7 June 2016

Racing news! I have mostly just been doing a few time trials so far this year. I was building up for the state champs that happened last Saturday – unfortunately I was sick the week before, but managed to rest up and be pretty pleased with my ride on the day. I finished off the podium (4th) for the first time, but with my teammates Lee and Colby in 2nd and 3rd respectively, it was a good day out.

Backing up slightly from that – last Tuesday was the first local evening TT, which is 15 miles from here, all the way across town. Not a very nice ride on a TT bike, and certainly not on race wheels. Last year I mostly just raced on my road bike to make riding out there and back easy. Last week I tried a different solution – I loaded the TT bike onto the back of the cargo bike and rode out. Worked great!

It was very hot here at the weekend – records broken all over the state. We were off in the heat of the day for the TT, and it is incredible how dehydrated you can become in an hour! I drank six bottles afterwards, trying to catch up as I had another event on Sunday. This was the Oregon Grand Fondo – I rode the first three additions of this event (finishing second three times!), but missed it last year. This time around I got persuaded to ride with some local buddies as a composite team. I was feeling pretty stiff from the TT as we rolled out, but figured I should be able to loosen up as we went along. The first selection came on the first major climb – I was with the front group without trouble, then as things settled down after the descent, found myself off the front with Stephen, who recently moved to Eugene; I knew he was strong, but even so wasn’t sure about attempting to ride away 35 miles into a 117 mile race…..

But with the group out of sight, we settled into a decent pace, sharing the work, and figured we would see how far we could get. We did a rapid pitstop at the 70 mile feedzone, then pushed on. With no time checks, we didn’t have a sense of where we were at, but just kept on at the best pace we could. We got over the final climb okay, and were pushing on to the finish when all of a sudden there were riders behind us – 2.5 miles to go! So close….. Fortunately my teammate Billy was there, and immediately countered. I had enough energy left to shut down any chasing, and he was able to solo in for the win. In the group sprint, Stephen took fourth and me fifth, with us both winning our age-groups, so something salvaged for our 80 mile break!

Massive thanks to Kenny and his team for putting on the TT, and to Mike for the slick Fondo (iced towels at the finish, now that is service!). Thanks to Leonard Johnson of Hotfoot Photography for the TT photos.

 

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