My Bikes: For Sale (In Consignment) (In Austin, TX at Tsunami Cycles): Felt F75: $900

Purpose of this bicycle

To race, to ride, to use and abuse until it died.

Equipment

Frame & Fork:	Felt F75
Crankset:	FSA Carbon SLK
Chainring:	FSA 53/39
Stem & Handlebar:	Felt something or other
Seatpost:	3T Dorico
Pedals:	$3 pedals from a bike swap
Shifters:	Shimano Ultegra
Chain:	Shimano Ultegra
Deraileurs:	Shimano Ultegra
Brakes:	Felt Brakes
Saddle:	Good 'ol saddle from Tacoma Bike

Wheel Set:

Wheelset:	Mavic Ksyriums
Tires:	Maxxis Cormet 23c
Cassette:	Shimano 105 10 speed 25/13

Personal Stories about this bike

I find it pretty funny that the beginning and end of my ownership of this bike happened in extreme haste. In June of 2009 I had dropped off my Trek 2100 (I'll write up about that bike in a later blog post) over at Tacoma Bike expecting to pick it up for a weekend of hillclimbing out in Wenatchee. However, when I went in to the shop (at 4pm, expecting to ride out at 5pm) the mechanics informed me that the bike's headset cups are so worn out that I should just chuck that bike into a garbage can. I needed a new bike and so I picked up this Felt F75 on the spot and Tony gave me a real quick fit. Then off I was to Wenatchee. Tony gave me a stern warning to "not ride too hard" since it is good to slowly break-in the new components. I started smirking. Tony then warned me again "EEEVVAAAANNNNN!!" And then off I went to Wenatchee.

The first ride I did, I climbed all the way from Eastmont to the top of Badger Mountain. Twice. While I was descending I nearly crashed since the bike was really wobbling at 50mph. After the ride I decided to call the shop about this issue. The conversation went as follows:

Tony: "Halloo, Tacoma Bike!"
Evan: "Hey Tony, it's Evan."
Tony: "Heeeyyy Evan! So how's the new bike?"
Evan: "It's kind of unstable at 50 miles per hour."
Tony: (Speaking loud enough so that presumably whoever is at the shop can hear this) "IT'S A LITTLE UNSTABLE AT 50 MILES PER HOUR?"
Evan: "Yeah."
Tony: "Right, um... [long explanation from Tony and others about what might be the issue]"

And that first-complaint-after-getting-a-new-bike joke went on at the shop for a while.

Anywho, I did so much racing on this bike. The very first race race I did with the bike was at PIR (Pacific International Raceways). And I got in a solo-break with 3-to-go and won it by about 30 seconds. That was a big turning point in my season and I started doing great. I finished off the season placing 4th at Gig Harbor, scoring another solo win at PIR, 3rd at Franz, 4th overall at the Eugene Celebration and my first weekend win ever (in my category) at Mt Ashland.

Last season, I flew the bike down to Texas since I was going to be on an extended business trip that lasted a month total. I was so enamored with Austin that I was certain I was going to live there during the winter and ride to my heart's content, so I left the bike in the office down there. As noted in my last blog post, life caught up with me and now I'm leaning more towards building my transit technology career within Portland for the 5-years out future. So, I decided that it was time to go down to Austin and sell the bike there, of course after getting in a solid week of winter riding in Austin (look for an upcoming write-up about that in the next blog post).

Come the afternoon the day before I'm supposed to leave I still hadn't quite figured out how I was going to get rid of the bike. I learned about a few options and knew the next day was going to be a whirlwind of getting the bike ready for a sale, packing up and catching my 4:15pm flight.

At 9:20am I headed out for my final bike ride. By 10:20am I wound up at Frankenbike - a monthly bike swap that just happened to be that day. I knew I was going to take back my wheels, pedals and saddle so I was looking for those three items. With great luck, this one vendor happened to have my exact same saddle - except new, a pair of Ksyriums and cheapo pedals which I scored all for $275. I swapped out my tires and cassette from my current wheels, swapped the pedals and kept the old saddle on there and by 12:30 I had briefly cleaned up the bike. I biked up to Tsunami Cycles and they had that bike taken from me in 5 minutes flat as I ran south on Congress at 1:00pm.

I placed my lunch order at Wurst Tex and got to see my couchsurfing buddy before jumping into a car2go at 1:30pm. Then I loaded up all my remaining luggage as fast and as jam-packed as possible into the car2go from my final couchsurfing venue and set off at 1:50pm with an aim to catch the bus to the airport at 1:59pm. I drove over 12th to avoid Lamar and started throwing everything out on the ground near the bus stop at 12th and Red River at 1:58pm. And 50 seconds later the bus chauffeured me to the airport arriving there at 2:30. Done and done.

Catching Up With Life

...or is life catching up with me? It has been an interesting past few weeks. This post will catch y'all up on the latest and greatest:

Romance

Since it was just recently Valentines day and all, let's get the romantic news out of the way. And what I have to report to the world is that I guess that I am single again. Without going into details, I'll just say that there were some communication issues that caused complications in the relationship and I don't quite know who is to blame if not both. However, I think the following video summarizes my thoughts on the situation:



My Career

And onwards to my passion in life: being a slave to my job. Yes I can easily say that I like my day job to a greater extent than my bicycle racing career. There are a number of reasons and I think they are as follows:

- unlike racing, I don't have to spend money to make money and the money I do make at my job is considerably more than what I make racing.
 - unlike racing, the work that I do benefits people as opposed to crushing their dreams whenever I place better than other racers.

But perhaps I'm not fully realizing my potential as it may be if I were to start a start-up company in that I would have to sacrifice near-term earnings while I built up my business into something profitable. Hmmm. Nah. Another note to make is that I see other racers such as Eric Lagestrom and Max 'Missle' O'Neil who are young and get invited to go to these cool training camps in Southern California while the only invite I've ever gotten is to some Washington team merely because I was usually the only Guinness rider and that I may feel too lonely.

However, as it stands today, my day job is my primary funding mechanism for launching my aspiring pro-cyclist career if that is in God's will. And there was recently some uncertainty as to whether that inflow of racing money was going to continue. There was recently some uncertainty of my company being financially solvent which caused some fallout from my current company where three people I had been working with left the company. This was fairly concerning and gave me doubts about my future at that company. So I investigated whether there may be other options and I finally ended up applying, interviewing and accepting a job at TriMet - the transit agency serving the Portland area.

This is a rather huge move for me in my career. Ever since I graduated from college I have been working with the same people on mostly auto-related projects. However, my passion is transportation and within transportation my passion is basically anything but cars. Trains, bikes, planes, ships, aerial trams and buses all fascinate me. In my long-term career plans I have always promised myself that eventually I would leave the auto industry and switch to working primarily for public transit or perhaps biking. However, I thought that that would more likely occur when I was 30 after my pro-bike racing career was winding down perhaps. So, I guess that came sooner than later and now since I have pretty much landed my dream job, I think I may be officially giving up on any hopes of going pro and racing my bike everywhere. And I think that is a decision I can be confident in making.



And Bikes

So does that mean that I'm giving up on crushing all you poser-panzie-pussie-non Guinness Cycling Team-loser-racers? Absolutely not! I'm still going to bring it to you all! But in going through my rather life-changing events with women and working, I had a feeling in the back of my mind that something else bad was still going to happen. And I was correct!

Bang! Out of nowhere, or as explained through my success equation - out of bad luck and a lack of situational awareness, I hit something - I still don't know what - on Highway 26 between the Zoo and Goose Hollow at roughly 37 mph. I think that I ended up endoing over my handlebars and definitely slid for a while on my right side and worst of all bruised my knee so much that it was roughly the size of a baseball immediately afterwards. In these rare cases, I approve of the use of cars - such as the good samaritan high school kid - Cooper - who pulled over at the Goose Hollow exit and drove me back to my appartment. And later that evening, my housemate Senthil who drove me to the ER over at Legacy Good Samaratin.

The X-Rays showed no bone fracture, but I could basically not walk with my right leg. I stayed home, popped pills and iced it up for the next 3 days, but still managed to make time for 2 interviews at TriMet. I eventually did some easy easy rides, but the knee was so stiff and it didn't feel all that pleasant to ride. Then on my first attempt to do a decent ride, I was riding along and shifted down into gear 0 - the gear between the spokes and the cassette - and nearly crashed as I skidded to a stop. After yanking out the chain, two spokes were completely broken. So I just gave up and took a bus home and took it even more easy.

Unfortunately this all came during two weeks where I was supposed to be maxing out on my weightlifting and doing lots of intervals on the bike. I finally got back into the gym this week and was surprised to find that I still had some strength and even matched my previous highest squat weight so far this year. More than anything, the knee just feels tight and gets better after stretching - which I regretfully neglected for more than a week after crashing.

Waaaa :'( :'( :'''(  , life is so hard

Drama, drama, drama.  Man, I have felt like there have been more broken things in my life than there were good experiences.  It was like, first this girl I like is falling off the face of the earth, my job is ending and I got in an off-season crash to top it all off.  But on top of all that, the weather in Portland just sucks, it rains, it's cold and dark before you know it.  I really guess the moral of the story is that it is easier for things to fall apart than it is to construct a beautiful situation.

But, but, it's so hard, it's not fair, things just aren't presented to me on a golden platter, God doesn't open up the heavens and rain down mana Dave's Killer Bread.  Ok, maybe I shouldn't joke about what God can and can't do, but the point I'm trying to relate to is that accomplishing stuff is not easy - it takes work.  And at the end of the day, each person is responsible for their choice to work or not work.  Finding the motivation to ride in the nasty, cold, dreary, dark weather has been hard for me.  I am not sure how I do it sometimes, I guess I just do the working out as if it were a chore to do and just get it done.  But even then, I sometimes need a little nudge in the right direction.  For inspiration, I think the following video has really gotten me going the most this season:

Coastal Ride

Ya know what I feel like doing, I feel like writing up a short little blog post about whassup. Last weekend I managed to find my way out to the coast. There were a number of reasons why I chose to do this. Firstly, I had been analyzing the weather intensely and noting that the weather was bitterly freezing fog any and everywhere in the Willamette Valley, however it was warmish out along the coast and very warm above 2,000 feet.

I couldn't really find any flatish roads at 2,000 feet nearby to ride on, but then remembered that one of my church friends was getting a bunch of peeps together to go out to the coast this last weekend. I managed to secure a car to go out there and even got a spot on a bed in a yurt.

On day 1 I drove out there and began riding north from Beverly Beach State Park and got a little past Lincoln City and then meandered around Lincoln City trying to find a decent place to do 20 second sprints. And then I headed back for a total of 3.5 hours.

Day 2 I headed south to just past Waldport. And I got a flat in Waldport which was nice because it had a really nice view and there was this plaque I found and there was this crazy plane that looked like it might fly under the 101 bridge. And then I rode back and then I drove back.

And that was the end to my last big week of training in a cycle so rest week here I come! I'm glad I got in one final good ride with the S1 in its current state because now I get to clean off all the ocean sand as I install a standard crankset and new chain that is really needed. Sometimes I wonder how far I'm stretching my welcome with friends due to me going off on my own on these strange bike rides while everyone else is being social and looking at starfish or taking pictures of themselves jumping, but I think I'm doing ok.

Racing is just around the corner! Can you believe that the international opener was just this past weekend Down Under? Greipel and Goss are looking mighty fast.

2013

Yeah, that's right. What was I thinking, leaving this blog neglected for 2 whole months! Sheesh. It's like I've lost focus on biking or something. Perhaps the top caption would better read as: "The amount of things I take for granted..."

So, I am hoping to put a stop to all of my unproductive behavior which is primarily looking at imgur and facebook until midnight. No longer damnit!

Originally, I had this post as a draft which included the following 2013 off/pre-season goals:

1. Learn how to pee off my bike
2. Make this one biking website I've been wanting to make for a while
3. Squat 400 pounds
4. Leg Press 888 pounds
5. Consistently weigh 180 pounds
6. Spend < $400 on bike stuff (excluding coaching).
7. Sell all unnecessary bicycles and bike parts
8. Something else?

I don't think I'm doing so bad with these goals so far.  However, with #1 I could drink more fluids to force some practice. I have started on #2 FINALLY and am keeping it a secret to everyone until I complete version 1.0.  #3 and #4 are well on their way.  I have already worked my way up to 3 sets of 20 of 235 pounds squatting and am about to start really putting on more iron on that bar these coming weeks.  I've already lost 10 pounds and am hovering around 180-183 right now (watch out hillclimbers, I'm coming after you, Max Missle O'Neal and Tym Lang!).  I have already totally failed #6, I got a $100 bike light where I've lost one of the lights and the thing that put me over the top was the REI used gear sale, but in my defense, I bought a $400 trainer for $160 and a $240 Showers Pass Jacket for $80.  #7 is not going so well, I am not motivated.

And demotivated or feeling "meh" or taking things for granted is how I feel at the moment.  And I think the reason I feel that way is that nothing terrible or devasting in my life has really happened to me or perhaps if something does happen that ought to instigate a reaction like that it doesn't.  I tend to get desensitized easily I guess.  And with racing being so far away and nobody really badgering me to do my workouts I end up like I did today where I ended up not working out at all.  However, I do have a stuffy nose, so there's my defense.

BUT STILL, I feel like I need to get back on track.  So you know what, I think it's time to remind myself that I'm going to race bicycles this upcoming season.  I never really got around to doing a thorough review and lookback on my last season and in my current state of demotivated, taking things for granted, I'd have to say it went OK.  Well, maybe it was cool that I upgraded to the 2s and won 3 times in 3 states.  And perhaps it was also nice that by the time Eugene came around, my Time Trial had gotten to with 47 seconds of the best time of the day and 93 seconds ahead of my 2011 time and a full 222 (that is nearly 4 minutes) ahead of my 2010 time.  So I got faster.

So if I was that much faster, winning more races and all over the OBRA front page then where were all the ladies at?  I guess this might explain some things when I say that I've been dating a special someone since October.  I've met this gal Martina who is super sweet and encouraging of my bike racing lifestyle and she is great cook that isn't a fan of leftovers.  There are a lot of other great things about her and if I manage to rub off on her any bit maybe she'll start racing bikes too.  This New Years we went to Bend, OR and I helped teach her how to skate ski and she was a very good sport about it despite all of the falling down, I'm pretty sure she's picking it up quicker than I was.

So I'd have to say life is good right now.  Got a job, got a girl, got all my bikes, got a good family, so GAME OVER.  NOT!!!  It's really time for me to step up my game.  I do have all these things, but in the paraphrased words of a Dan Harm tweet I can't find:   confident but never content.  And with that, I'm going to remind myself of the upcoming season.  Last year I said that I wanted to race less, but still raced a lot.  Honestly I can say that I improved the most after doing very hard races, but didn't do the best after doing numerous successive so-so races.  So this year I'm really going to try to focus on tough races and skip out on the not-so-hotly-contested races. Also, at times I am favoring USAC-sanctioned races because the powers-that-be make it so a USAC Cat-1 license is not available by winning OBRA races.

2013 Schedule:

February
24: Jack Frost TT - didn't do

March
3: Dirty Circles Did Mason Lake
10: Dirty Circles or Mason Lake
+16: Heiser Farm
17: Dirty Circles - just racing around
30: IVRR

April
6-7: UW Omnium
13: Vance Creek KVRR - I'm having fun, right?
19-21: Walla Walla - Tour of Wishy Washiness
27:  Eugene Roubaix - HAHA!

May
1-5: Tour of the Gila (maybe, if I can find a good carpool/lodging buddy)
12: Banana Belt - I had it in me
18-19: Mutual of Enumclaw
26: Ski to Sea - Kids on [lactic] acid

June
1-2: Capital Stage Race - Finally some rest
8: Ballard
9: Volunteer Park
16: Rainier Road Race And back to racing
21-23: Mt Hood Cycling Classic (last ever!) Mt Hood 2013
29: Tacoma Twilight or 28-30: Baker City - family vacation in Montana

July
6: St Honoré
7: HDO: OBRA RR
13: Redmond Derby Days
14: Montinore RR
19-21: Cascade Cycling Classic - I am tempted...
28: Vancouver Crit

August
3: Franz (OBRA Crit)
4: OBRA TT
11: Bridge Pedal - wait that's not a race.
17: Giro di Portland
23-25: Eugene


September
15: Mt Ashland Hillclimb even though it's so late

October
5-6: Saw an Oregon Coast gravel ride and thought that sounded like a lot of fun! Oregon Coast Gravel Epic, Oregon Coast Fat Tire Ride & Run MTB

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!

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.