Cross Crusade Washington County Fairgrounds: I want mine

the only time I'd be with the field
(photo courtesy of Dave Roth)

While I didn't have the best legs on Sunday I had the opportunity and I was going to take it.  With the last place call up last week I got to start third row and I had my pick of exactly which fast wheel I could follow through the first lap.  After the first lap, there I was, in the top 20 and legs were opening up.  I was leading a solid group and I knew if I hung with them I'd finally be able to get that result I've been looking for.

Cross Crusade P.I.R.: Spectacular legs

Apparently a week spent at elevation and a week not riding a bike does wonders for one's fitness.  Who would have thought.

photo courtesy of Matt Haughey

Today's race was awesome, except for a few mishaps I rode a perfect races.  That is if you don't count the last place call up, thrown chain, crash and subsequent bent shifter and thrown chain.  Oh, and the flat on the last lap.  Don't count that one either.  Yep, first time I've ever flatted during a race, either road or cx.  Well, I guess it has to happen sometime.

Rapha Focus GP

I was bouncing off the walls after Saturday's race.  At post-race
dinner the waitress made the mistake of giving me crayons...

I woke up Sunday morning and thought one thing, "ouch."  I knew Starcrossed was going to be a tough race and I knew that doing back-to-back races isn't easy but somehow I never imagined that I would be quite this sore.  I blame it on the sand.  And Belgians.

Today I kind of sucked

(photo courtesy of "richtheneighbor")

So, first cross race of the season and I kind of screwed up.  While I wasn't looking for or expecting a spectacular result I wanted to go out, get dirty and have some fun. Well, I definitely got dirty; fun is questionable.

(another) new bike

So remember the picture below and how I described myself as "cracked out of my mind"?

If you're gonna bonk, do it right.

I would like to start with noting that I've never really bonked before, I've had rides where I've gotten tired or just haven't been feeling it and been on the edges of a bonk but never really bonked hard.  Take for example the last time I rode Pumpkin Ridge (65 miles or so) near the start of base miles.  It was one of my first rides back and I probably should have started with something a little shorter/easier but it seemed like a good idea at the time.  The last 10 miles up Thompson were rough; gear-grinding, teeth-clenched and then I got passed by a couple of 60-year olds...  Regardless, at the top I caught my second wind and made it back just fine.  Not today.

I rode awesome today

Cross Crusade #4--PIR.

This race was the event of my first win (in the lowly Cs) last year and the course is always fast with an ample amount of mud mixed in so I was definitely looking forward to this race.

weekend race report.

this is only 1/4 mile into the race...
you couldn't see my skin at the end
(photo credit:  Matt Haughey)

I'm going to make this short because not a whole lot happened.

Raced Heiser Farms CX.  Molly Cameron showed up with her entourage.  First race with a B bike and switched to it  after 3/4 lap and rode it the rest of the race.  Ok, with the exception of power sliding the majority of the course, almost falling down a dropoff and oh yeah, when I finally broke the derailleur and hanger AGAIN.  I was in 4th until that s*** happened.  Ended up running/walking/slogging the last 3/4 mile surprisingly only losing 2 places.  Oh, and I finished in the money at 6th!  Hey, pays for gas money!

After coming home sore bloody and with a broken bike I wasn't too psyched about racing Sunday.  That was further reinforced when I woke up Sunday morning and saw the sky tear in half and an ocean pour down on us.  I wasn't feeling like slogging through another mud pit and potentially breaking even more stuff so I stayed home and did homework for 13 hours...

One note:  a special thanks to Jim for driving, cheering, holding bikes and being "that spectator" with his new airhorn.  Thanks Jim!

first "real" A race

1500 racers.  Alpenrose Dairy.  Cross Crusade #1.  Holy crap.

(photo credit:  PDX Cross)

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').

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.

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.

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.

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!

High Desert Omnium Road Race (and entire weekend) report

Ok, the road race was yet another road race.  We rode.  Some Bend d-bags attacked, chased their teammates down and then weren't willing to pull anywhere.  The group stayed together for the most part courtesy of lots of disorganization in part of the local racers.  Teammate Pat G went out and did some good work in a break but again, no one was working together so that came back together.  Not really a whole lot memorable about the race.  Someone was screaming because we "attacked" through the feed zone (instead of slowing to 10 mph several of us simply moved to the outside of the lane and coasted by).  Other than that, fairly uneventful.  Leading into the final 5 miles teammates Alex C and Pat G tried to get a leadout going for me but we were all pretty spent so that fell apart with about 1K to go.  Still, ended up sitting on just the right wheel and was able to dig deep to pull out a 3rd in the field sprint, good for 4th overall.  Top 5!  Heck yes, I get cash.  Overall, good race but legs never really seemed to click until about 5 miles to go.

High Desert Omnium Time Trial

Screw time trials!  Sitting at dinner and looking out at the wind I knew the race would be bad but I had no idea of how bad.  Going into the course I hadn’t seen the elevation profile but I’d heard stories:  enough elevation to make your life hell but not enough to classify it as an “uphill” time trial.  Add a 20 mph crosswind to that and you have a brutal TT course. 

High Desert Omnium Crit

This race reinforced why I don’t like crits:  too fast, hard to maintain position and s*** goes down REALLY fast.  Even as I was warming up I was asking myself why I signed up for the entire omnium, rather than just the road race (the only event I really care about here).  Then again, there’s the “go big or go home” attitude so if there’s 3 events by God I’m going to compete in all of them. 

Sometimes you have to race smarter rather than harder

Last night was the first time I actually thought about where I needed to be before going in to the final sprint. I know this seems like old-hat for most people but last night I realized that the little things all added up, especially at a race like Mt. Tabor. Instead of just climbing up the hill, diving for the corner and hanging on to a wheel I noticed that if I took the outside line and downshifted before I was at the top of the hill I could easily make up 6 places. Similarly, by taking the outside line (and running over a snake on one lap) I maintained position better and it was safer because I didn’t have the typical inside cornering slow down. Like I said, all these little things added up.

Oh, one other thing. It was over 90 degrees when we started our race. This was the first day it had actually been “hot” in Portland so I wasn’t completely acclimated to the heat yet. Typically, I don’t drink any water but after one lap my tongue was tuck to the roof of my mouth so I reconsidered.

Overall, nothing new or unusual to report. A break ended up getting away on the last prime and I didn’t even know they were there but I suspected it because skinny little Veloshop kid wasn’t around. As for the finish, I don’t think I could have planned it better myself. Descending on the last lap I was sitting halfway back in the field but took the outside line and was able to coast all the way to the front, starting the climb about 5th wheel. Learning from previous weeks I knew I didn’t have what it took to attack from the base of the climb so I sat in as a couple Gentle Lovers guys pulled me up. One by one people started peeling off, almost like it was a lead-out train just for me. Before the last bend I jumped. Took the inside corner (and pinched off a racer—oops, then again, it’s the leader’s course) and drilled it to the finish. Came in 6th overall but won the field sprint in my second Cat 3 race so I’m counting it as a win in my book.

Up this weekend: High Desert Omnium in Bend.