Going to the Capitol Crit in Salem, OR, we were rained and snowed on, so weren’t sure who would be at the race. It turns out it was all the fast people that would be willing to race in a snow storm. The course was around the Oregon State Capitol building, 4 corners, fast, wide open streets, and even some broken pavement and potholes.
The race was fast from the start. There was always an attack, or always a break. I was in a few of them, and sometimes went solo. The legs were there so even as hard as the race was, I felt good. After me a Land Rover guy attacked and were brought back in, the field punched it, and we were left hanging on to the back for 2 laps. While I was recovering, riders started going off the front 1 by 1 and eventually they grouped up to form another chase group. With 10 laps to go I charged off the front by myself to bridge up to the chase group. I shut down their gap of 30 seconds in 4 laps, but had to go through hell to get there. Coming out of the last corner, a 3 man break was still away, but the sprint out of group was going to be crazy. Land Rover was leading it out, but I nipped everyone on the corner. I ended up getting 4th in the field sprint and 7th in the race. It was a good day, one where I actually raced in the sun and not the snow.
April 7, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Does anyone have a spare chain catcher?
San Dimas stage race was defined by a simple dropped chain. First stage was a simple uphill time trial, which
I spent deep in the pain cave. 4 miles up Glendora Mountain was plenty hard, but I finished 59th out of 118, not bad for my third race of the year. The rest of the
team finished in a similar time.
It’s really hot in LA, especially for an Oregonian used to 50 degrees and cloudy. 80′s and direct sun is quite a bit different. Going into the road race the team’s goal was for me to get into a break and win some King of the Mountain Points and the Jersey, but the best laid plans mean nothing during a race Eamon Lucas, James LaBerge and I all carried out the plan for the first couple laps of the race. We stayed at the front, I claimed third in a KOM sprint, we all attacked, we all were brought back, oh and I dropped my chain on the base of the KOM climb. Welcome to the pain cave. I went from top 30 to the back, jumping off my bike, throwing the chain back on, climbing on the bike, and chasing like a madman to regain contact. However luck was not on my side; that lap was a sprint lap, so the group charged down the hill, and sped to the hot lap sprint. Meanwhile, I put my head down and chased by myself for a lap. Then I caught some other riders off the back, and we grouped up to chase together.
Now remember the heat. People started to pop; I started to break. On the 5th lap of chasing my body gave up. I couldn’t drink enough water. I couldn’t handle heat. I was broken. I started dry heaving, but there was nothing there. I feeblely finished. 17 minutes down, but still I finished. Unfortunately, not inside the time cut. I guess there is a first time for everything.
The next day was a crit, one that I had traveled 2000 miles to end up spectating. While this was not the choice situation, I had to live with it. Luckily James and Eamon created something worth watching. Those two controlled the Cat 2 race. Eamon gave a great lead out, and James claimed second place, while Eamon captured fourth place. I wish I could have raced so badly. It sucks to watch a race you should be part of, especially over something as dumb as a little dropped chain.
As much as I lament on my misfortune, the weekend was really fun. Spending time with the team is tons of fun. Doing dumb stuff like jumping in the pool in full kit after a hard race never gets old. Road trips where giggling passes the miles are always great. Riding an amazing Specialized Tarmac SL2 never hurts either.
Related, story my teammate Marcus Smith won the Cat 3 road race, in a fantastic two up sprint with the pack charging behind them.
March 22, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Spring is in the air, but its February. This weekend I made my galiant return to racing after a great cross season. It’s always weird to get used to the line at the porta-potties and their distinct smells.
The Banana Belt race series was cold and wet last year. However today was a different story. Mid 40 degree temps, low clouds, some sun breaks, dry pavement, and a still Hagg lake. I even saw my shadow. It was a really good day for the nice white
Specialized kit.
The Pro 1/2 race went off just fine, as we set out on 5 laps of the 11 mile course. It’s weird how quickly racing comes back. The reactions to he group, and attacking. It’s all so automatic. The bigger teams set out to make every roller hard. Land Rover-Orbea always had someone up the road. I got in a few breaks, but nothing ever stuck. My legs felt the familiar burn as we crested each roller. My lungs were another story. I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat, and I think I’m catching something. Nevertheless I felt good.
On the final lap attacks came and went, as I tried to line myself up for the eventual sprint. But coming onto the dam some lady was in the middle of the road, and caused a pile up that I was stuck behind. I stayed mostly upright, but still had to unclip and deal with bikes in the way. I saw any hope of a good finish ride away with the rest of the group. So I ended riding back with an old friend on Land Rover to claim some spot at the back. Great. Perhaps next week a crash won’t rain on my parade, instead it will just rain.
March 1, 2010 at 12:51 am
Taking time off and not riding is awesome, especially when it’s cold and dark out all the time. I haven’t really gotten fat, but it certainly feels like it. I’m stoked to start back up again for road season, it should be a good time.
December 29, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Oh man it’s all over, but what a race. The course Brad Ross and the rest of the Cyclocross Crusaders set up was absolutely amazing; it threw a little bit of everything at you mud, ice, twisty off cambers, sharp drops and punchy hills.
My race started just as the course started to thaw, so we faced a good amount of mud. Before the race, Joe, the Redline Team mechanic, tuned my bikes so I could put them through the ringer. I ran Challenge Fangos at about 28 psi. Everything was working great up until the first corner of the race when, somebody shoved me into a course marker as I was taking the outside line trying to out fox everyone.
I picked up my bike, wrenched the other guy’s leg out of it, rode to the pit with crooked bars, and swapped to the spare Redline Conquest. Tim Rutledge made the handoff and did what every good Team Director does, and told me to get going; being in last place, I really had to. Within the first lap I had caught about 7 people.
The rest of the race I dug deeper into the pain cave, catching more people. The new TRP Euro X brakes worked great as I sprinted out of each corner and braked hard into the next, just barely grazing the course tape as I did.
In every corner I could feel the Fangos start to roll off, or I could feel rocks hitting the Dura Ace wheels. I fully expected to crack the wheels, I hit them so many times; but they are strong. Later on Kristi Berg and Ryan Iddings did the exact same thing and the wheels are still straight and strong.
In the end I rode up to 7th place, just 5 seconds off of 5th place. It would have been great if I didn’t crash and if I didn’t have to catch people, but that’s ‘cross for ya. Luckily its only 9 more months until we can race cross again.
December 15, 2009 at 1:50 am
This weekend went well.
Saturday I went to the local race at Camp Harlow. It was really muddy and really fun. Racing single speed was great for my skills (skillz?) especially in the mud. I drifted through some of the turns just on the edge of safe, but kept it upright.
Sunday the Crusade at Sherwood went well. I got a good warm up and was able to get in 2 laps of the course. I started towards the middle-back, but was able to move up in the very start. The course had 2 long gradual bumpy climbs I could power up; I gained 1-2 positions per lap on them. Then it had a really steep climb on gravel, other people blew up but I could maintain a good pace and passed 2-3 people per lap on it. In the end I got 23rd. I have been feeling better and better; I hope to keep getting better and better results.
October 20, 2009 at 1:17 am
Ah it is finally here. Cyclocross.
I am officially riding for Team Redline. My Conquest Team was put to the test this weekend with the Crossover stage race here in Eugene.
The only race that went well was the time trial, I got third, 9 seconds from first and 4seconds back from Pro Molly Cameron.
Later that day was the criterium, it sucked. Ten minutes before the start I decided to use slick 28c tires; this was a great decision, even Molly thought so. It just so happens that 5 minutes into a 60 minute race it started to rain. Now the dirt that was picked up through out the day by racers tires an deposited on a off camber corner turned to mud. 5 minute into the race I crashed on that corner, and I had to suffer through the next 50 minutes. Real fun. Luckily an awesome Veloshop guy picked me up and put me back together after I crashed. My parents helped me switch bikes to gruel out the time.
My hip/butt was torn up, and was heavily bruised. Lots of fun to sleep and bike on.
For the long cross race, it was decided that we would only race 60 minutes. Only and running and bumpy terrain hurt to ride on which is good because it is only about 2/3 of the race.
The race was bad ,the bike was good. I’ll live to fight another day.
Ah it is finally here. Cyclocross.
I am officially riding for Team Redline. My Conquest Team bike was put to the test this weekend with the Crossover stage race here in Eugene.
The only race that went well was the time trial. I got third, 9 seconds from first and 4 seconds back from Pro Molly Cameron.
Later that day was the cyclocross criterium, it sucked. Ten minutes before the start I decided to use slick 28c tires; this was a great decision, even Molly thought so. It just so happens that 5 minutes into a 60 minute race it started to rain, and those tires turned out to be not so great. Now the dirt that was picked up through out the day by racers’ tires and deposited on an off camber corner turned to mud. 5 minutes into the race I crashed on that corner, and I had to suffer with my injuries through the next 50 minutes of the race. Real fun. Luckily an awesome Veloshop guy picked me up and put me back together after I crashed. My parents helped me switch bikes to gruel out the time.
My hip/butt was torn up, and was heavily bruised. Lots of fun to sleep and bike on.
For the long cross race, it was decided that we would only race 60 minutes. Only running and riding bumpy terrain hurt to ride but that was about 2/3 of the course.
The race was bad ,the bike was good. I’ll live to fight another day.
September 9, 2009 at 4:28 am
Last night I won the last Twilight Crit of the summer. I started a break, and won the prime. The break stayed away for the whole second half of the race. When it came down to a sprint I had the legs to out-kick my companions to take my first win in the 1/2/3 Crit.
August 26, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Nationals
The last and biggest race of the year was in Bend. For me, the road season is over now and I’m excited for my cross season to begin. In short we had great races, and were the strongest team there.
I got to Bend a few days early to ride the courses and acclimatize. Meanwhile the Cascade Classic race was finishing up; we got a chance to watch the Pro crit. Ivan Dominguez hit 44 mph in the final sprint! We also got in a picture with him that was posted to CycleTo.
The last and biggest race of the year was in Bend. For me, the road season is over now and I’m excited for my cross season to begin. In short we had great races, and were the strongest team there.
I got to Bend a few days early to ride the courses and acclimatize. Meanwhile the Cascade Classic race was finishing up; we got a chance to watch the Pro crit. Ivan Dominguez hit 44 mph in the final sprint! We also got in a picture with him that was posted to CycleTo.
Look at those geeks in the background.
Then came the road race, 4 laps on the Aubrey Butte Circuit Race course, 68 miles. I had bad luck on the feed zone climb on the first and last lap. People crashed right in front of me, I was at the front and people basically fell over. That doesn’t happen in bike racing; when you’re at the front, you don’t crash plain and simple. Early in the race Max Durtschi attacked and got away. He looked at me and said, “hey slow it down,” I looked at him like an idiot and said “huh.” Max proceeded to ride away while the rest of the CMG team kept control of the race, and no one got off the front. Max ended up winning it while I had people crash in front of me when people attacked on the feed zone climb. I had to chase back on with a group that should have gotten dropped, but sat on my wheel to get back to the peleton. I caught back on at the bottom of the steepest part of the course. Marshal and I finished at the back of the 40 man group, but our teammate won so I felt OK about finishing in the pack, knowing that we had helped Max become the National Champion.
I don’t want to talk about the time trial. I felt bad, I was ready for time off, my bike didn’t feel right.
The criterium was another story, here I got my best result at 15th. Oh and Max won again. All four corners of the course were sketchy, either full of pot holes, too narrow, made of bricks, or off camber; I could feel the back wheel slipping out way to much to be comfortable. Right away the race started off hard. It was the standard attack, get caught, recover, repeat.
Doing Work
Until Durtschi went off the front with 15 laps to go. Then it was the cover attacks routine, and again it worked, and again Max won. Having good position in the final corner gave me 15th place. I sat in for the sprint, just riding into the finish, yet still passing people. I found out later that my seat had slipped an inch down from all the choppy corners.
Attacking
Overall, I was proud of how our team worked so well together. The experience showed me how a team that fits together can really bring in the results.
Now, with the road season over, I’m actively looking for a place on a junior road team that I can do work for in 2010.
Now comes cyclocross, and all the fun that comes with it.
August 12, 2009 at 10:32 pm
To fly to Kentucky I borrowed a bike box ( it shall remain nameless) that was heavy, too heavy, $90 overweight charge heavy.
Really Airlines–$265 to get the box on the plane? The thing weighed only 66 pounds.
Now I am searching for the bike box, the one to rule them all, the one that can roll and be light enough to get on the plane for cheap. After all I need to take 2 bikes with me for Cross racing.
August 7, 2009 at 6:07 pm
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