The circuit race at PIR went pretty well. I recently got my upgrade to Cat 4 so I decided to race in the combined Cat 3/4 race. I knew I had very little chance of placing but given the upcoming schedule I wanted to get a good workout in. I met with one of my friends on the Ironclad team before the race and he gave me some interesting advice "go out and do something crazy and stupid, if you feel like attacking off the front, go for it. Remember PIR is just one giant playground." Well, I took his advice. I didn't do anythign really stupid but instead of just sitting in the pack and hoping for an opportunity to present itself I made a few opportunities. I moved to the front and ended up pushing the pace for a few laps. No, I didn't win any of the primes but coming into the last lap I was in a perfect position, right off the front with the pack forming into the desired hourglass shape. Of course, at that moment our field got neutralized, allowing the Pro/1/2 race to pass us. Unfortunately, this meant that our race was able to regroup and recover for half a lap. When we resumed racing I immediately went from about 5th wheel to 30th. This essentially blew my hope of finishing well. Long story short, I didn't get the hole I needed in the field sprint and came in 19th. Overall, it wasn't a bad race but I was disappointed that we got neutralized when we did because I feel like I could have done better (oh wait, that's always the case).
My next race was a criterium in Hood River. This race was Thursday night and just happened to by on our way back to Walla Walla. The picture on the right is from the crit. I know it's not the best but it gives you an idea of the conditions, wet, really windy and small fields. I went into this race with one goal: don't crash. I got a great start, so good that I looked back after the first corner and I was already about 20m up on the pack. Instead of waiting for the pack to catch up and absorb me I decided to test my time trialing abilities. Turns out I don't have many. I kind of let myself get caught at the third lap without contesting the prime. For the rest of the race I just sat in the pack and waited for the sprint. I was able to pull out an 8th place finish. All in all, I didn't feel the greatest about this race but it's a completely new style of racing to me. As my Ironclad friend described it "sprint to the corner, slam on the brakes, hope you don't crash and sprint to the next corner..." I'll stick with road racing, it gives me more room to wear people out.
Race #3 was the Missionary Omnium Road Race in Walla Walla. The picture on the left was taken right after the race. As you can see the weather was actually fairly decent. When we started racing the temps were in the high 30s but ended up reaching the mid-50s by the finish. This course wasn't really suited to my strengths. There was some climbing but it was really spaced out at weird intervals so if I managed to break away on the climb I'd get caught on the downhill or stuck off the front being blasted by a headwind. For this race I took the pansy approach of "sit in the pack and let other people do the work" and I did just that. I think I was only off the front for less than a minute the entire race. I let people drag me up the hills and just sucked on people's wheels the entire race. I have to admit that I really didn't do any work at all (so this is what it feels like to be a sprinter...). My major mistake was letting people pass me with 1km to go. I went from about 10th place to almost 30th. It seemed like no matter how aggressive I was people were still slipping ahead of me. With about 500m to go I found a little slot on the right and hammered for it. The sprint opened up with about 200m to go and we were off. I fought through a lot of people but just didn't have the time or space to really open up. I wound up with 5th on the day. In the end, not bad but given a better position in the final 500m I could have been top 3 for sure.
Sunday was my day of domination. I was really afraid of the course chosen for the circuit race because there was a 90 degree corner at the bottom of a fairly steep hill with a narrow road. I arrived at the course thinking that I'd just take it easy and use the race as a hard practice. Of course, once I looked at the corner and was able to rationalize taking it at 30mph I decided to go for it. Now a little bit of information about this course, it was 3.1 miles with one incredibly steep uphill, followed by a fairly steep downhill and a sharp corner. The finish was located at the crest of the hill. We were scheduled to do 4 laps with primes on laps 2 and 3. When he hit the hill the first time it seemed like the entire field got hit by a 20mph headwind, only there wasn't one. I took it easy up the hill while everyone around me struggled. Realizing this my strategy began to take shape. Heading into lap 2 I positioned myself about 10 wheels back heading into the corner to head up the hill. Unfortunately I got stuck on the inside so I jumped a little late. I wasn't going to try and contest the prime but once I realized I had a chance I took off.
A UW guy and I ended up opening a gap so it was down to the two of us. I sucked in behind him hoping I could jump out at the last moment and grab the win. Well, I jumped to his left and came charging up to the line, just in time to execute a truly awesome bike throw, only to get second by half a tire width (according to the camera). I thought I got him but either way, I snatched some points. The picture to the right shows the gap we'd opened up fighting for the prime points. After that I just sat in the field. I had no interest of fighting for the third lap prime because my legs wouldn't have been able to respond. A funny thing happened the last lap though (which worked out amazingly for me). With about a mile or so before the turn up the hill the peleton dropped about 3mph. Now this isn't a lot but enough that I was able to sit up, recover and position myself for the finish. With about 1/4 mile until the turn I situated myself on the left hand side of the road about 15 wheels back. I would have liked to have been a little higher up but it just comes back to me needing to be more aggressive maintaining position. Anyways, from the corner to the finish line the course was closed on the last lap. This played into my plan perfectly. I took the corner wide and began my attack up the hill. I moved fairly quickly through the first 10 riders then looked up to see a Whitman guy opening a gap off the front. "Hell no, not today Whittie" ran through my brain and I took off. 
Ok, I'm not trying to be self-grandizing or show-off-ish but I rocked the s*** out of that finish. I ended up winning by over 20m (maybe 30, I don't know) and blew apart the field. Oh yeah, and when I crossed the finish line I was on the verge of tears, my legs were shrieking at me and I felt like I was having an asthma attack. Honestly, I would believe it if I didn't breathe at all the last 5 seconds before the finish line by the way I was sucking air in after the finish. So, good race. 2nd in the prime and took the overall win. A lot of my friends were really psyched about the win but I was happier with the workout I got and the mental toughness I had, rather than the end result. Granted, the win was nice, I'm not going to discount that.All in all, a great streak of racing and I'm interested to see how it goes out at PIR tomorrow night. Again, sorry, I know these are really text heavy without too many pictures, I'm going to work on that.
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