Friday, June 30, 2006

Elkhorn and TdF

Well Elkhorn was a blast, as usual. I did manage to blow up on the finishing climb on Sunday??? After winning the crit, what's up with that?
This race is so cool, It's races like this that keep me bike racing, good athmosphere, great organiser and super courses. That and the older guys who keep beating up on me!!

I could write a 10 page race report, but don't have the time. Let's just say I was on the attack, I ended up 6th overall in the masters 40+.

Well, I guess it was a long time coming, but what about all those guys getting suspended for the Tour?? Crazy, Hope cycling can recover from this. "Big Pat" as we called him (we had less kind nicknames for him, but I won't put them here!!) has his work cut out for him now, but there's no better man to do the job.

Well, we're off to Oregon for the State RR and Mt Tabor on Sunday. Too many stinkin' crits up here!!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Men in Diapers

We did the marymoor little 100 last night, it's a fancy dress race around the track, riding Van Dessel single speed backpedal brake cruisers.

We had Kenny, Jiri,Paul Clement and me, we won. There were only 2 other cat 1/2/3/ teams out there, though. What do we have to do to get more teams interested in this Race? I came last year to watch Martha race and was talked into racing with some guys from the Byrne Specialty Gases Team, we had a blast. The women had 5 or 6 teams? come on guys, lets go out and do this "race" it's actually fun.

The costume of the day was the Rubicon boys wearing Diapers.....and nothing else....brave souls, the diapers even lasted the whole race!!

Before the Track event, Martha and I went to Ellensberg to ride a clmb that Lez Korcala has been telling us about. It was really windy, but we didn't notice once we started climbing. The climb is about 7 miles and goes from 2.000 to 5,600ft, good road and about 7-10% grade, awesome. We both wished we could have done it more than once.

Oh, Yeah last week we did the Oregon Rehearsal RR in Eugene on Sat. Martha raced Tandem with Martin, they finished 3rd. I was 7th in the 1/2s, was bummed because Carl didn't make the break. I was just there to help him get more Oregon Cup points.

So it's Seward today, then off to Elkhorn on Thursday! : -)

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Mt Hood Epic Stage Race

Day 1, Everyone looking at each other, Clint Gaver(Team Spine) goes up the road after the first climb, one guy tries to go up, a couple of people try to get to him and fail, then I throw caution to the wind and attack across to the chaser,John Hancock(Sierra Nevada/Specialized) before the main road. I don't want to kill myself and get dropped so we dangle out there, until when we are almost caught, Zan T bridges up and the gap opens, then at the Start/Finish (top of the main climb) Robert Pasco (Safeway) bridges and we catch the guy in front, so 5 of us with about 30 secs and 1 lap to go, behind they are again looking at each other and nobody wants to chase hard. I watch the others descend and catch back up when it straightens out.
We hit the highway again and Pasco is taking monster pulls, we drop two guys and Zan can't pull at all, by now we're almost catching the Pro field, we hit the cooper spur road and we have 1 1/2 mins!! Pasco again is hammering and now I can't pull anymore, so we decide he wins I'm 2nd and Zan is 3rd, we almost have to push him over the line to take the win. We ended up 1.45 up on Carl who took 4th, and 1.50 up on the main "players"....Sweeeeet.

I think I must have fried myself for the TT, 'cause I was not going too well, I did manage to catch Zan just before the finish and beat Pasco by 1.30 or so to rake the jersey :-)

The Crit was a non event for the GC guys, with the Morgan Stanley guys taking 1/2 Dan Smith won with Chris D'Alusio 2nd, oh I guess he's a GC guy too!! They also won the $100 prime with 2 to go. I must say the new (to me) course was nice, taking away the sharp right hander uphill to the finishing straight.
I was probably chatting to some 1/2 guys when I missed the Jersey Presentation...oops bad faux pas....sorry Chad.

The Queen Stage, well to put it Blountly, I got spanked. I must first say I threw up my breakfast before the start, nerves?? I don't think so, as I have done that before, when not in the Yellow Jersey, and I had a killer headache to boot. So, from the get go it was a case of survival and limiting my losses, hoping I would feel better later in the race.
I suffered on the small risers before the first climb, couldn't breathe, so I decide to ride my own pace on the first climb and not try to stay with the Big Guns! Well, I was about 45 secs back at the top, but Carl Roberts was up there trying to slow them down, and I got back on after the top, just in time to get dropped on the descent ;-) I had company though, as Kerry Farrell (Wheelsport)and Bruce Hodgkins (Excel) were hating life as much as me going down there, the we hit climb #2, and Kerry and I got back to the group, I felt a lot better once I got on, but Dave, Lindsay, Chris D'Alusio and Robert Pasco were off the front by 1 minute or so. Carl, Mike Rosenberg, and John Hancock chased on and off the rest of the way with me.Pasco was dropped by Zimbleman and D'Aliusio and we caught him near the top of KOM #2, thanks to trojan work by Carl.

I did much better down the 2nd descent, where Carl pulled all the way, then when we got to the bottom he flatted, he caught back and went to pull again, but he didn't have much left and we dropped him soon after. I was left with Brian McGuire on my wheel and very little help for the next, maybe 5 miles leading into the final climb. I never went all the way back, but I think there were about 8 or 9 in the group at this stage. Finally a time check, 5 mins to Lindsay and 1.20 up to Chris and Dave, I had 2.20 on Chris starting the day, so MAYBE I could hold onto 3rd?? My dilema was if I gave it my all chasing, then Brian would attack me and I would be left in 5th!! I kept pulling anyway, I would later find out Brian didn;t have a lot in the tank.
On the last climb, John Hancock took some good pulls, and then attacked just before the cooper spur resort, nobody responded, so when he got a gap I jumped across ( I didn't want to loose the only guy that was giving me a "dig") of course everyone followed me! After Cooper Spur I pulled all the way with no help at all, I think I was going good, then when we saw the last 200m Rosenberg attacked, then Kerry Ferrell (Hadn't seen him an a long time!!) but nobody else passed me, turns out I must have shattered the group.
Alas, I did not go hard enough as D'Alusio left Dave and took 2nd on the day and 3rd overall, by 29secs!!!

I was sorry not to hold on, but if you told me before the race I would have the jersey for 2 stages and finish 4th overall, I would have been pretty happy.

Results are here http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/2006results/default.htm

Roll on Elkhorn!!

Mick