first A race

Battle at Barlow.

A little history from last year:  I raced C and broke a chain halfway through Lap 2.  I went into this race with two goals:  1)  don't get completely thrashed; 2)  finish the race (no mechanicals)

I didn't really meet either of those goals.  Busted my derailleur hanger 52 minutes in--I was leading Chris Sheppard, eventual race winner, by 100 meters.  And by leading by 100 meters I mean 1.5 miles behind...    The course was sloppy, I couldn't get traction, I didn't run through my routine beforehand, but no excuses, I didn't ride the race I should have.  Below are a few pictures from the race  (click 'more').

called out

so I just got called out on OBRA Chat.  Keep in mind, I already got an email from Candi so I was planning on upgrading anyway.  Regardless:

To:  OBRA List
From:  Jeff L
Subject:  Early Season 'Cross Points Series
Message:

I learned several things while compiling this data:
1. Always show appreciation to the judges, particularly the ones who have been around long enough to have a lot of experience with manual data entry.
2. There is a three-way tie for first in the Women's Cat B series.
3. Alex Wentz (Cat B) and Geoff Rice (Master Cat B) need to upgrade.

When you find errors in this, and I'm sure you will, please let me know politely. This information is not linked to any OBRA database. I manually entered every name and result for each race, for all 16 categories.

Some of these competitions are still very close. Should make for some great racing at Barlow! Remember, the top three from each category will receive a call-up at the Alpenrose Crusade!

And special thanks to everyone who made it to the Hood River Double Cross. We had 780 racers over the weekend, an increase of about 150 over last year!

 Jeff L

--End Message--

I knew I was due for the upgrade and I have no problem getting thrashed in the As but i wasn't expecting such a public callout.  In my defense, I've only raced 6 B races!

Rapha Gentleman's Race: revisited

So enough time has finally passed that I have forgotten the hell we all went through on August 14th.  That said, the video and picture below bring all of it back.  Maybe it's time to put this memory on the shelf for a while.  In the mean time, enjoy the video below.


2010 NW Gentlemen's Race from RAPHA on Vimeo.


For photos please see the race website and look at the 'feature menu' on the left.

Yes, I had an amazing time on that hot, hellish day but I'm very glad it's over and not coming around for another 11 months.

"the email"

Crap, it finally arrived.

To:  alex -----
From:  Candi ------
Subject:  Ccx Category
Message:
Alex

You are going to have to cat up. The guidelines are 3 top 3 or 5 top 5s

Candi 

--End message--

Well crap, the call has finally arrived and it's way too early.  My goal for this season was "Cat A by the end of the season"  NOT 3 weeks into the season!  

oh well, looks like it's time to go play with the big boys.  And by that I mean try and finish on the same lap as this dude.  I'll let you know how my a**-kicking goes at Alpenrose 

photo credit:  Oregon Cycling Action

Ya win some, ya lose some.

Hood River Double Cross:  two days of racing, two chances to win.

terrible picture of me but you get the point
(Photo credit: Katie Doyle)

I rode with Stephen, one of my UP teammates, out to the races this past weekend, meaning getting up way to early to race on a course while the officials are still putting up all the barriers.  While the idea of hanging out for 6 hours before my race didn't sound like a bunch of fun at the time I found a way to make it fun:  be the most obnoxious spectator out there.  No one comes out for the morning races so I had some making up to do.  Let's just say I laid down some Cross Crusade-quality heckling.  Making fun of skinny guys, people on $6k carbon setups in the beginner race and cheering my a** off for every person on a mountain bike getting thrashed by the field.  Hell, I had a ton of fun and I still hadn't even raced yet.  Alright, I'll get on with it.

More Pain on the Peak pictures

The photos below are courtesy of Christian Reed

on the start line
(photo credit to Christian Reed)

all pumped up and going nowhere
(photo credit to Christian Reed)

No Cross Over Stage Race... Pain on the Peak instead

So a little bit of whining first.  Ever since I heard about the Cross Over Stage Race (a 3 stage cyclocross race in Eugene) last year I knew I wanted to do it.  When planning my CX racing schedule I made sure that event was at the forefront of the calendar.  It also worked out nicely that it would be my first 'cross race of the season and while I may not win it the idea of that type of racing really intrigued me.  Until Thursday evening.  I checked my email around 10:15 Thursday evening and found an email time-stamped 10:01.  "CROSSOVER postponed" it read.  Turns out there are supposedly 7 construction projects going on the at the race location this weekend.  Isn't it the promoters job to prevent this kind of thing from happening.  And do you usually let people know more than 36 hours before the first field takes off?!?

most of us didn't realize how
fitting this name would be

Eugene Celebration Road Race

Today offered a slight bit of redemption after thinking I completely blew (please excuse the vulgar, yet descriptive language) in the prologue yesterday.  When I checked my time at the sign-in today I realize I'd ridden a 12:34 instead of 12:55 in the prologue yesterday.  Still quite a ways off my goal, yet it put me in 16th instead of 30th out of 40 or so riders.  While I was excited about the result, it meant I actually had to do work the rest of this race.  That said, it's still an end-of-the-season stage race and I can't make up the time needed in the time trial tomorrow to pull out a good result.  With that in mind, today was my chance to do something.

Eugene Celebration Prologue

I am so over road racing.  I should have known better than to have raced the dirt crit at Kruger's last weekend.  While it was awesome to get back on the cross bike again it made me totally check out from road racing.  It's been a long season and I've been racing essentially non-stop since mid-February, I'm ready for a change.  With that said, here's a look at today's prologue for Eugene Celebration:

It sucked.  This prologue was a short (5k), yet steep, oh, and it sucked.  This morning I was 3 lbs under my average weight and my legs were feeling awesome.  That feeling didn't quite carry over to the race.

I felt awesome the first half of the race but blew up around mile 1.5.  I caught my 30-second man about a mile into the race but knew I was in bad shape.  the last half of the race was pure, sweet suffering.  I was aiming for a time right around 12 minutes but wound up with ~12:50.  Long story short, the rest of this race is going to be used helping my teammates and training for cross.

Here's a look at the data from the race.  800 feet of climbing in under 3 miles.  Average speed:  slow.

Cycling, it's been a year

Cyclocross training
 in April 2009-terrible
 form and all
(photo credit: Stephen Street)

Today marks my one year anniversary of my first bike race.

When I started training seriously in May 2009 I really had no clue what I was getting myself into but I knew cycling was something that I enjoyed and would hopefully satisfy my longing to be competitive once again.  Little did I know that it would take hold of me and transform me into (what I hope has been) a better person.

During tonight's race at PIR I began thinking that exactly one year ago I was being pulled around in the 4/5 race and just holding on for dear life.  Here I was a year later in the 1/2/3 race putting in attacks, blocking for a teammate up the road and racing alongside some of the best amateur racers in the nation.  Ok, enough blabbering, here's a look back at some of the past year's highlights: (after the break)