Spring update!

Wow, it's easy to slack on the blogging...That last photo there of my nose looking to be in Ian's ass was quite a while ago, but my form is more or less the same.

Let's see, what races have gone down since then?
3/24: Independence Valley RR in my neck of the woods. The blogger, jza @ http://raceoregon.blogspot.com/ covered the race well and I wrote it up for the www.Teambobs-bicycles.com site, but the synopsis is, tough race. I missed the break and had to kill myself to not miss the 2nd group split on Michigan Hill. I big-ringed the sucker and was able to leave some fast dudes behind. I left the 2nd group behind for a while when I got in a chase group of 3, then got left behind by them, but I was able to dust Kenny and Donald in the sprint for 5th, which is not too chumpy.

I had my sights set on a winning the next day, 3/25 at Tour de Dung #2 where I've won many times. I did a good race and created what looked to be the winning break, but I was all alone and couldn't bank on support from the rear. After 100k or so we got caught by Reynolds, Williams, and McArthur, and Reynolds astutely attacked right away. Neither Stangeland nor Williams seemed much interested in chasing him right away, and I can only believe they both figured they would be helping me right into the win if they did. So, I missed out and even botched it for 2nd by basically doing a crazy effort from 700 meters out or something and ending up 5th. At least I was going for 1st and not settling for 2nd, but then again, I just should have settled for 2nd and then mocked the other's tactics. Hard to do that effectively when you blow it yourself.

Then came the end of March and I took a miss on the North Shore CR which was part of the WA Cup. If I was in the leader's jersey I'd have gone all the way up there for the 8 AM start (lame!) and chincy prize list. So I fell further back in the WA Cup...

The next day, I again was picked as a favorite and was personally feeling like I could take the win at the Cherry Pie Road Race down south in Woodland, WA since I took 3rd there last year from the break that left some good riders behind. I looked to do the same this year but I was marked pretty heavily as was Even Elken, my old travel buddy from the Broadmark days, and Doug O., the other pro in the race who was also an old road dog from B-mark.

E and I missed the winning move, but Doug didn't, and he took the win. I tried for the field sprint, but it was just too slow and bunched and I could only take 8th in the sprint and a little cash. That was frustrating for sure.

4/8 was the Brad Lewis Memorial Crit. Damn, what a trip that one of us up and died, of a heart attack no less, while racing in his team's event. I wasn't there on the day, and I'm pretty glad. It was a bit emotional taking part there this year considering what had gone down a year ago. He was one of the nicest dudes I've met in the sport and really an example of a guy that made racing and training a life-style to be respected.

Of course I wanted to do well, but it was wet and quite slippery. Hagens-Berman had a bunch of dudes and Rubicon was there with a fast squad. I simply missed the break by being too far back and then was marked by the teams. I tried chasing and had pro help from Tom P. and some from Morgan S., but those dudes were gone. I bailed with 2 to go for the meaningless sprint for $0, and called it a workout.

Then it was off to Wenatchee for some vacation and training. Did two 5+ hours rides with one of them climbing a ridiculous amount as well as being quite windy up on the Waterville Plateau. The wind made me cut my planned ride short, so I had to climb Badger Mtn. a second time to not wuss-out.

Next day rode to Leavenworth via the sweet back roads route that Tyler Farrar showed me quite a few winters ago when we hooked up for a ride. Then it was up Beaver Pass, the old State Champs course, and back on th eHwy 2 along the Wenatchee River which was super big and white-watery. There was a sweet tail wind too to make up for all the damn wind that day and the one before.

Then it was off to Ocean Shores (open sores) for two nights at the Quinalt Beach Resort that Sarah was awarded. This was near total recovery before TST. I gambled by playing some Texas hold-em which I love. I doubled-up my $40 investment then played some hands and lost it all. I'd won 3 hands in all.

TST on 4/14 was the biggest race of the year, and the first time I'd be racing with a decent sized Bob's team. Justin Rose and Mayfield, and Brandon A., and team director Tad came over to stay with me and race. Contrary to what some have believed, it was a fast race. Just because Symmetrics isn't there or lots of out of towners, it doesn't mean the field is weak or something. For one, Kenny Williams could have been there, but he chose to poach Kings Valley which a much weaker field, and Russell Stevenson was supposedly recovering from getting his ass kicked in the muddy Sea Otter pro cross-country. As far as out of towners, there were a few Canadian teams, my Idaho teammates, and quite a few Oregon riders.

The winning break contained 2 Washington riders (Adrian H. and Nathan from Garage) and the rest were 2 Canadian pros (Symmetrics and Mtb-er Ricky Federeau) and then our own Justin Rose and Oregon's H-B rider Andrew Fischer.

The weather was good that's for sure, but the pace wasn't slow. Ask anyone that was there. Being a NW Cup race I wanted to do well, and again played my cards as well as I could against the better climbers and took my 3rd 7th place at TST by dusting the 20+ second group.

I was especially pleased to capitalized on Stangeland's tactical error by making sure the tempo went way up on Dewatto right when we caught him there. He got 0 points and I 45 or something, narrowing his lead a bit. It was especially satisfying to get Justin Rose in the winning break in his first shot at the event and letting everyone know what Bob's is capable of.

I took a miss on Seward Park the next day. Been there, won that twice. A course far too easy to sit-in on and quite a cluster in the finale at times...

Now, finally getting caught up to date, Bob's sent a full team of 8 to the Tour of Walla Walla. As jza points out, this is the biggest and best amatuer focussed stage race in the NW now. With the addition of stage 1, it is also the longest amatuer event. See the write-up that I helped write for www.teambobs-bicycles.com for all the details.

In short, we did exactly what we set out to do from start to finish. I didn't really believe we could do it, but we did. We took the jersey and defended it to the end, and even finished the crit with super class by taking some primes and 2nd place with a gap. It was a huge blow to H-B but they were all gracious and congratulatory in defeat. I was especially proud at road captain for the event. I made the right calls, the guys believed in me, and our top GC guys did a great job. Our domestiques laid it all out in the big road race and kept that sucker together for 96 miles. I personally put out efforts I didn't think I was capable of, and those are the most satisfying days on the bike. 80 versus 8, and we came out on top!

There, I'm caught up. Next up is the Vance Creek Road Race where I am usually on the podium. The last time I was there I won the silver medal in the WA state RR, narrowly missing the gold which I sought as the highest tribute and dedication to my mother who had just lost her battle with lung cancer. Maybe I will take my first win of the year there and dedicate it to her memory? I be flying solo, but that hasn't stopped me before.