Back to Oregon for some crazy bananas

all that really needs to be said about Sunday
photo courtesy of Oregon Cycling Action

After spending the past few weeks racing up in Washington we brought it back south to race the third Banana Belt, which just happened to be the first race in the Oregon Cup series.  We didn't really have any plans for either series, we were just there to race as a team and see what we could come away with.

The plan was simple, keep the race together for the first two (of seven) laps and then start putting people up the road.  Kolben, Eli and I covered the early moves which essentially turned into a group ride.  I'm not sure if it was the presence of 8 Team Oregon riders in a 33 rider field or just the favorites marking each other.

Mason Lake: Round II

This post will be a little short and you'll see why in a minute.

My race yesterday can best be described as this:  you need to have bad days in order to have good days.  As you can guess, it wasn't a good day.  I'm not going to dwell on the negative or make excuses.  I knew where I was physically and mentally and I knew what I could and couldn't do.  It's been a long time since I didn't listen to my body but I did exactly that yesterday.  I ignored all the little warning signs.

Took a trip up north to Mason Lake

Instead of riding in aimless circles around Hagg Lake this past weekend five of us hopped in the van and headed up north to ride in aimless, faster circles around Mason Lake.


And ride we did.  As with any race there are always attacks.  For example's sake let's just say that the field is represented as a block of concrete and each attack is a hammer hitting the concrete.  Hit the concrete enough and something will eventually fracture off, allowing the break to go up the road.  That is every other race.  Yesterday it felt like people were using hand grenades, not hammers.

Reflections on road racing

After re-reading yesterday's post about the Keller Rohrback/Eatonville Circuit race I realize that I came off like I knew what I was doing and that everything went exactly as we'd planned it.

yesterday's hard man (Adam E.) finishing in the snow
(photo courtesy of Catherine Cooper)

Let me tell you, when I came across that line ahead of the field, and in fifth place no less, I was as surprised as anyone.  I'd always been the racer that would throw in a few halfhearted attacks, yet always be content with sitting in the field and letting someone else go off the front.  In the lower categories I could get away with this because teams never really worked together (or understood the tactics of team racing) and I was smart, and strong, enough to get myself into a "good enough" spot for the finish.

Keller Rohrback/Eatonville Circuit Race

Instead of doing the equivalent of slamming our head against a wall and racing the Jack Frost TT six of us traveled up to Eatonville to race Washington's season opener, the Keller Rohrback Circuit Race.  The forecast predicted 39* with 3" of snow on the way.

Almost every one of us admitted to being willing to pull the plug on the race, none of wanted to be "that guy" so there we were, racing.

6.5ish mile circuit, 8 laps, one big-ring climb.  After pre-riding we thought it would be a race of attrition with no real break being able to stick.  With this in mind we formulated a plan of who we needed where and when.    Eli described the day's racing style as "passive-aggressive."  Heck, we're from Portland, we can manage that.  Just like last week, our plan went to total shit after about a lap.  Instead of sitting around with our hands in our jersey pockets like last week, we adapted.

Cherry Pie: still a lot to work on

First road race of the year.  We had a plan and we followed it as best we could but as we all know, that means we accomplished about 10% of it.  A break of two established itself  early at the start of the second lap (I think?) and a solid chase effort never solidified.  That is until we managed to set up a beautiful little chase effort with a TIA guy, an Ironclad rider, two teammates and a sitting-in Gentle Lovers rider.

Chase 1.
Photo courtesy of Mary Stephens

Cyclocross

As a true crosser I feel an obligation to share this with all.  Enjoy.

stolen from Cyclingdirt.org 's facebook page

Those of you that are out there traveling and racing every weekend from September through December will fully appreciate this.