Vance Creek Road Race 2013

This race starts right in the middle of 2 unfinished Nuclear reactors which is now the Satsop Development Park. You can get more information here

I last raced here in 2011 and would be dropped on the hill coming in to the start/finish line on the first lap. I am now a Cat 3 (I know, it’s the big time) so it would be interesting to see how I handled the hill. You always think back to the last time you raced that course and if you sucked on that particular day it’s hard to get those thoughts out of your head. The weather was very confused on what it wanted to do. It rained all the way down there from Seattle and when we arrived there was mixed rain with sunshine. I opted for Embrocation on the legs, my fateful Gabba jersey with SCCA/Starbucks team jersey over it with arm warmers. Just as we started to roll out is started to rain, of course. We would be going for 66 miles. This really is a fun course with lots of twist and turns on old farm roads and a few rolling hills. It had everything with rain, hail at one point, and some pretty decent cross winds. The first lap was fast, as most are when you are starting out with 60+ racers chomping at the bit to rip each other’s legs off.

Our team goal was to put someone in a breakaway for the chance at winning and my specific duty for the day was to get to the front after the start/finish climb and push the pace down the hill. First lap in the books and I felt surprisingly good when we got to the top of the hill. I moved to the front where a few of my teammates were and got right to work. I created a small gap as I moved to the front so I slowed a little until the pack caught me and then pressed the pace. We had Tony B who was able to get himself in a break later in the lap. After being away for that lap Tony came back and our work horse Francis bridged up to them and filled his vacated spot. I was pretty happy extremely confident of Francis and his ability, especially with a 1 minute 30 second gap to us. Then to my disbelief I could see Francis slowly coming back to us (heart in throat). Oh no. This isn't good. With nobody in the break and as we just came by the feed zone someone yelled the break had a 1 minute 40 second gap. As we climbed up over the start finish, I could see Jeff up at the front. He turned halfway around and did the cowboy round up signal with his hand. Uh oh. Game on. I immediately made my way to the front where all of a sudden it was a mass of SCCA/Starbuck black and green kits. We had 5 total and then 6 when Francis moved back to the front. Yes, the same guy that blew up in the break had now recovered and was taking pulls at the front. Dudes an animal, or more like a Honey Badger. You know, "the Honey Badger doesn’t give a shit"! Anyways, go YouTube it if you don't know about the Honey Badger. It was so cool with all 6 of us taking pulls at the front towing the entire field. We were showing all the other teams why we have been so dominate in the first few races (we have been on the podium every race so far). As we began to close in on them I pulled the plug. I was toast but as I swung off the front and took a good look behind me it was so sweet to see 30+ guys on in a single file line following us. Who knows how many we dropped during that period. We caught the break in 8 miles.

My fear once we caught them was that our team would be totally spent and another team would attack us. Tony B, I and Francis drifted to the very back of the pack. We were exhausted and our work was done. Todd said he felt good for the finish so I told him and Francis I would take him to the front of the field about 3 miles from the finish. Going down the descent after the finish who do I see bomb down the shoulder? Honey Badger doesn’t give a shit! Francis was on the front setting the pace again. Then as we came around a corner I could see him all alone. I moved up to the front to cover any attacks or bridge attempts but nobody tried. With 500 meters to go I hit the ejector button and drifted all the way to the back as Francis took the well-deserved WIN!!! The amount of hard work we did to bring the break back and then to see him get the win was so awesome!