Cascade Cycling Classic

I got back from Bend, Oregon two weeks ago after competing in the Cascade Cycling Classic. For the unfamiliar, this race is one of the longest running and prestigious stage races in the country, with past winners such as Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer. This was the first time I've done the race. Rolling into Bend, my first impression was that the city was very green with lots of trees--and this being the dry (Eastern) side of the Cascade mountain range. By the end of my stay there, I gained an appreciation for Bend, for its beauty, laid back nature, moderate size, bike friendliness, and proximity to a beautiful mountain range.
Before I say anything more, I want to give a big shout out to Anne, my host "mom", who took good care of me during my stay in Bend, and gave me many words of encouragement regarding my racing. People like her make my trips memorable, and allow aspiring amateur racers like myself to attend big races like Cascade.
Unfortunately, my racing didn't start out as I'd hoped. There was a big mixup at the start of the time trial, and seemingly a small mistake by myself was compounded by the officials at the start, leading to me starting my time trial many minutes late. This put me way out of contention for the overall.
The second stage of the race was a criterium in the evening of the day of the time trial. Because of a bad crash in an earlier race, our race got shortened from 40 to 30 minutes. Races this short are a joke when you have 100 plus riders, because you basically finish in the position you started. Also, they tend to give everyone the same time, even though the first guy and last guy in the group could be separated by as much as 30 seconds. Stupid. Anyway, I avoided crashing, and finished around 30th.
The third stage road race went much better. After a pretty moderate first 3/4 of the race, the pace picked up on the final climb and broke the 100+ rider field apart a bit. I made one of the front groups, and with only five or six guys a little up the road, and with my ability to hold off most of twenty or so guys in my group to the finish, I ended up 12th on the stage.
The last stage of the race was another road race. Very uneventful and not hard enough. What's the deal with giving the Cat 2's a shorter course than the pro's? We race with them for most of the season, so we should be able to ride as far as them. Anyway, our race ended in a 60 man bunch sprint. I finished 30th.
This race has a lot of potential, but needs a bit of work--a funny thing to say about a race that's been around so long. This might have been the first year they've done the Cat 2's separate from the Pro/1's, though, so maybe that's the excuse. There's definitely demand for a Cat 2 only field (115 starters--biggest Cat 2 field I've raced this year), so hopefully that'll give them incentive to put together a better race next year.
Out at Cascade, I got to hang out with one of my friends, Brett from Fort Collins, as well as the Rio Grande race team who is also from Colorado. Brett has only been a Cat 2 for part of this season, and is already posting some good results, and in fact has beat me a few times. As I usually travel to these bigger races alone and race alone, it makes things that much better when I see familiar friendly faces in these far off places (hehe, a little rhyme for ya).

5th Place at US Mtb Nats!

On the Fourth of July I went to Breckenridge, CO with my bro and friends to do the 4th of July Firecracker 50, which for the second year, was the US National Mountian Bike Marathon Championships. The day was warmer than usual, which made this 50 mile race tougher than usual, so much so that with so many people struggling and dropping out, that the guy who won the Pro Men's race didn't initially know he had won. I struggled the whole first 25 mile lap, and was seriously considering pulling out when I came through the start/finish to begin the second lap. I started to feel better, and didn't want to let my brother and friends down, so I decided to keep going. I began to catch other guys in my category who were struggling, and also began to see many guys with flat tires and other bike problems. I gave it a good push and finished strong, but had no idea what my ranking was. I went and ate lunch after the race, and decided to go check results before we left. I never made it to the results because they had just started the awards, and called my name for 5th place. Surprise! I knew I had finished 25 minutes slower than last year (blame it on the heat) when I had finished 6th, so the last thing I expected was to finish with a medal.

I've been away from the national racing scene for a while. It started out as a mid-season break--after 18 races by the beginning of May, I was getting a little tired--then extended somewhat when I went "home" for a HS reunion, and continued when I had some pretty severe IT band issues in one of my legs. After doing several local races to get back into racing shape (local Colorado guys are fast!!), I'm gearing back up for the national scene. I'll be leaving shortly for Oregon and the Cascade Cycling Classic, then a few after that I'll be out to Chicago for a few. It's going to be crazy for a while, so I'd better get this thing updated.

BIG RACE STORY #1 involves the Sea Otter Classic, Monterey, CA in the middle of April. This is pretty much THE event of the year in the US for amateur racers. I've done this thing 8 years running now. This year I convinced my parents to come along. My dad and I drove out, and my mom flew. The first of three races I did at Sea Otter was the Cat 2 circuit race. This was the race that I had my picture taken in (see 5/15 post) for the local paper. In addition on having that pic on the front page banner, they also plastered me (in larger form) across the front page of the sports page. Anyway, I digress. The race started with me being unsure of myself and hanging out in the middle of the group, to me realizing that I was one of the faster guys and pushing the pace. As other guys tired, I spent more time at the front of the race. After putting in a good effort in the last minutes of the race to try to shed the remainder of the riders not already dropped from the lead group, I was outsprinted in the final 200 meters, and had to settle for 17th. Guess I played my cards too soon, and at that point, should have just saved myself for the sprint.
Day two was the Pro road race. This was one of my few opportunities to race against the big budget pro teams. Last year I didn't even finish the race, so finishing was the primary focus this year. Things shifted though, when I figured out that I could do better than just finish. I followed some blistering attacks, though nothing really stuck. I was with the main group until the last several miles, and held on to finish 32nd out of approx 90 starters--one of the top amateurs. Now to explain the shredded tire pic in a couple of posts below (see April 29 post). I was behind a crash in the first lap, slammed on the brakes to avoid it, and apparently skidded. I rode the whole race with the tire looking as in did the pic without knowing it, and only found out about it after the race. Pretty impressive I was able to ride something like 60 miles with the tire like that.
Day three was the mountain bike cross country (XC). Things went well aside from a small crash mid race, and though I finished 20th, my time was a little over 5 minutes faster than last year. As usual, I passed a bunch of guys on the final climb, but didn't have the greatest start--I'm going to have to figure out how to pull together both of those to be in it to win.
On the way back from California, we went by the Hurst Castle (took a tour), through Vegas (I've never been) and the Hoover Dam.
Very soon after Sea Otter was:
BIG RACE STORY #2--Tour of the Gila. Stage 1 was a road race instead of the traditional first stage time trial. This format made for livelier racing, and there was a lot of people trying attacks, and the group chasing down escapees. I was at the front of the group coming into the last feed zone, and took a water bottle in the chest while my hand was off the handlebars, which caused me to crash. With my hand shredded pretty good and my handlebars slightly crooked, I chased the group, and was able to catch up to the back end when they blew apart on the final climb. I finished 33rd, but unfortunately was 12 minutes down from the stage winner.
Before stage 2, I was unsure if I could even ride. My knee was the size of a grapefruit due to my crash the day before. We had to go buy a new helmet, and barely made the start. Pedaling for the first few miles was quite difficult, but as the adrenaline kicked in, things got better. Having an easy day was not in the cards, however. The pace was the fastest I'd ever seen during this stage, and I was lucky just to be able to hang on to the back of the group. In the course of the stage, I had to avoid two crashes within the group--I was not going to allow myself to go down again. Hanging out at the back did me some good, because with the high pace being set up front, a lot of guys were tiring themselves out. We caught a 11-man breakaway that had been off the front for the entire day right at the finish, and I was able to out sprint most of my group for 14th place and only lost 20 seconds to the winner.
Day 3 and 4 were the time trial and crit. These days were fairly uneventful. In the time trial, I lost several minutes to the winner and finished 33rd, but fared well against the guys I had a realistic chance of beating. The crit basically stayed together the whole race, and finished in a bunch sprint, meaning there was no real change in the overall.
Day 5 was the hardest and longest stage of the race. I had a shot at making it into the top 20 of the overall, and the final climb of this 100+ mile stage was a good place to gain time. The race pretty much stayed together as expected, though the group inexplicably allowed 3 riders to ride off the front of the group on a downhill. Two of these riders ended up finishing 4 minutes ahead of us. As usual, the group shattered on the final climb, and though I didn't initially make the small lead group, I worked with a Colavita New Mexico guy and was able to catch the leaders about 10 miles from the finish. At about 3 miles to go, I attacked the group with one other guy and was briefly thinking of a top 10 finish. However, I ran out of gas, was caught with a mile to go, and had to settle for 17th place. Due to my efforts, I put time on the guys I needed to, and moved into 19th place in the overall. Despite my crash and injuries, I had finished better than last year, so there was definitely something to celebrate.