Racing the first half of April

First up was the University of Washington Omnium Criterium. We are only able to race the Criterium as the Collegiate men and women race the full weekend. I was able to hold off my now teammate Tony Blazejack for the win last year. My very first Win!

 



2013 was drastically different. The weather maintained the trend from the previous day at Vance Creek RR, complete garbage. We had wind, rain, no bike racers and the temperature dropped to 37 F degrees at race time. Which was also delayed 30 minutes because we had 15 total in our field and that was with the combination of the womens 1-2-3 field. This would be labeled as a race I should have just donated my money too and went home. Needless to say with that many in the field you would think it would be slow but it was really hard. I finished 8th.

 





The next weekend was the Volunteer Park Criterium that is held in Seattle near Capital Hill. I decided to do this race about 3 hours before it started. The weather was good and it was so close to home I hopped on the bike and rode there. Lindsay and Ridlee came out to watch so it turned out to be a nice afternoon. My race was ok but this Volunteer Park is not one of my favorites. The course is fast and you are either going up or going down. The up part isn't so bad as the downhill takes you halfway up the climb but its the false flat that leads into the finish line that drains me. I tried for a prime on one lap but was not able to deliver. I towed Aaron up the hill on the last lap and sat up before the finish for 34th. Aaron was able to take 9th. Good picture (Julie Griffith credit) coming through the top of the park before the downhill. There was a pile up here during our race that I was able to miss.

 

 

Up next is Tour of Walla Walla...

 











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!

Sequim #2

I feel this race report is pretty lazy. Racing your bicycle 60 miles I guess isn't lazy but when you sit at the back the whole race chit chatting with your friends it feels a bit lazy. My duty for this race was to be the "sprinter". Our goal again was to be aggressive but not so much in the beginning but on lap 1 our diesel Francis went off the front with 1 other guy. That’s us not being aggressive! They had over 1 minute on us at one point but at the start of lap 4, Jeff decided it was time to go. It took him about 3 minutes to make it to them but he did. Francis finally cracked and came back to us. Jeff stayed away for the rest of the race to take 2nd place. Watching him bridge made my legs hurt. I envy the guys on our team that can stay in a break like that. I won't go into details about the finish on a blog over... the intra-net... but lets just say the sprint wasn't supposed to be contested since Jeff pulled the other guy around the last lap in a half. I am sure you can find the facts on Strava! Lesson learned for us though.

Once we came around the corner to get on Woodcock Rd I started following Chris and Vern towards the front of the pack. My time at the back was over and now it was time to do some work. Once again SCCA/Starbucks Cycling Team moved to the front of the race to take control. Jesse, who missed Sequim #1 was on the front with Peter and both maintained a good speed which kept the other teams behind us. I found Tony a few miles before the last corner and got on his wheel. He is also an excellent sprinter so it was great to have him as my dedicated lead out man. We went by Jesse as his shift work was done and at the 1k to go sign Peter took off. The peloton this weekend was a lot more attentive and covered Pete's kamikaze attack but it was enough to string things out. This allowed Tony to move up closer to the front with me on his wheel. There was a lot of bumping going on as there always is in a pack sprint so Tony and I didn't have much room for maneuvering since we were on the yellow line. He squeezed by a few guys just as we hit the 200 meter sign (the promoter pushed out to an actual 400 meters for saftey). Boom, Tony was done and I moved over to get behind somebody in a black kit (HSP) and as soon as I felt his speed start to drop I jumped. I raced on my new Cannondale CAAD 10 and had it fitted by Todd Herriot and David Richter at Herriott Sports Performance. Both are accomplished ex-pros and David dominates sprint finishes (won both Sequim Races in the Cat 1-2 field). With my new fit I was ready to throw it down. My mom and dad were there to catch it on camera. Thanks Dad.

3rd Place and a great team effort for us to go 2nd and 3rd.