubaix and slapped in the face for being dumb at PIR, I tried to race smarter and conserve energy. I tried only a few break attempts in the race and managed to save some energy on the hillclimbs. A break of 3 and then 2 riders was off the front by the final lap. I could see a lot of the teammates of these riders bunching up at the front of the pack, so decided it was time to get away while I could. There was another guy that was bridging up and I was joined by a strong Hammer kid guy as well. With 4k and the hills to go I was on the front and Hammer kid yells "let's drop these guys." I turn back and say "you ready?" and then attack off the front. Me and Hammer kid have left the other 3 off the back and take pulls until the final hill. This kid is probably 40 pounds lighter than me, so my goal at this point is to not explode and get swallowed up by the pack like the Friday at Walla Walla. The final hill wasn't too steep so I kept it in the big ring and mashed it up. I could see the pack coming up but from a safe distance - that is until Hoover started attacking. So I dug deep and gave it one last push for 2nd place. Fist pump!

And with that I've just finished eating my celebratory Pizza and Total Domination IPA (yeah that's right Osama). And I may even get to bed before 11pm. Signing off.