I raced my bike. I won. And I liked it.

So I finally gave into the pressure.  After spending the last two weeks all but strangling myself with an inner tube to get on my cross bike I allowed myself that simple pleasure the past two days.

Yesterday I spent an amazing 3 hours on the bike scoping out some new training grounds, getting used to file treads again, ripping through Forest Park and testing a beautifully glued set of fresh tubulars... only to bust my derailleur and hanger!!

RR Champs

So here's a great photo taken by Catherine Cooper.
What this shot shows:
-the size of out chase group before it shattered
-Team O had a commanding presence in the entire race (ok, so we didn't have a guy in the lead group...)
-and JLV is ready for this race to be over

What this shot doesn't show:
-I took that water bottle in the chest at about 15mph  (oww)

I'm just glad that race is over and done with

Photo dump

So it's been a while since I actually uploaded and posted any of the few pictures I've taken in the past month.  Well here's a few favorites:

this is my productivity everyday for the last 2.5 weeks of working at Acumed

early morning ride, post OBRA RR Champs

Saw this on the ride out to Vista House.  Kind of want to stop there just because of the name

The view from Vista House.  Always amazing

Pro/1/2 field at Portland Twilight Crit (I guess these guys are kind of fast)

and this is where I'm riding for the next week.

Alright, that's all for now.  Working on a report for the Rapha Gentlemans' Race; just waiting until forget about it enough to remember the good parts

picture from Tabor

ok, so this picture (yes, that red blur is me) was from a while ago (6/23) and resulted in this post from fellow racer Steve.  Still, a very good race and didn't realize that we had that big of a gap on the rest of the field.  Steve, if you're reading this you're one hell of a racer and I'm looking forward to racing with/against you in cross this year.

longest interval of my life!

So the OBRA road race championships were today.  Originally billed as a sprinters' course I knew better coming from Chad Sperry.  This is the wonderful individual who puts on death/hammer-fests such as the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic and the Cascade Cycling Classic.

I went into this race feeling awesome.  For the first time in two months my quads weren't sore, I'd eaten well and I had been sleeping incredibly.  I may have had a false sense of security but I felt like I could actually contend, probably not win but at least finish with the lead group and put in a good showing.  It was not to be.

When I showed up at the start line it was my understanding that we would be doing one large loop and one small loop.  Turns out we had to do two.  Normally this wouldn't have been bad BUT upon arrival to the staging area there was a 20 mph cross wind:  bad f***ing news for Derf.  I'm a decent climber, can hold my own in sprints and can descend fairly well but one thing I don't do well is damn cross winds!

2 weeks!

I only have 2 more weeks at Acumed, then I’m free!! (for 2 weeks until school starts…). I realized the other night just how fun, full and awesome this summer has been. At the start of the summer I was kind of apprehensive because everything seemed to be going my way and falling into place just the way I’d planned it (it’s never happened to this degree before). That said I’m sitting 2 weeks away from the end of my internship, 3 weeks from my move into school, 4 weeks from the start of school and 5 weeks from my last road race of the season. But most importantly it is only 40 days until THE FIRST CROSS RACE OF THE SEASON!! You have no idea how much this video makes me miss cyclocross. Immediately following the completion of the Eugene Celebration Stage Race I am riding my cross bike until the very moment I have to hop in a car to drive to Eugene.





Looking back on this summer I’m amazed how much (racing) I’ve managed to cram in. I joined an awesome team at the end of May and it’s been non-stop since then. Elkhorn Stage Race, Mt. Tabor Series, High Desert Omnium and Lord-knows how many PIRs; it’s been a great summer. Glancing back through results I realized that I finished top 10 in almost every race I entered. I don’t know if that means anything but I’m marking it as a successful first road season. Oh yeah, and I reached my goal of “Cat 3 by the end of the season” about 2 months early…

I guess the entire purpose of this post is a giant “thank you” to Portland, OBRA, my team, my friends who’ve put up with my insane training/racing schedule and oh yeah, my aunt and uncle who have provided me with an excellent place to stay and some incredible food. So, THANK YOU ALL!
I’m going to cut this one off but I have a bunch of material for another post: getting put on a watchlist, blackberries, and just general Portland awesome-ness but I’ll save that for another time. Until then, get outside and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts! I’m going to be pleading for rain as soon as I finish the last stage in Eugene: CROSS SEASON IS ALMOST HERE!

Sorry, one mention of a friend "Andrea," (I think that's what I called her)--the one who was on the New Orleans trip, who placed SECOND in her age group of her first triathlon.  For being a sprinter/hurdler not bad mixing it up with us endurance types!