Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racing

I did my first real stage race this last weekend in the Bend area. I raced the 3s while 4 teammates raced 2s (Jesse won that wow more detail at http://cwcracing.org coming if not already posted! Sick!). Amazing weekend for the team, great crew " huge props and thanks for the team and their SOs for all of the support " even though I didnt have any teammates in my Cat I dont think I would have made the result I ended up with without them . . .

Stage 1 (day one): rolling 72 mile Road Race with climb at the end

• 90 man field " bigger than I am used to . . . start out hard on a ~600 foot climb I am thinking what are these guys doing or am I the sucker?
• 6 man break gets away 20 miles in, field goes to pleasure cruise pace, break opens 3? 4? Minute gap . . . ride mid pack, dodge a big pile up, cant move up in the big field not used to it riders wall to wall, etc.
• After crash get to front and start doing some tempo w/ a few other guys but nobody really working . . .again start to feel like the sucker
• Mile 50 road starts to tip up in rollers . . . strong guy attacks off the front . . . mile 53ish another strong looking guy goes and I say what the hell Im here to race and chase him
• We bridge to initial bridger and start working together well and climb starts in earnest at least I am racing now can I hold the pace, etc. well see
• We start picking off remnants of the break on the climb . . . then hissssss . . . not me! bummer for guy in my group . . . two of us press on
• 10k to go another joins us from the field and he is hammering . . . puts me in the red and I wonder if I can hang till the end . . . 2s are ahead of us and we pass Conrad who flatted twice crap luck . . . he whispers some encouragement something about nailing the other two in my group and I can only blubber about being in red and hanging one
• The three of us make the flat 1k finish together and make a three up sprint through dodgy cones in the Mt Bachelor parking lot " I recover a bit and think 2nd in my group is mine until 50m before finish almost crash in a kooky coned u-turn sit up and take 4th on stage (1 guy stayed away by a few seconds from original break)
• End up within 20 seconds of the three ahead of me after time bonuses factored
• Jesse is in yellow after winning the 2s by a minute . . . awesome spin back to cars mostly downhill, pretty stoked to be there for sure

Jesse and the Cat 2 crew after Stage One

Longboard Louies Delivers the Fuel

We hit this place 3 times . . . so good, pay by the ounce. Justin won with an 18 ounce effort.

Stage 2 (morning day two): out uphill and back downhill 16 mile time trial

• Mad wrenching w/ *huge* help from teammates to get cranks and 55t ring on TT bike
• Head out for race of truth with Conrads rear disc given his GC is blown from crap luck the prior day . . . I am happy, but realize I will have no TT gear excuses " I am pimped! It is my daughters fourth birthday bringing into stark relief all the crap my wife and kids put up with to live with a bike nerd/amateur bike racer (come on, compression/recovery socks dont look sweet around the house? Sorry about that grease on the light switch . . . I cant eat that I am a Cat 3 bike racer! Yeah the garage does look like 10 year old boys blew up a real bike shop sorry . . . sorry hon I fell asleep with the kids while putting them down cuz I was cooked from day job and riding bike and missed dinner and now it is 9pm good night). Anyway Cascade is my top event/goal for the year so promise myself the least I can do is use Keira inspiration/self-imposed guilt/feeling lucky to have such a rad family/etc. to eek everything out of my body
• Drill it on the TT and dont get passed by top 3 (reverse start order) and pass 4 or 5 guys (30 sec start splits) . . . screw up my lap timing so not sure exactly on my time but feel like I left it all on course if pain was any indicator . . . and Keira did help me pass time deep in the pain cave multiple times during the event so that must be good for something?
• No immediate results . . . gotta wait

TT Inspiration! Thanks Keira (at her 4th b-day party which she was kind enough to delay until Monday)

Stage 3 (afternoon day two): 40 minute 4-corner criterium

• Mad wrenching to re set-up cranks and 53t ring before crit
• Pancake recovery lunch, nice!
• Go spin for 20 minutes from house (which was *perfect* location in terms of race venues, nice work Jesse!) . . .stop back at house and results from Stage Two are posted online and team informs me I won the TT and am first in GC . . . and oh yeah I have to get my ass to the race for podium/yellow jersey or suffer race org wrath and maybe some $$ or time penalties
• Benefits of yellow become clear at Crit start when I am called up for podium, wrapped like a sausage in a yellow jersey over my team kit (what was I gonna do w/ it I stepped off podium to the crit!) . . . anyway I get to start at front which Im really happy about
• Pretty comfortable ride in the crit I just wanted a pack finish and no crashes or mechanicals and got all of those w/ some but not crazy effort covering a few attacks . . . narrowly dodged a crash . . . ended up 12th so one stage to do to defend and 33 seconds on 2nd and 43 seconds on 3rd

After the Crit the pic I sent to Megan

Morning before Stage 4 looking to defend 2 yellow . . .

Stage 4 (morning day three): 4 X 17 mile circuits on hilly road circuit race

• Now the no teammates comes home to roost . . . ouch . . . on advice from crew have top 10 riders and time gaps taped to top tube on bike . . . attack after attack on first lap especially from 3rd place on the climbs putting me in pain, pain, pain . . . really hoping the pace has to mellow some I cant cover everything from everyone . . . make the fateful decision to let 7th place at 2:36 go solo into the second lap to try and bridge to the early 5 man break . . . hope he blows up . . . business maxim of hope is not a strategy is ringing hard in my head
• Well, I get my stupid wish and the group mellows on the second lap " letting the break get 2:45 and Ive lost the GC lead on the road nice . . . go to the front on the 3rd lap and thankfully get a couple guys to ride hard with me and by the end of 3rd lap the break is down to 45 sec . . . phew . . . until . . .
• . . . I pay for race efforts so far as I cant cover attack by 2nd and 5th place riders who attack and bridge to the remnants of the break . . . they have 45 seconds (and 10/8/6 sec time bonuses for 1st 2nd 3rd place on the stage) . . . I have 10 miles and two climbs and again am really up against it . . . ride at the front and get no help at this point everyone knows I have and am losing everything so it is on me . . . decide I have to attack the field and try to bridge and recover before the 2 climbs late in the race . . . teammate Nicks words from the night before race like there is *no way* you will lose the GC are now ringing in my head . . . here we go get the gap and put my head down and go deep, deep, deep but can see Im crossing the gap . . . make the bridge in five minutes and am freaking out too much to realize now the deck is in my favor this was the right move as I can mostly sit in while the break races for the stage and I am safe so long as 2nd cant blow me away on the climbs or 3rd (the best climber) doesnt pull something out of his butt . . .
• Of course 3rd bridges on the 1st finish climb now I am really going to sit in and save it but at least the other guys in the break have to chase 3rd if he attacks
• We stay together (well, four of us) through the last climb . . . 2nd place crosses a wheel and crashes really sad I hope he is ok he didnt finish . . . 5th place attacks at 2k and stays away by a couple seconds and I take second on the stage and the GC win
• Maybe the hardest physical race for me ever, *definitely* the hardest emotionally/mentally/cumulative 2:48 Ive ever spent on a bike . . . also of course the best! Bike racing is awesome.

Bringing home 2nd place in the final stage and the overall GC

Im a big journey not the destination guy " but in this case the destination is pretty sweet as well . . . imminent upgrade means a whole new level of comp and humbling to know that my 4 teammates in the 2s probably would have beat me in this race so not hard to have perspective on the beautiful drive home . . . and if that wasnt enough, my day job Monday morning said hello w/ a reality smack down . . . but the sweetest and most tangible perspective of all was Keiras 4th b-day party which we rocked Monday evening with grandparents and cousins and all of it . . . and I didnt hesitate to get in on a second piece of cake.

Final Results Index (Stages and GC):

http://www.mbsef.org/CascadeStageRace/Results/2010/index.cfm

Me and the Cat 2 bad-ass mo-fos borrowing podium for a group shot after Stage 4

My Stage 4 top tube cheat sheet " thanks Nate!

Beautiful drive home . . .

Posted via email from Andy Scott PqP