Silverton RR 5/28/6

55 miles of CONSTANTLY rolling terrain in intermittent rain.

Synopsis: I dropped myself. I’m hilarious.

The race started and I was sitting in the wheels, already impressed with the fast early pace of the race. I thought about how I do well in races: I sit in all day, do no work and then finish fast. I was thinking about how that’s lame. It’s cool when you need the points and then it works and you get the points. And, I should mention that there are risks involved, but still, it’s kind of lame. Since I was just doing this race to get a good workout and see how other 3’s are doing, I decided to be a different rider for the day.

Once my legs had been brutally warmed up by the first few fast rollers, I got to the front and became one of the 5 or 6 riders that, for whatever reason, were drilling it. I took pulls very eagerly and generously and, I hope, paid a little Cat 3 dues before becoming a 2. This went on for 25 miles. I was feeling good. With us going so fast, there were no even-momentarily-successful breakaway attempts. I would just stay at or near the front up the climbs, fill gaps quickly and then hammer down the descents (I’m a fatty so I’m good at that).

Then, halfway through the second lap, I pulled through, rotated out and then, well, I started to drift. Engineering couldn’t get me any more power to the helm. Nobody was attacking, just, all of a sudden I couldn’t hang with the pace that I was helping to set. Then they were gone. Just like that. Dropped.

The good news (sorry, Hilbrandt) is that we had destroyed so much of the field that I rode the last 25 miles of the race like a training ride and still got like 25th out of like 60 starters. Attrition, baby. My tactics today were like those of a guy that opens fire on a crowd and then turns the gun on himself when the cops come. All in all, a great workout.

Eric Kautzky addendum

The official look of a "Battlefield Upgrade":

Men Cat 4/5
1 Deardorff, Chris bike/hincapie
2 Kovalcik, Zak
3 Weinstein, Jason Team Oregon/River City Bicycles
4 Blackwelder, Mark Veloshop
5 Valentin, Greg Wines of Washington
6 Logue, Troy BBC
7 Boquiren, Joseph Team Oregon/River City Bicycles

Men Cat 3
1 Coker, Aaron CMG/Alpine Mortgage
2 Blackwelder, Mark Veloshop
3 Bjesse, Per Bike Central
4 Dumortier, Jerome BBC
5 Gleaves, John BBC
6 Megale, Ian Fred Meyer
7 Hemminger, Stephen Team Oregon/River City Bicycles
8 Prior, Keith Los Ciclistas

BTW, just finished a 2 hour hammerfest with (versus?) Graden. He killed me. That man is the wind beneath my wings.

Eric Kautzky Memorial 5/13/06

Alright! I’ve got a good one for you.

Went to the track today. The race was a three-event Omnium. We (the 4/5’s combined field… me being a Cat 5 trackie) did a paced points race, an unknown distance, and a scratch race. If you need a tutorial: this is fine.

In the points race there were four sprints (and “paced” means that lapping the field is disallowed). I took the first sprint, the second, the third and, to be a complete asshole, the fourth. I had everyone in the stands fighting not to fall asleep.

Between rounds, I talked to Candi (the officialest of all the officials): “I feel like a jerk. The guys in my field hate me.” “Well, would you want to scrap your progress and ride with the 3’s for the rest of the day just to see how it feels?” My face lights up: “I’d love to!” Having missed their first race, I’d basically be a sightseer, not a contender in the Omnium.

So, my first Cat 3 track event ever: an “unknown distance”. The racers start racing and an official discretely rolls 3 dice to see how many laps they’re doing. The pack doesn’t know it’s ending till the bell rings to signal one-lap-to-go. 5 laps in, Per Bjesse attacks and leaves us. I try to organize a chase. No go. Aaron Coker comes forward (side note: you’ve heard of Coker before in this blog as #519: the guy I was trying to follow into road sprints until he upgraded to 2’s. Bjesse is a dedicated trackie, so he’s new.). Coker and I can get him… but when? We trade off a couple of times and, by some miracle, the bell hasn’t yet rung after 13 laps (you do the math). Per is fading; a victim of fate. I’m pulling through, and right as Coker goes up track the damn bell rings. Oh mama. How lucky is that? By the time the steel ball thingy hits the inside of the bell a second time, I’m off the saddle and frigging drilling it. Coker’s misplaced, the rest of the field is nonexistent (= somewhere behind me… racing is funny that way) and Per’s backside is approaching quickly. I come around him up top in the final turn and take it by 2 lengths. Isn’t Lady Luck just something else? You couldn’ta beat that smile off my face with a brick. I was stoked, but it felt like a fluke.

Second race: Progressive points. Fifteen laps, each one worth it’s name in points. The pointiest guy wins the race. I ride the first 6 laps at second wheel, letting them go. Then it heats up. Aaron nearly kills me, but I squeeze out of it. Then he takes a lap. Then Per takes one. Then I take one … et cetera. It looks as though the final sprint (15 points) will be the race. BBC guy (sorry) comes out of nowhere and takes #14… and thinks he can get #15…but is actually just giving me the perfect leadout. Coker is behind me probably just marking Per. Per, on the other hand should have been more concerned with me, but he wasn’t there and I came over BBC to take the last lap and the race.

So, overall in the omnium: a DNS (Did Not Start), a first place and another first place was worth a 2nd place on the day. Coker, me, Bjesse. That’s the biggest I’ve smiled in a while. Got a trophy, a view from the podium, and some props. And for once Heather got to see me kick a little ass. Now THAT’S a good day of racing.

Fast Twitch Friday #1 5/5/6

More track. Only this time, my 4/5 status hurt me. They (the Bike Central organizers) wouldn’t let me race with the big boys. It was, for us novices, a three-event omnium. I took all three uncontested. The other racers were peeved. I longingly watched the senior match sprints from the infield. Afterwards they said I could race senior next time. Boring story, huh?

My First Track Race: Alp. Thurs. Series Kilo 5/4/6

Sweet. Now this is a time trial that I can get into. One kilometer as fast as you can, by yourself, from a held standing start.

My 1:17.93 was good enough for first in the Cat 4/5’s (I’m a 5! My sitch is that I’ve got the legs of a 3 but the experience of, well, no experience. I expect to upgrade quickly if I can avoid crashing.).

My time was also good enough for 3rd of the 8 riders in the Cat 3’s. Out of everybody I was 7th. Looking up, here’s the guys I gotta catch (“Sr” means, like, good… like “Don’t categorize me, I’m fast. Period.”):

1 Beardsley, Steven Team Rubicon Sr 01:12.32
2 Beardsley, Doug Fred Meyer Sr 01:14.35
3 Harrison, Rambo BBC Sr 01:15.75
4 Bjesse, Per BikeCentral Cat 3 01:15.95
5 Drake, Peter Fred Meyer Sr 01:17.16
6 Coker, Aaron CMG Racing/Alpine Mortgage Cat 3 01:17.27
7 Blackwelder,Mark Veloshop Cat 4/5 01:17.93

I see it as a good sign that I’m finally on leaderboards with guys named “Per”. Hecka Euro.

The best news: I know I’m capable of going faster. Hell yeah.

Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Registration

“
I just don’t know. I need to decide right now what to do about Mt. Hood. I have my upgrade points for 3-2. Registration is almost full in both groups.

If I race Pro/1/2: I’ll get to race with Chris and Sam and a really fast field. For a moment. Then I’ll probably get time cut and go home early. Reg will cost me $155. I just feel like having Hood as one of my first Cat 2 races sounds like a bad idea. It’s like the Tour de France of Oregon, except that it’s all climbing stages. And I am a mediocre climber even among the Cat 3’s.

If I race Cat 3: I’ll race again with my team that went to WVC. I’ll have a remote shot at doing okay, maybe even winning a stage (very remote). The course is so unsuited to me that I’ll probably have trouble being competitive even among the 3’s. Reg will cost me $110. I will feel like an asshole and a coward for racing “down”.

If I don’t race: I’ll save the reg fees. I’ll burn out less, but I won’t get any stronger. I still won’t have ever raced Mt. Hood. Maybe I’ll just start focusing on track and missing Hood will help with that.
“

That’s what I wrote yesterday (to myself) right before deciding not to race Mt. Hood this year. I sent a note to my teammates saying I wasn’t going. Nobody tried to talk me out of it (though I was called a "monger"....hmm). I felt relieved.

Then I woke up today. I feel kind of better like my cold mostly went away, and last night while I was trying to go to sleep, my legs were yelling at me that they were ready for some bike racing (you know the feeling, right?). Then I started thinking about how I’m gonna feel sitting around the house knowing all my friends are racing. I’m hilarious. I was opening my mail, having coffee with Heather. I said, “Wait… It’s not sandbagging if you don’t have a shot in hell at winning!” She shook her head at me, “That’s what I said yesterday.” I got up, went to the computer and registered in the Cat 3’s. Yeehaw. It’s me, Duncan, Jess and Bene. We’re gonna go kick some spandex-clad ass.