new kits and Banana Belt 1

Alright, Team Oregon.  I know you created a huge stir back in the winter when you presented the new kit design without even informing anyone it was in the works.  Also, I thought it was one of the ugliest designs I'd ever seen.  That said, I would like to change my opinion and state that the new design is pretty freaking sweet!  I thought I'd miss the red-orange but this new grey-scheme is pretty sharp (see below).

a teammate modeling the new kit
(courtesy of Oregon Cycling Action)

Banana Belt 1 marked the first race in the new kits and with the return of decent weather we were looking to throw down.  Again, great plans of mice and men...

As a team I feel that we rode well.  Individually, holy crap, I worked hard.  One teammate (WL) threw a chain during the second lap (about 25 miles into a 44 miles race).  One other teammate (JB) and I waited for WL to get it fixed but after 30+ seconds of messing with it he couldn't get it to stick--he told us to go.  And the chase began...  JB knew his job was to get me back to the field with the least amount of energy on my part as I was the leadout for a birthday-boy that race.  We chased, and we chased.  After 6 minutes or so JB blew.  Hard.  As I went to take my pull I looked over my shoulder and knew he was done for.  While I wanted to wait and pull him back I knew we'd never make it.  JB, if you read this, thank you.  You worked your ass off for me and I don't forget that easily.

Then I was solo.  Pounding, mashing and spinning my legs as fast as I could, doing anything to distract myself from looking at heart rate or power readings which were way beyond 'safe' levels.  Hammer, hammer, hammer.  Flying up hills and ripping down the back side.  Past the neutralized women's field and finally, the tail end of my field.  One last surge and I was on.  Looking back at the data: a 12 minute TT above redline and way too much time in Power Zone 6.  But hey, it gave some awesome numbers to look at later.

another sweet shot of one of our riders
(courtesy of Oregon Cycling Action)

I was cooked.  I spent the next lap and a half eating, drinking and recovering as best I could to lead out birthday-boy.  Then the s***-hit the fan, again.  We were set up just about perfectly headed into the final 500m when someone slammed into me from the right, hard.  500m from the line my left cleat is unclipped, just awesome.  I frantically jam it in and prepare to mix it up with the sprinters.  Somehow we wound up on the right hand side of the field and I drag b-boy up the shoulder and get ready to dump him on he-man sprinter's wheel.  Then I look up and see it.  Less than 100m from our finish line there's a women's field, a follow car and to top it all off, a truck hauling a boat trailer.  B-boy doesn't see this because the sprint has already opened up and he's waiting for the slightest lull in my pace to come off and sprint.

Long story short:  I yell "go right!" The truck see people coming around on the left, it moves right, we're on the right hand side, it sees us and stops, leaving about 2 feet of clear road, I squeeze by but b-boy gets trapped behind a blown rider, I jump left, dodge the follow car and random women scattered about the road and sprint to 7th.  Definitely not the ideal situation but we made do with what he had.

I've played this situation over and over in my head and I still think we made the right choice.  While we didn't get the win like we were aiming for we had a good plan and executed well but an unforeseen set of circumstances arose and we were forced to compromise.  Overall, I'll take a safe finish and moderate place over and win and huge pileup any day.

Stay safe out there racers and good job to all of you who kept your head up and avoided a disaster there.