Ronde Ohop Kermesse

The word "Epic" sometimes gets used too often when describing certain things that one does.
Epic, based in the english dictionary lists as Poetry but I like these other definations better.
Define epic:
-an episode in the lives of men in which heroic deeds are performed or attempted
or
-of heroic or impressive proportions:

That is the best way to describe this race. Several of my friends did it last year and said it was the funnest race they have ever done. So I figured I would give it a try this year.
Fun yes but it was one of the hardest races I have ever done. Walla Walla earlier this year is still the hardest race I have done. The Ronde Ohop though is on a different level. I just don't think I was mentally prepared for how hard it was going to be. Gabe and I arrived nice and early. The weather was flat out beautiful with Mt Rainier in the background. For this race some used Cross bikes and others like myself used our road bikes. I put on 25c tires instead of the 23c I normally ride. The 25c are a bit taller so that helps with not getting pinch flats and hopefully adds a little bit more cusion.

We did a few laps on the dirt section of the course only for me to get stung by a bee. Great. This isn't starting out to well. Forgot how much those little bastards hurt.

The race was going to start with a 6 mile loop that we would do twice. Then on the second loop instead of going right we would go straight and head back to where the cars were parked. Once on that road (Mashel Loop) the real race would begin. We would do 10 laps of a loop that included 1 mile of paved road and a 1.25 miles of dirt. I figured the dirt road would just be easy dirt but there were head size boulders sticking out in some areas and the majority of the rocks were fist size. Lets not forget the 300 ft of climbing we had to do in the dirt section every lap.

The race started and as we come into town there is a nice little hill that for whatever reason I have a tough time with. There I was off the back already. I was able to get back on and immediately moved to the front quarter of the pack. We came around again for the last lap on the pavement and I went over the hill just fine. As we got closer to ending our lap and turning down the road where the dirt section was I saw a gap and moved right to the front. There were 4 of us up there putting in some serious work to stay there. I was 4th as we entered the dirt. An Apex guy missed the apex (Now thats funny) of the corner and almost took Jason his new teammate out (our ex teammate). That pushed Jason and myself to the outside of the corner and Andrew Eisner had a direct line into the corner to take the lead. Jason was able to get back around his teammate and chased Andrew down and formed the early break of 2. I hung in between 3rd and 9th for the first 4 laps. Our pack dwindled down every lap as we would drop guys in the dirt section. We were down to 4 guys when I lost the tow going up the hill in the dirt. My hands started to cramp from gripping the bars so hard. It was mentally really tough. I dropped back through the pack as guys began catching me. My legs were having a really tough time now in the dirt.
Everytime I came by start finish I never knew how many laps were left because I couldn't see the lap board as the official was standing in front of it. I came around and I could see Andrew running down the road with his bike. I thought that is strange he must have flatted and is running to the pit. Then he ran by the pit and kept going. Again I still couldn't see the lap board and had no idea this was the last lap. I heard someone yelling sprint as I coasted by Andrew and accross the line. I looked over and oh ya. There was the pit board that show 10 laps. That was it. Game over. Not that I could have done any better but I think I could have made a run at 7th or 8th. I got 9th and I am pretty happy with that. I said I probably won't do that race again but considering its been a few weeks it was a pretty awesome experience. My bike computer could be off a bit due to the taller tires but it said I averaged 20mph. Which is dang fast on the dirt.

A total bummer but Gabe crashed in the dirt section and fractured his pelvis. Click on the title and you can find some pictures from Bike Hugger and a small write up.

Bring on 2012.