Mason Lake #2 & Tour de Dung (Sequim) #1

2013 Race Season

Mason Lake #2


Crash Fest was generally used when describing the Mason Lake road race series but the last couple of years I have attended it has been great. I missed Mason Lake #1 with the chest cold that has haunted me since coming back from our team camp in Feb. My teammate Peter took 3rd in the sprint and SCCA/Starbucks Cycling was well represented for Mason #1. The following week we had 7 of us racing. This is a series with points so we had to make sure we got Peter in any break away or have him ready for the sprint. He managed to get in a one at the end of the first lap thanks in part to our turbo diesel Francis. They were gone for the rest of the race and had a 7 minute gap at the end. Francis helped create the break and stayed in it. Peter took the sprint for victory after Francis crushed the other 5 guys leading up to the 1k. I sat in the pack and patrolled the front on lap 4 with the boys to make sure things were in order. I reminded myself after the race that if I don't make goals I finish in the pack. You always have to re-adjust your goal once the race plays out but I didn't. I was at the back for the pack finish and should have been up front throwing down a sprint. I made sure I changed that for Sequim.

Tour de Dung (Sequim) #1

This place is always the nice quite little town where it is always sunny. It can rain all the way up to Chicken Dick road (if you don't know about the street names then that alone should be a reason to go visit) and then the closer you get to Dungeness the sun comes out. It really is crazy. I went to the SCCA/Starbucks Cycling team camp that was based in Sequim in Feb for 3 days and although chilly the weather was decent. I mentioned above about Mason Lake having a bad name but really it should be Sequim with the bad name. It seems Mason got such a bad name over the years. The last 3 years I have raced at Sequim there has always been crashes not slow going crashes either. I mean massive pile ups at the finishing line, where speeds average around 30 mph. It’s weird the roads are better and wider than they are at Mason Lake but first race of the year for most so maybe its nerves.

We arrived right on time, 8:45 for our 9:45am race time, but we didn’t plan for the 15 min wait to check in and the 15 min line for the port-o-potty. So that left us with about 20 min to get ready and warmed up. The weather was not sunny, with clouds and a slight breeze. We all shrugged it off as Sequim is always sunny and nice. Once the race started we made our mark. Jeff went on a flyer by himself and was away for an entire lap (11.5 miles) before Tony bridged up to him for a few more miles before the pack brought them back. Our team continued to push the pace and attacked multiple times throughout each lap but we could never get a good strong breakaway to stick. I began to move up towards the front on lap 4 as the rain began to really come down and the wind started pushing us around. This was ruining my nice quite little town where it is always sunny feeling. Then the sounds of thunder, oh wait, that wasn’t thunder that was carbon fiber breaking. I swerved over to the shoulder and made it around those couple of guys that were on their way to meet Sequim pavement. After a few pedal strokes I could still hear the sounds of carbon fiber snapping and air being pushed out of lungs. I turned around to see a mass pile of guys and bikes. Several of our guys were still at the front so I was hopeful we all missed it but after a few more miles I began to take notice of who we had and didn’t have. Our big engine man Francis was not in the group and neither was our Captain, Richie Strong. Both of them would be greatly missed on the last lap and I hoped they were ok. My plan/goal was to be there at the end for the finish, whether that was leading one of our guys out or if I was to take up the sprint. We couldn’t get any break away to stick so I was a part of plan b. Wait, I can still use that right? or is it reserved for the other thing? Oh well, you know what I mean. With about a half a lap left we were all at the front setting pace. I hovered around 10th wheel or so and tried to be as small as I could to avoid the head wind. A couple teams tried to muster up a pace line stronger than ours on the right side leading into the final turn but nobody could hold it long enough to take over from us. I took the outside line going into the last right hand turn before the finish and moved up a few spots, quite easily. My plan then was to get on the opposite side of the road to avoid the cross wind that was coming from the left. This was made pretty easy due to our guys at the front putting down the hurt. I could just make out Jeff standing up and sprinting with 1k to go. I moved around a couple guys from other teams to come up on Jeff as he punched his ticket and drifted back. Job well done my friend, he had created a gap and when Aaron G took over at the front he made it even larger. I was closing in on the guys with about 300 meters to go when I finally latched on. Aaron peeled off to the left and I took a look behind me to see how Peter and I looked. We had a good size gap to the field and I started yelling at Peter, GO, GO. Not that he wasn't going but maybe it was more my brain telling me to go. My turn now, I got out of the saddle and started my sprint on the right side of Peter, but man was I having difficulty. Oh how I hate the wind. We hit the line side by side but were shocked when PJ from Hagen’s Berman flew up on my right side at the finish. Wow, none of us knew who won. We waited around to find out that Peter took 1st; I took 2nd, PJ from Hagen’s took 3rd and Tony B took 4th with Chris taking 8th. That is 4 SCCA/Starbucks Cycling in the top 10.

That is a sprint lead out, not only a sprint lead out but we (I didn’t do much but follow my guys) controlled the race the last 6 miles. The team kept the pace so high it disrupted others from coming around us. Then the last 1k was amazing. I literally was dodging people getting to the front. We were the most aggressive team throughout the entire race and were the most determined at the end. We later found out winds of 31 mph recorded at Dungeness.

Sequim #2 this Saturday and it will be real interesting to see how the other teams react.