By Galen Erickson,
This year Boston Harbor was a mere 7 laps on the six mile course making it 42 miles. Attending from Gin Optics were Ian, Colin, Dux, Erik and me. We knew it was going to be a fast, hard race so the plan was to follow moves early and save matches for the later moves.
Ian and I would follow this plan for about a half a lap, then start launching attacks like rabid wombats on crack. Our main competition at the race was Herriot sports performance who has been riding well and had put the hurt to us on Saturday. With every attack I was thinking weather they were in there, if they were chasing etc. All other riders seemed somewhat superfluous. So we attacked, followed, hunted our prey.
At five and a half laps to go I got off the front with Stanko, and Feishour. As we were caught Brent Davis from Lenovo attacked. I figured it was a good chance to force Herriott to work so I jumped to bridge (countering my own move). I looked back and sure enough, Tod was chasing me down. But as I powered forward, feeling a little gassed, I wondered if I had done more harm to him or me. As I was caught, Dux appropriately scolded me for riding like an idiot.
We all sat in for a couple of miles with Davis still off the front. Then Herriot attacked with Kyle on his wheel, Ian jumped on it to follow. This would be the strongest move of the day. They quickly put in about 30 seconds. Apparently up in the break, Brent was playing the ‘wanker card’ and not pulling through. So Ian and Todd took turns gapping him off the back then getting back to pulling. Eventually they shed Davis and locked in a powerful rotation.
Back in the pack, a couple riders put in a strong, steady chase for half a lap. Then the chase turned into a number of bridge attempts by Beardsley, Stanko and others. I sat on Richters wheel and rode the train as I watched all the big guns ride themselves into the dirt trying to catch the break. I thought, “Well, I guess it will be me and Richter.” Sure enough, riding up the hill approaching three laps to go, Richter accelerated as his teammate Fleishour let a gap open. I came around Flash and latched onto Richter and that was it, we had a gap. We caught and blew by a wines rider and somebody else, who were messing around off the front, then locked in a steady burn.
The two of us would slowly increase the gap from 30, to 40 then 50 seconds which was the last split I heard before the finish. I let Richter lead out the sprint, hoping to time my jump to come around him. I got schooled. Dave threw up his hands in victory just as a gust of wind blew and almost crashed him out. But he was able to recover. I congratulated Dave on a good race and remembered last year when he and I finished that race on the verge of a fistfight.
Back in the pack Ian and Herriott were shutting down peoples weak attempts at bridging or chasing. Coming into the finish Colin and Dux pulled it all together beautifully to lead Ian out for a crushing pack sprint.
As the group rolled towards me past the finish line I saw Ian throw up three fingers. I threw up a peace sign. We both went home with medallions.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Capitol Crit: Proof of the Consistency of The Universe.
By Ian Mensher,
There aren't many things that remain constant as the years go by. This is especially true of bodies, fitness, weather, hairlines. Cycling seems to have its share of anomalous paradigms, usually with regard to pavement. Sure, some courses have potholes that get huge, swallow riders, and then get filled the next year. But the Capital Crit, which I've done about 7 years defies entropy. The course is a hillier crit than most, but it features and great little chicane and some fun, fast turns. Those, obviously, stay the same. But the cracks, potholes and raised lights have been and continue to be the same. At first, I was surprised to see that our state capital building's streets are in sad disrepair. But I've become more fascinated by my belief that the holes haven't really even changed. The lines down the descent are all the same--the same crack that grabs your wheel, the same pothole in turn one that throws you off your line or tests your wheels' durability, and the same craters up on the top straight away.
The capital crit is always spottily attended, even when it was the state champs. But it usually just makes it harder. This was the case today. It was essentially a face off between Gin O and Herriot's team, as other big guns were out of town. We had a small crew: Colin, Galen and me. Beardsley from the Lovers was also in attendance. We set about to make the race hard, try to get someone in the break and avoid Richter taking top 6, so as to preserve Jamie's Washington Cup lead. This was a long shot, as it would have taken a big break to make it happen. Nonetheless, we attacked and attacked.
Galen got up there in some great moves, but the chemistry never quite worked out. Instead, he took a couple of primes, cash and some video production services (uhhhhh). Colin launched himself into a nice move with two other guys and they stayed away for a few laps. I took one prime in a solo effort that lasted a few laps with about 20 minutes to go. G bridged up with Herriot and we got chased down. Herriot punched it with Galen flagging and that was the end of the race. He rode the last 8 laps by himself, despite our efforts to reign him in. When the money prime got announced, G throttled himself to make it up there, but the gap and the hill were too much. With 1 to go G had gotten me at the front for a lap and it looked good until Herriot's team surged up the left on the hill and caught us out. I had to jump to get back in the top 10 and failed to execute a few dicey maneuvers to get up to top spots. 7th in the sprint was a bit of a disappointment, but a good race to learn from. G and Colin cruised in close behind and we were primed for some Sunday Fury.
There aren't many things that remain constant as the years go by. This is especially true of bodies, fitness, weather, hairlines. Cycling seems to have its share of anomalous paradigms, usually with regard to pavement. Sure, some courses have potholes that get huge, swallow riders, and then get filled the next year. But the Capital Crit, which I've done about 7 years defies entropy. The course is a hillier crit than most, but it features and great little chicane and some fun, fast turns. Those, obviously, stay the same. But the cracks, potholes and raised lights have been and continue to be the same. At first, I was surprised to see that our state capital building's streets are in sad disrepair. But I've become more fascinated by my belief that the holes haven't really even changed. The lines down the descent are all the same--the same crack that grabs your wheel, the same pothole in turn one that throws you off your line or tests your wheels' durability, and the same craters up on the top straight away.
The capital crit is always spottily attended, even when it was the state champs. But it usually just makes it harder. This was the case today. It was essentially a face off between Gin O and Herriot's team, as other big guns were out of town. We had a small crew: Colin, Galen and me. Beardsley from the Lovers was also in attendance. We set about to make the race hard, try to get someone in the break and avoid Richter taking top 6, so as to preserve Jamie's Washington Cup lead. This was a long shot, as it would have taken a big break to make it happen. Nonetheless, we attacked and attacked.
Galen got up there in some great moves, but the chemistry never quite worked out. Instead, he took a couple of primes, cash and some video production services (uhhhhh). Colin launched himself into a nice move with two other guys and they stayed away for a few laps. I took one prime in a solo effort that lasted a few laps with about 20 minutes to go. G bridged up with Herriot and we got chased down. Herriot punched it with Galen flagging and that was the end of the race. He rode the last 8 laps by himself, despite our efforts to reign him in. When the money prime got announced, G throttled himself to make it up there, but the gap and the hill were too much. With 1 to go G had gotten me at the front for a lap and it looked good until Herriot's team surged up the left on the hill and caught us out. I had to jump to get back in the top 10 and failed to execute a few dicey maneuvers to get up to top spots. 7th in the sprint was a bit of a disappointment, but a good race to learn from. G and Colin cruised in close behind and we were primed for some Sunday Fury.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Ravensdale Cumberland Road Race (87 miles)
By Galen Erickson,
Attending from the Gin Optics Cycling team were Colin, Dux, JOD, Jamie, Ian and I. This was the second to last Washington Cup race with Jamie leading Dave Richter by 85 points. Ideally Jamie would gain some points on Richter but in the least, we wanted to make sure Righter didn’t gain any on Jamie.
The race began with a blistering attack by Ian. Jamie countered and strung out the pack further. Riders pummeled themselves to catch Jamie and as they did Ian countered. He got a nice little gap off the front with a few others. But the pack was still hungry, a couple tried to bridge then a few more, then the pack was chasing them down hard.
I felt a sigh of relief as we caught them and the pace slowed up. I was getting pretty worked just trying to hang in as others chased and it was nice to have the speed drop below 30. But I figured if I was feeling worked so was everybody else so it would actually be a good time to get away. I decided to do a Stangeland signature, seated acceleration and it worked like a charm.
It’s funny how so much of racing is instinct. I guess it has to be when you are riding so hard that your brain get’s depleted of all oxygen. When riders see someone standing up attacking, they attack too. But when someone is just sitting down moving up, that knee jerk reaction is not triggered.
So I rolled off the front and settled into a steady grind. Within a mile I was joined by three others, Mike Hone, Dan Mensher (Ian’s brother on the Gentle Lovers team) and Trevor from the Valley; all strong riders. I figured this break was good. We rotated for a while but when our gap was staying well below one minute we switched to doing 30 second pulls, team time trial style. Drilling it like so we pushed our gap up a little over a minute where it would stay for the next 50 or so miles.
At about 20 miles to go the lead care informed us that there was a chase of two coming up to us. I was pretty sure that if two people got away from the pack that one of them would be a teammate. I considered sitting in and waiting for them, but I could not be sure, so I continued to rotate through. A few miles later we dropped Trevor. Shortly thereafter I looked back and could make out two light colored Jerseys. One of them had to by Gin. I looked again and saw the arms of one of the riders waving at me. It was Gin. So I sat in and told the others that it was my team chasing.
Sure enough, it was Ian with Patrick Stanko. Apparently they had been pulling for a while and, as we would hear when the race was over, Jamie was solo chasing the two of them but couldn’t quite catch them. Number one item on the team grocery list: Race Radios.
Once Ian and Stanko had caught us we settled into a rhythm again to make sure we kept our lead over the pack. But I soon ran out of food, then water, then, at about 7 miles to go, my legs began to cramp. I sat out a couple of rotations. I asked Ian if he had any extra food or water. He gave me a chocolate Agave gel and some water. That helped a little but my legs were not getting any less tired.
With two of us in the break, it made sense for us to do the attacking. As we approached the hard left turn at about five miles to go all other’s stopped pulling through. Ian looked over at me, “Are you ready?” I nodded. I cruised through the corner and as always happens when I am riding my Challenge tires, I carved the turn faster than most everybody else. I had a little gap so I figured I would get these attacks started and punched it up the short hill.
Just as I crested it I was caught by Mike with Ian on his wheel. I jumped onto Ian’s wheel and tried to rest a little. The pace slowed, and Dan and Stanko caught back on. Ian attacked. The others chased, I sat in. We caught Ian. My legs, at this point, were on the fine line between mushy uselessness and contorted cramps but there were two of us in the break and the others were probably tired too; so I attacked. Either they would tire themselves out working to catch me while Ian could sit in or they would decide that they didn’t want to pull Ian to the line and let me go. So I went and it hurt.
I stayed off the front for a few miles as tears began to form in the corners of my eyes. The others were not going to let me get away and they worked together to reel me in. As they caught me, Mike attacked. Ian jumped onto his wheel. I let them go. Stanko powered forward and I got on his wheel. We dropped Dan Mensher. Stanko and I caught Ian and Mike just as we approached the turn for the uphill finish at one Kilometer to go.
As I knew I could take the corner faster than anyone else, I went ahead and attacked in the corner and got a good little gap. It is quite possible I went a little too hard at the base of a one Kilometer climb because my legs filled with lactic pretty quick. I soon saw Hone ride by with Ian close behind. Apparently as I attacked, Stanko came by Ian as he was accelerating, they crossed wheels and Ian almost went down. He had to clip out both feet but stayed upright. Clipping back in, he hit the throttle and caught Hone who was charging ahead but the surge at the beginning of the climb loaded his legs as well. Mike Hone, who was pedaling smooth and hard, pulled away for the win. I caught Ian and the two of us rolled in second and third followed by Stanko and Dan Mensher.
The next group to hit the base of the climb included Richter, Ongars (first race back?) and Jamie. There must have been some kind of demons at the base of that climb because, at the same place were Ian almost Went down, Jamie Dropped his chain. Dave and Shawn rolled in one after another with Jamie a ways back looking a little pissed off as he crossed the line. Dave, in the end, would make a couple points on Jamie. Colin and JOD would roll in shortly thereafter in the small finishing group (about a third of the pack did not finish).
All in all, it was a strong performance by the Gin Optics Cycling Team. With a few radios we might have been able to have three men in the winning break. But still, we raced a good race and, in my opinion, stepped up the caliber of racing in the northwest.
Attending from the Gin Optics Cycling team were Colin, Dux, JOD, Jamie, Ian and I. This was the second to last Washington Cup race with Jamie leading Dave Richter by 85 points. Ideally Jamie would gain some points on Richter but in the least, we wanted to make sure Righter didn’t gain any on Jamie.
The race began with a blistering attack by Ian. Jamie countered and strung out the pack further. Riders pummeled themselves to catch Jamie and as they did Ian countered. He got a nice little gap off the front with a few others. But the pack was still hungry, a couple tried to bridge then a few more, then the pack was chasing them down hard.
I felt a sigh of relief as we caught them and the pace slowed up. I was getting pretty worked just trying to hang in as others chased and it was nice to have the speed drop below 30. But I figured if I was feeling worked so was everybody else so it would actually be a good time to get away. I decided to do a Stangeland signature, seated acceleration and it worked like a charm.
It’s funny how so much of racing is instinct. I guess it has to be when you are riding so hard that your brain get’s depleted of all oxygen. When riders see someone standing up attacking, they attack too. But when someone is just sitting down moving up, that knee jerk reaction is not triggered.
So I rolled off the front and settled into a steady grind. Within a mile I was joined by three others, Mike Hone, Dan Mensher (Ian’s brother on the Gentle Lovers team) and Trevor from the Valley; all strong riders. I figured this break was good. We rotated for a while but when our gap was staying well below one minute we switched to doing 30 second pulls, team time trial style. Drilling it like so we pushed our gap up a little over a minute where it would stay for the next 50 or so miles.
At about 20 miles to go the lead care informed us that there was a chase of two coming up to us. I was pretty sure that if two people got away from the pack that one of them would be a teammate. I considered sitting in and waiting for them, but I could not be sure, so I continued to rotate through. A few miles later we dropped Trevor. Shortly thereafter I looked back and could make out two light colored Jerseys. One of them had to by Gin. I looked again and saw the arms of one of the riders waving at me. It was Gin. So I sat in and told the others that it was my team chasing.
Sure enough, it was Ian with Patrick Stanko. Apparently they had been pulling for a while and, as we would hear when the race was over, Jamie was solo chasing the two of them but couldn’t quite catch them. Number one item on the team grocery list: Race Radios.
Once Ian and Stanko had caught us we settled into a rhythm again to make sure we kept our lead over the pack. But I soon ran out of food, then water, then, at about 7 miles to go, my legs began to cramp. I sat out a couple of rotations. I asked Ian if he had any extra food or water. He gave me a chocolate Agave gel and some water. That helped a little but my legs were not getting any less tired.
With two of us in the break, it made sense for us to do the attacking. As we approached the hard left turn at about five miles to go all other’s stopped pulling through. Ian looked over at me, “Are you ready?” I nodded. I cruised through the corner and as always happens when I am riding my Challenge tires, I carved the turn faster than most everybody else. I had a little gap so I figured I would get these attacks started and punched it up the short hill.
Just as I crested it I was caught by Mike with Ian on his wheel. I jumped onto Ian’s wheel and tried to rest a little. The pace slowed, and Dan and Stanko caught back on. Ian attacked. The others chased, I sat in. We caught Ian. My legs, at this point, were on the fine line between mushy uselessness and contorted cramps but there were two of us in the break and the others were probably tired too; so I attacked. Either they would tire themselves out working to catch me while Ian could sit in or they would decide that they didn’t want to pull Ian to the line and let me go. So I went and it hurt.
I stayed off the front for a few miles as tears began to form in the corners of my eyes. The others were not going to let me get away and they worked together to reel me in. As they caught me, Mike attacked. Ian jumped onto his wheel. I let them go. Stanko powered forward and I got on his wheel. We dropped Dan Mensher. Stanko and I caught Ian and Mike just as we approached the turn for the uphill finish at one Kilometer to go.
As I knew I could take the corner faster than anyone else, I went ahead and attacked in the corner and got a good little gap. It is quite possible I went a little too hard at the base of a one Kilometer climb because my legs filled with lactic pretty quick. I soon saw Hone ride by with Ian close behind. Apparently as I attacked, Stanko came by Ian as he was accelerating, they crossed wheels and Ian almost went down. He had to clip out both feet but stayed upright. Clipping back in, he hit the throttle and caught Hone who was charging ahead but the surge at the beginning of the climb loaded his legs as well. Mike Hone, who was pedaling smooth and hard, pulled away for the win. I caught Ian and the two of us rolled in second and third followed by Stanko and Dan Mensher.
The next group to hit the base of the climb included Richter, Ongars (first race back?) and Jamie. There must have been some kind of demons at the base of that climb because, at the same place were Ian almost Went down, Jamie Dropped his chain. Dave and Shawn rolled in one after another with Jamie a ways back looking a little pissed off as he crossed the line. Dave, in the end, would make a couple points on Jamie. Colin and JOD would roll in shortly thereafter in the small finishing group (about a third of the pack did not finish).
All in all, it was a strong performance by the Gin Optics Cycling Team. With a few radios we might have been able to have three men in the winning break. But still, we raced a good race and, in my opinion, stepped up the caliber of racing in the northwest.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The Ballard Twighlight Crit
By Ian Mensher,
Sometimes you hardly think about a race until you get to the start line. A peacefulness might descend over you. You almost forget that you're on your bike or that you are about to face the pressures of dogging it out with a bunch of other riders. Speed is irrelevant. Little expectation, no real worries about the course or your performance. The Ballard Crit is not one of these races.
The Ballard Crit ranks up there as one of those races that makes me want to perform at levels that I don't usually see the rest of the year. It's the crowds. It's the cobbles. It's the possibility of wet cobbles. It's the history of eating shit at least once every time I've done the race. It's the nerves manifest in repeat trips to the bathroom. But I love it! And, we Gininjas love it!
This saturday was promised to be a real crucible of pain. No Canadians to throw elbows for fortieth or ride corners like Cat 4s. But lots of local faces and some others from down south. My brother came up from Portland with fellow Gentle Lover Steven Beardsley to wreak a little havoc on the local riders. The Gininjas took the line with Dux, Galen, Colin, Jamie, and me, ready to take on about 50 or so other riders, including Richter, Kenny, Cooper Lange (HB) and a host of other big dudes. Chad was on the sidelines, as was Ronny and his son. Lots of friends and family out there with the druken hordes to change what could otherwise be just another Seward Park race into a special event.
Unlike in past years, the weather was near perfect. Cool and a bit sunny with little threat of rain. We had some wind in our faces on the back stretch. This, according to Dux, was a good thing.
The start was fast from the gun. The pavement, as usual, was bumpy but utterly rideable. There were some fun lines through the turns, where you could end up on the sidewalk and cut through a few spots. I took a couple of flyers off the front to little avail. I seemed to have bad positioning for the primes, which were mostly gels. Jamie and Galen were up there throwing down with the attacks and covering moves. Colin and Dux were covering moves left and right, riding their usual badass selves. I relaxed for a bit and tried to take a prime, but Beardsley jumped me out of corner four and thoroughly demoralized me in the sprint. I determined to make him pay just a little, so I got him on my wheel and we took turns trying to keep a gap that opened up. Though it seemed like a good move, we got reeled in after a lap or so.
Galen got in a nice move with a good mix of riders, but like much of the efforts of the night, it was brought back. A few laps later I was back at the front when Sam Johnson took off with a lenovo guy on his wheel. Oddly enough another Lenovo and HB guy started to chase their own teammates (SWEET!) and I sat on. The Lenovo guys peeled off and it left the HB guy pulling me up to Sam. It wasn't until we were through corner four that the HB guy realized I was riding him like a pony, but it was too late for him to take me to the curb. I made it around Sam with a good bit of distance and secured some sweet, sweet hammer gels....
The gamblers prime went to Higgins who was dangling off the front at the right time. Well done! Towards the end, I tried to get myself on Jamie's and Galen's wheels to get the leadout train going. There was a lot of pushing and elbowing going on, notably from Ian Crane, who was practicing some sort of Keirin style bullshit that might have served him well in the 3s, but was just plain weak. Jamie told him exactly how he felt and we seemed to see the elbows stay closer in. With one to go, I was on G's wheel and he was on Jamie's. Corner one was tiiight and we made it through. But I got a little gapped from G and had to fight back to his wheel. Jamie was further ahead and when we went into corner four, I was barely in the top ten when Hainsworth went wide and separated me from G. I came out of corner four way wide, which was good. Some Herriot Sprouts bullshit was going on left side, and I closed my eyes and shot up the right. I passed several and got up to Kenny and Richter to take 4th. Beardsley, that sweet lover, had sprinted out of corner three hotter than hott sexx on the beach and won by a mile. He also handily took the $100 prime. So we'll be rethinking our alliance with GL until they give us a share of their earnings. Jamie and Galen finished 9th and 10th, so it was a well-rounded affair! Not bad, considering the amount of work they did to lead out what turned out to be a too timid teammate--me. But we're dialing it in.
This was by far the best Ballard I've done. Even at 30+mph through the turns I was relaxed and really enjoying the insanity of it all. Thanks to stellar teammates and the encouragement of the crowd.
Beers until 12:30 capped with some milkshakes at Dicks (thanks Ronnie!) closed the cover on a great night of racing.
Sometimes you hardly think about a race until you get to the start line. A peacefulness might descend over you. You almost forget that you're on your bike or that you are about to face the pressures of dogging it out with a bunch of other riders. Speed is irrelevant. Little expectation, no real worries about the course or your performance. The Ballard Crit is not one of these races.
The Ballard Crit ranks up there as one of those races that makes me want to perform at levels that I don't usually see the rest of the year. It's the crowds. It's the cobbles. It's the possibility of wet cobbles. It's the history of eating shit at least once every time I've done the race. It's the nerves manifest in repeat trips to the bathroom. But I love it! And, we Gininjas love it!
This saturday was promised to be a real crucible of pain. No Canadians to throw elbows for fortieth or ride corners like Cat 4s. But lots of local faces and some others from down south. My brother came up from Portland with fellow Gentle Lover Steven Beardsley to wreak a little havoc on the local riders. The Gininjas took the line with Dux, Galen, Colin, Jamie, and me, ready to take on about 50 or so other riders, including Richter, Kenny, Cooper Lange (HB) and a host of other big dudes. Chad was on the sidelines, as was Ronny and his son. Lots of friends and family out there with the druken hordes to change what could otherwise be just another Seward Park race into a special event.
Unlike in past years, the weather was near perfect. Cool and a bit sunny with little threat of rain. We had some wind in our faces on the back stretch. This, according to Dux, was a good thing.
The start was fast from the gun. The pavement, as usual, was bumpy but utterly rideable. There were some fun lines through the turns, where you could end up on the sidewalk and cut through a few spots. I took a couple of flyers off the front to little avail. I seemed to have bad positioning for the primes, which were mostly gels. Jamie and Galen were up there throwing down with the attacks and covering moves. Colin and Dux were covering moves left and right, riding their usual badass selves. I relaxed for a bit and tried to take a prime, but Beardsley jumped me out of corner four and thoroughly demoralized me in the sprint. I determined to make him pay just a little, so I got him on my wheel and we took turns trying to keep a gap that opened up. Though it seemed like a good move, we got reeled in after a lap or so.
Galen got in a nice move with a good mix of riders, but like much of the efforts of the night, it was brought back. A few laps later I was back at the front when Sam Johnson took off with a lenovo guy on his wheel. Oddly enough another Lenovo and HB guy started to chase their own teammates (SWEET!) and I sat on. The Lenovo guys peeled off and it left the HB guy pulling me up to Sam. It wasn't until we were through corner four that the HB guy realized I was riding him like a pony, but it was too late for him to take me to the curb. I made it around Sam with a good bit of distance and secured some sweet, sweet hammer gels....
The gamblers prime went to Higgins who was dangling off the front at the right time. Well done! Towards the end, I tried to get myself on Jamie's and Galen's wheels to get the leadout train going. There was a lot of pushing and elbowing going on, notably from Ian Crane, who was practicing some sort of Keirin style bullshit that might have served him well in the 3s, but was just plain weak. Jamie told him exactly how he felt and we seemed to see the elbows stay closer in. With one to go, I was on G's wheel and he was on Jamie's. Corner one was tiiight and we made it through. But I got a little gapped from G and had to fight back to his wheel. Jamie was further ahead and when we went into corner four, I was barely in the top ten when Hainsworth went wide and separated me from G. I came out of corner four way wide, which was good. Some Herriot Sprouts bullshit was going on left side, and I closed my eyes and shot up the right. I passed several and got up to Kenny and Richter to take 4th. Beardsley, that sweet lover, had sprinted out of corner three hotter than hott sexx on the beach and won by a mile. He also handily took the $100 prime. So we'll be rethinking our alliance with GL until they give us a share of their earnings. Jamie and Galen finished 9th and 10th, so it was a well-rounded affair! Not bad, considering the amount of work they did to lead out what turned out to be a too timid teammate--me. But we're dialing it in.
This was by far the best Ballard I've done. Even at 30+mph through the turns I was relaxed and really enjoying the insanity of it all. Thanks to stellar teammates and the encouragement of the crowd.
Beers until 12:30 capped with some milkshakes at Dicks (thanks Ronnie!) closed the cover on a great night of racing.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Enumclaw Omnium
By Ian Mensher,
TT: The usual suspects were there, which by now includes every semi, quasi and full time pro Canadia apparently has to offer. Routley crushed the TT, where the times were way up from years past. A quick survey showed that top 20 times this year would have been more like top 5 ones in years past where the weather was dry. Jamie rolled a sweet 13:04 which put him in 5th position. I was 13:27 and in 17th. Colin rolled a 15 something without aero equipment and beat Heather to secure his manhood. The weather was hot and dry and made for a good race.
Crit: After eating mounds of "scramble" at the Kettle, we sat in the shade to watch hordes of racers go by. The masters race featured some sweet action as Gallagher was on the prowl to defend his TT win. In typical fashion, he pushed his luck and ended up in the beauty bark on the second to last turn (mostly unscathed) and Gary Brown took the sprint. Our race was decidedly fast. Jamie prowled the front, took a few primes and got in one of the few breaks of the race. I stayed out of trouble with Colin in the middle, avoiding one Canadian who decided to test out whether he could clip his pedal on the ground while going straight. Turns out you can!! Took a free lap and ended up getting put in between the solo leader and the pack (Phil Miller wasn't there...). So I stayed up at the front of the group and tried for one overall point prime, only to effectively lead out Routley, who took it easily. I hurt good after that and sat in while Jamie took on the front. In the end the Canadian hockey-style of riding resulted in so-so results. On the one hand Jamie got curbed by an H&R block guy who went from far left to far right (e.g., the CURB) and took Jamie out of the top 5 with one lap to go. On the other hand, I was feeling less confident that the chopping and corner diving wouldn't result in my death and thus backed off a little more than I should have in the final lap. I sprinted for 13th and the few points I could get. Colin was comfortably in the field and looked smooth as usual.
RR: This was a fast race. We got off to some attacks before the climb and a few groups formed and we pulled back. Finally about 4 guys got off and we let them get about 45 seconds or so. The first of five assaults on the hill was hard, but things stayed mostly together. Everyone pretty much regrouped after the hill and we kept the break in sight. KOM points went 2 deep for the overall and so that motivated a few guys to go hard even though they seemed to fail to realize there were dudes up the road taking the points. Up the hill the second time we sort of hit insanity pace and it hurt hard to stay up in the front. Everything seemed to regroup pretty well, but I think we lost Colin at this point. He did return back up the hill, riding with DJ MC Rob Campbell, who had the misfortune of having his lip stung by a bee. In the flats before the third climb, we let Herriot, a Red Truck (Rob Britton)and an H&R guy roll off. We pretty much sat up and they got a 3 minute gap quickly. The pace up the hill was much more mellow, which allowed me to express my distaste for the constant wheel chopping and hockey-style racing that Red Truck et al was showing us. They'd just fuck with you to hold a wheel about 20 guys back from the front, making little furtive darts here and there like they'd take your front wheel out if you weren't careful. So up the hill I started to yell at various americans to start chopping wheels and for god's sake, get the good position. It ended in Jamie yelling some more chopping encouragement and me fake "skeet skeet skeeting" (see Chapelle Show) in lil' Steve Fischer's face (sorry Steve). The H&R guy got dropped the fourth time up the hill, I think, but Herriot and Britton were solidly in the lead. H&R tried to do some work, but didn't have much power. The fourth time up was hard, but not miserable. Leadign up to the fifth I got in a move that I thought could play out, but it was a no-go. The climb was a tough one and 6 guys slipped off in the last little pitch. We pulled all together on the upper section and headed down hill. Jamie did a fucking rad job of staying up at the front with me glued on his wheel. We were top 5 or so coming into the turn, which put us 1 k from the straight finish. Kenny ramped it up and then two red truck guys darted out, which prompted Jamie's immediate response to hop on the wheel. From 250 m out, Jamie was full throttle. I put on zee afterburners and realized I had a ridiculously sweet gap with about 50m to go, which was good because an SUV was driving at 5mph in the right hand lane. Photos on Amara's sight capture Jamie going across the line just behind Richter and a Red Truck ( http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2009/Enumclaw/RR/P12/pages/94AD7327esr.htm) . The photo is great because it hides the fact that both of Jamie's legs were completely seized from his superhuman effort and because it shows the faces of the spectators who are freaking out about the SUV. So I took 9th and Jamie was 12th, which put Jamie in 12th overall and me in 13th. Not a bad result given the stiff competition, heat, and overabundance of testosterone in the competition.
So that's my story. We drank beer afterwards....
TT: The usual suspects were there, which by now includes every semi, quasi and full time pro Canadia apparently has to offer. Routley crushed the TT, where the times were way up from years past. A quick survey showed that top 20 times this year would have been more like top 5 ones in years past where the weather was dry. Jamie rolled a sweet 13:04 which put him in 5th position. I was 13:27 and in 17th. Colin rolled a 15 something without aero equipment and beat Heather to secure his manhood. The weather was hot and dry and made for a good race.
Crit: After eating mounds of "scramble" at the Kettle, we sat in the shade to watch hordes of racers go by. The masters race featured some sweet action as Gallagher was on the prowl to defend his TT win. In typical fashion, he pushed his luck and ended up in the beauty bark on the second to last turn (mostly unscathed) and Gary Brown took the sprint. Our race was decidedly fast. Jamie prowled the front, took a few primes and got in one of the few breaks of the race. I stayed out of trouble with Colin in the middle, avoiding one Canadian who decided to test out whether he could clip his pedal on the ground while going straight. Turns out you can!! Took a free lap and ended up getting put in between the solo leader and the pack (Phil Miller wasn't there...). So I stayed up at the front of the group and tried for one overall point prime, only to effectively lead out Routley, who took it easily. I hurt good after that and sat in while Jamie took on the front. In the end the Canadian hockey-style of riding resulted in so-so results. On the one hand Jamie got curbed by an H&R block guy who went from far left to far right (e.g., the CURB) and took Jamie out of the top 5 with one lap to go. On the other hand, I was feeling less confident that the chopping and corner diving wouldn't result in my death and thus backed off a little more than I should have in the final lap. I sprinted for 13th and the few points I could get. Colin was comfortably in the field and looked smooth as usual.
RR: This was a fast race. We got off to some attacks before the climb and a few groups formed and we pulled back. Finally about 4 guys got off and we let them get about 45 seconds or so. The first of five assaults on the hill was hard, but things stayed mostly together. Everyone pretty much regrouped after the hill and we kept the break in sight. KOM points went 2 deep for the overall and so that motivated a few guys to go hard even though they seemed to fail to realize there were dudes up the road taking the points. Up the hill the second time we sort of hit insanity pace and it hurt hard to stay up in the front. Everything seemed to regroup pretty well, but I think we lost Colin at this point. He did return back up the hill, riding with DJ MC Rob Campbell, who had the misfortune of having his lip stung by a bee. In the flats before the third climb, we let Herriot, a Red Truck (Rob Britton)and an H&R guy roll off. We pretty much sat up and they got a 3 minute gap quickly. The pace up the hill was much more mellow, which allowed me to express my distaste for the constant wheel chopping and hockey-style racing that Red Truck et al was showing us. They'd just fuck with you to hold a wheel about 20 guys back from the front, making little furtive darts here and there like they'd take your front wheel out if you weren't careful. So up the hill I started to yell at various americans to start chopping wheels and for god's sake, get the good position. It ended in Jamie yelling some more chopping encouragement and me fake "skeet skeet skeeting" (see Chapelle Show) in lil' Steve Fischer's face (sorry Steve). The H&R guy got dropped the fourth time up the hill, I think, but Herriot and Britton were solidly in the lead. H&R tried to do some work, but didn't have much power. The fourth time up was hard, but not miserable. Leadign up to the fifth I got in a move that I thought could play out, but it was a no-go. The climb was a tough one and 6 guys slipped off in the last little pitch. We pulled all together on the upper section and headed down hill. Jamie did a fucking rad job of staying up at the front with me glued on his wheel. We were top 5 or so coming into the turn, which put us 1 k from the straight finish. Kenny ramped it up and then two red truck guys darted out, which prompted Jamie's immediate response to hop on the wheel. From 250 m out, Jamie was full throttle. I put on zee afterburners and realized I had a ridiculously sweet gap with about 50m to go, which was good because an SUV was driving at 5mph in the right hand lane. Photos on Amara's sight capture Jamie going across the line just behind Richter and a Red Truck ( http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2009/Enumclaw/RR/P12/pages/94AD7327esr.htm) . The photo is great because it hides the fact that both of Jamie's legs were completely seized from his superhuman effort and because it shows the faces of the spectators who are freaking out about the SUV. So I took 9th and Jamie was 12th, which put Jamie in 12th overall and me in 13th. Not a bad result given the stiff competition, heat, and overabundance of testosterone in the competition.
So that's my story. We drank beer afterwards....
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Circular motion
I have spent and will continue to spend hours and hours grooming my pedal stroke on a bicycle. The mechanical act of turning the pedals is a simple one, but the desire I have to make that mechanical act as smooth, round, and efficient as possible has occupied me for much of my life. It’s not that I think so much in terms that a smooth, round pedal stroke will get me from point A to point B with efficiency; it is more that I want that pedal stroke to be smooth and round for its own sake. Most of the time, I do not use my bicycle as a tool of transportation. I don’t use it to get anywhere. I go places on it (sometimes these rides are practical, but most of the time I ride my bicycle simply for its own sake), but my destination is always home. I use it as a tool to gain mental and physical fitness and health, and I use it as a tool for competition. I get these uses out of my bicycle by turning perfect circles with my feet. The motion I make with my feet mirrors the layout of every one of my rides: I leave from my home and return to it again.
All rides end where they begin. The true destination of all travel is to return home again. The physical nature of the globe dictates that if one walked away from one’s home and kept at it, one would return home with out ever having turned around. My feet pedal perfect circles and the cycle of the school year begins anew. What had ended has now begun in a progression that is seamless and round. As a high school English teacher, my life is governed by this cycle, and it is reflected in my pedal stroke, in the rides I take, in growing a year older every July 15th, in the birth of my children, and in the celebration of the anniversary of my marriage.
John Donne wrote in his poem, “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”, where a dying (or departing, depends on how you want to read it) man speaks to his spouse: “you draw my circle just, and make me end where I begun.” I pedal perfect circles with my feet, and I find that motion at the core of my life’s meaning. If I can pedal a good circle, I can “draw my circle just.” In this light there is no difference between my pedal stroke, myself, and the circular patterns in my life. In my effort to pedal quality circles, I go away, and I come back. I read literature, and I extend my understanding of its meaning back over my intellectual experience and beyond it. I read the same literature again, and I find that intellectual circle I followed the last time did not extend quite far enough and I redraw it. I often do the redrawing while I am pedaling circles. I leave, and I come back. I was born, and I will die. My life is built upon the principles and balance of forces that produce circular motion.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wenatchee Omnium
Wenatchee, what a place. These are the three race reports from this hot weekend. The TT report was written by Jamie, the crit report by me (Galen) and the Raod race by Ian.
The TT:
A report for a TT?
The starter said "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!"
I went.
It was hard.
I turned around a cone
It was still hard.
I went fast, but not fast enough.
I took 6th place.
The Crit:
One of the nice things about having a crit at 8:15 is that by that time the heat of the day had settled to a pleasant 70 degrees. What did not improve was the humidity or lack thereof in the air. While warming up talking to JOD, my voice started to sound like Tom Waits after a long whisky and cigarette binge. A little water helped but once the race started there was no keeping the throat dry. I heard one rider compare it to breathing hay.
Attending from Gin Optics were Jamie, Ian, Colin, JOD, Tyler and I (Galen) to take on the best of the northwest including Ian McKissic (BMC pro team), Will Routley (Jelly Belly pro team), and a bunch of Canadian pro teams. As the race began, Ian and Colin went straight to the front and covered a few early moves. A few others moved up to keep track of what was happening up there. As they were reeled in I followed a counter. As we were caught another few launched. I sat up and Jamie throttled himself forward to complete a good looking group of four that put in a 15+ second gap. These four stayed off for 20 or so mintues, as riders from the pack attempted bridges and I rode to the front and coasted through corners.
At one point I saw Will Routley jump on the right. I attacked on the left side. Just a few moments too late, I was not able to catch his wheel as he bridged up to the four. Seeing double and breathing straw I did not make the gap. But a few more attacks brought the pack within striking range and a few more bridged up. Then a few more. Finally the front group was about 12 guys with riders attacking off the front. It was clear that this would be the pack split. Ian and I were able to clear the gap, I don’t know that anyone else was.
From here on out it was kind of a blur. I know Ian was robbed for a prime by a little more than a tire’s width. With two laps to go I was feeling like toasted, straw breathing dog crap but somehow I was able to move up to the front where Jamie was sitting third wheel. I figured I would see if I could set up a lead out for our GC guy.
At a lap and a half to go an H&R block rider attacked with David Richter on his wheel. I moved to cover but a red truck rider got in between Jamie and I. At one lap to go sitting at the front of the pack, the smart thing for me to do would have been to abandon any leadout attempt and look for my own finish and let Jamie ride someone else’s wheel to the finish. But insecure and unsure, like a confused, straw breathing child I attempted to let a few riders pass me and find Jamie for the leadout. This, of course only created a mess with guys going around me with Jamie on one’s wheel and me getting gobbled up by the pack throttling towards the finish.
I would end up boxing in Ian as Jamie rode through the cluster to take 5th. Apparently it is possible to ride your brain stupid. Looking forward to racing Seward park against team Rubicon and the Lenovo ‘B’ squad.
The Road Race:
Coming into Sunday, we had already witnessed Jamie's strong TT and Crit race and the overall wave of competition not only from Washington, but from Canada. Kenny sat in first overall, with McKissick lurking close behind. The boys were gearing up for a race in 90 degree heat that promised a healthy dose of suffering.
Frustrated by my ability to do anything more than skunk myself in the crit, I was out for a little sweet revenge on Sunday. As a big man, I've little natural affinity for climbs. I usually eat shit on them. One or two accelerations and I'm gone. Ping!
In light of the nasty climb, Sunday's game plan was to get J.O.D. into the traditional break that starts from the gun. I didn't say it at the time, but I was also game to get into the break, too, knowing that I could take some heat off Jamie and maybe get over the climb once in the field. So I lurked at the front and when J.O.D.'s first break attempt didn't catch on, I countered with Hone and Kyle Lobisser and gaggle of Canucks. Despite having two loathsome juniors, including the squirrel from Walla Walla, we got a smooth rhythm going. With no real chase from the pack, we started getting positive information on the time gap going up and up. I was feeling good and ready for the climb when we heard we had 3 minutes on the field. Hone gave me a chesire grin as he proclaimed the virtues of his 27. I had a 25 that wasn't functional, so 23 it was.
At the base of the climb, a small dude named Sebastian started pushing the pace, drawing scornful yells from the other Canadians. The dude was strong! He was apparently just back from Colombia and was quickly off the front with some other Canadian dude that had been in Eastern Europe racing. This might have had something to do with their speed...
I hung back with about 6 other guys and we plodded along until one H&R Block guy decided to join the two leaders. I was not in a place to join them, so rode tempo up to the feed zone where the lovely Jessie was outfitted with her Gentle Lovers kit and plenty o' ice cold juice bottles. Feedtastic. We made it up towards the top and looked back to see about 4 guys riding up to us with McKissick at the front. I thought that was bad news, especially as I saw Routley and two more skinny as shit Red Truck dudes. But I felt good, relaxed and did not do any work as we climbed the rolling hills towards the top.
The descent was sweet! 53 mph straight down a picturesque hillside through a couple of hairpins and then out towards the river valley. We had the lead 3 in sight for a while and started to bring them back. The little junior canadian was unwilling to do any work, so I gave him a lot of shit for being a hoser. The pace was good and I drank as much as I could. Might have drunk too much, for as we hit the hill the second time, I had about 3 fingers of fluids. With 5 minutes on the field, it was then that McKissick and Co. just started to push it up the steep switchbacks and I popped. But not without some company behind me. I was determined to ride a steady tempo and not worry about the lack of water or the strong desire to jump into the sprinklers in the orchard. Actually, the misting devices of what was likely pesticide was enough to convince me to stay on the bike. About half way to the feedzone were two dudes in lawn chairs blasting Metallica from their white pick-up. Enter Sandman, baby! I kept dreaming of the feedzone and as I finally brought it within sight, some woman started jumping around yelling some dude's name. Then she realized I wasn't her husband. I told her I might be, but she was unconvinced. Jessie hooked me up with a 2 bottle feed with grace and elegance (even offered me a banana, which I thought was a little suggestive) and then I was off to get some cold water to pour on my swollen feet. I was feeling fine and no one was in sight behind.
With about 2 k left of the real climb I started to see a bigger group of guys come up from behind. More Canadians and only Lang Reynolds from the States. I hung on as the caught me and felt like I could hang. There were supposedly 8 in front of us. But Lang drilled it up one little riser and only 2 went with him. As I was cracking, Jeremy from the neutral car told me to get the fuck back in the race and I buried it to stay with 5 other guys. It was much needed encouragement and I just sat in for a bit. 2 H&R block, 2 Westwoods (including the junior hoser) and 1 Total Restoration guy. We got to the top and could see Lang about 45 seconds ahead. Nothing my 12 was going to do about that. On the descent we just ripped through the Masters field and saw no sign of any chasers. The Total Restoration dude fell off the pace at some point.
The four of us rotated our way along, with the Junior Hoser sitting out nearly every turn. At some point I started skipping turns and the other Westwood guy was doing long pulls. He tried to give me shit and I told him my rolling through was nearly as good as his teammate sitting in. He shut up. With 1 k to go the big Westwood guy attacked and I sat on his wheel. At about 200 meters to go, suddenly the junior hoser magically found his little legs and intentionally brushed my bars as he started sprinting. I was livid. The two H&R guys went for it and I dropped 3 gears down and was determined to beat that little fuck. With 50 meters to go I was sure I'd take him. I had enough time to tell him what I thought of him before I took the sprint for 11th. Overall, a great race.
I came back to find G Spot and Sweetness chilling in the orchards. G Spot was in usual form, chatting up the nearest ladies and generally sexing everything in sight. Sweetness was, well, his usual badass sweet self. We watched Jamie come in with Gallaher and Varella and then show us the fruits of his salt mining. Solid day and overall, Jamie stayed in the top 10 for the weekend and we both got us some bar points.
The TT:
A report for a TT?
The starter said "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!"
I went.
It was hard.
I turned around a cone
It was still hard.
I went fast, but not fast enough.
I took 6th place.
The Crit:
One of the nice things about having a crit at 8:15 is that by that time the heat of the day had settled to a pleasant 70 degrees. What did not improve was the humidity or lack thereof in the air. While warming up talking to JOD, my voice started to sound like Tom Waits after a long whisky and cigarette binge. A little water helped but once the race started there was no keeping the throat dry. I heard one rider compare it to breathing hay.
Attending from Gin Optics were Jamie, Ian, Colin, JOD, Tyler and I (Galen) to take on the best of the northwest including Ian McKissic (BMC pro team), Will Routley (Jelly Belly pro team), and a bunch of Canadian pro teams. As the race began, Ian and Colin went straight to the front and covered a few early moves. A few others moved up to keep track of what was happening up there. As they were reeled in I followed a counter. As we were caught another few launched. I sat up and Jamie throttled himself forward to complete a good looking group of four that put in a 15+ second gap. These four stayed off for 20 or so mintues, as riders from the pack attempted bridges and I rode to the front and coasted through corners.
At one point I saw Will Routley jump on the right. I attacked on the left side. Just a few moments too late, I was not able to catch his wheel as he bridged up to the four. Seeing double and breathing straw I did not make the gap. But a few more attacks brought the pack within striking range and a few more bridged up. Then a few more. Finally the front group was about 12 guys with riders attacking off the front. It was clear that this would be the pack split. Ian and I were able to clear the gap, I don’t know that anyone else was.
From here on out it was kind of a blur. I know Ian was robbed for a prime by a little more than a tire’s width. With two laps to go I was feeling like toasted, straw breathing dog crap but somehow I was able to move up to the front where Jamie was sitting third wheel. I figured I would see if I could set up a lead out for our GC guy.
At a lap and a half to go an H&R block rider attacked with David Richter on his wheel. I moved to cover but a red truck rider got in between Jamie and I. At one lap to go sitting at the front of the pack, the smart thing for me to do would have been to abandon any leadout attempt and look for my own finish and let Jamie ride someone else’s wheel to the finish. But insecure and unsure, like a confused, straw breathing child I attempted to let a few riders pass me and find Jamie for the leadout. This, of course only created a mess with guys going around me with Jamie on one’s wheel and me getting gobbled up by the pack throttling towards the finish.
I would end up boxing in Ian as Jamie rode through the cluster to take 5th. Apparently it is possible to ride your brain stupid. Looking forward to racing Seward park against team Rubicon and the Lenovo ‘B’ squad.
The Road Race:
Coming into Sunday, we had already witnessed Jamie's strong TT and Crit race and the overall wave of competition not only from Washington, but from Canada. Kenny sat in first overall, with McKissick lurking close behind. The boys were gearing up for a race in 90 degree heat that promised a healthy dose of suffering.
Frustrated by my ability to do anything more than skunk myself in the crit, I was out for a little sweet revenge on Sunday. As a big man, I've little natural affinity for climbs. I usually eat shit on them. One or two accelerations and I'm gone. Ping!
In light of the nasty climb, Sunday's game plan was to get J.O.D. into the traditional break that starts from the gun. I didn't say it at the time, but I was also game to get into the break, too, knowing that I could take some heat off Jamie and maybe get over the climb once in the field. So I lurked at the front and when J.O.D.'s first break attempt didn't catch on, I countered with Hone and Kyle Lobisser and gaggle of Canucks. Despite having two loathsome juniors, including the squirrel from Walla Walla, we got a smooth rhythm going. With no real chase from the pack, we started getting positive information on the time gap going up and up. I was feeling good and ready for the climb when we heard we had 3 minutes on the field. Hone gave me a chesire grin as he proclaimed the virtues of his 27. I had a 25 that wasn't functional, so 23 it was.
At the base of the climb, a small dude named Sebastian started pushing the pace, drawing scornful yells from the other Canadians. The dude was strong! He was apparently just back from Colombia and was quickly off the front with some other Canadian dude that had been in Eastern Europe racing. This might have had something to do with their speed...
I hung back with about 6 other guys and we plodded along until one H&R Block guy decided to join the two leaders. I was not in a place to join them, so rode tempo up to the feed zone where the lovely Jessie was outfitted with her Gentle Lovers kit and plenty o' ice cold juice bottles. Feedtastic. We made it up towards the top and looked back to see about 4 guys riding up to us with McKissick at the front. I thought that was bad news, especially as I saw Routley and two more skinny as shit Red Truck dudes. But I felt good, relaxed and did not do any work as we climbed the rolling hills towards the top.
The descent was sweet! 53 mph straight down a picturesque hillside through a couple of hairpins and then out towards the river valley. We had the lead 3 in sight for a while and started to bring them back. The little junior canadian was unwilling to do any work, so I gave him a lot of shit for being a hoser. The pace was good and I drank as much as I could. Might have drunk too much, for as we hit the hill the second time, I had about 3 fingers of fluids. With 5 minutes on the field, it was then that McKissick and Co. just started to push it up the steep switchbacks and I popped. But not without some company behind me. I was determined to ride a steady tempo and not worry about the lack of water or the strong desire to jump into the sprinklers in the orchard. Actually, the misting devices of what was likely pesticide was enough to convince me to stay on the bike. About half way to the feedzone were two dudes in lawn chairs blasting Metallica from their white pick-up. Enter Sandman, baby! I kept dreaming of the feedzone and as I finally brought it within sight, some woman started jumping around yelling some dude's name. Then she realized I wasn't her husband. I told her I might be, but she was unconvinced. Jessie hooked me up with a 2 bottle feed with grace and elegance (even offered me a banana, which I thought was a little suggestive) and then I was off to get some cold water to pour on my swollen feet. I was feeling fine and no one was in sight behind.
With about 2 k left of the real climb I started to see a bigger group of guys come up from behind. More Canadians and only Lang Reynolds from the States. I hung on as the caught me and felt like I could hang. There were supposedly 8 in front of us. But Lang drilled it up one little riser and only 2 went with him. As I was cracking, Jeremy from the neutral car told me to get the fuck back in the race and I buried it to stay with 5 other guys. It was much needed encouragement and I just sat in for a bit. 2 H&R block, 2 Westwoods (including the junior hoser) and 1 Total Restoration guy. We got to the top and could see Lang about 45 seconds ahead. Nothing my 12 was going to do about that. On the descent we just ripped through the Masters field and saw no sign of any chasers. The Total Restoration dude fell off the pace at some point.
The four of us rotated our way along, with the Junior Hoser sitting out nearly every turn. At some point I started skipping turns and the other Westwood guy was doing long pulls. He tried to give me shit and I told him my rolling through was nearly as good as his teammate sitting in. He shut up. With 1 k to go the big Westwood guy attacked and I sat on his wheel. At about 200 meters to go, suddenly the junior hoser magically found his little legs and intentionally brushed my bars as he started sprinting. I was livid. The two H&R guys went for it and I dropped 3 gears down and was determined to beat that little fuck. With 50 meters to go I was sure I'd take him. I had enough time to tell him what I thought of him before I took the sprint for 11th. Overall, a great race.
I came back to find G Spot and Sweetness chilling in the orchards. G Spot was in usual form, chatting up the nearest ladies and generally sexing everything in sight. Sweetness was, well, his usual badass sweet self. We watched Jamie come in with Gallaher and Varella and then show us the fruits of his salt mining. Solid day and overall, Jamie stayed in the top 10 for the weekend and we both got us some bar points.
Friday, May 8, 2009
A little Thursday night win.
This Thursday was a bit rainy. By the time the race had started, the rain had stopped. Attending were me (Galen), Ian, Colin, Ronnie and Dux. Ronnie went in the First move of the evening that dangled off the front for a lap. A few others looked to bridge, Ian and Dux Covered. After a few laps of this it all came together on the downhill. I attacked at the base.
I got away with Kyle (Garage), Brent (Lenovo), AJ (Hagens) and another Hagens rider I didn't recognise. We worked together and fairly quickly put in a good twenty to thirty seconds. After a few laps the other Hagens guy was out. We continued to work togehter and pushed the gap up to a minute. I took the first three primes.
Meanwhile, in the pack Hone attacked with Ronnie on his wheel. Ronnie, reluctant to pull hone up to us didn't work much and forced Hone to work a bunch. The two of them were eventually reeled back to the pack.
At one point Venable (lenovo), chopped Ronnie's wheel. While Ian was scolding him people backed off and suddenly Venable and Ian had a gap. With this established they began to bridge.
Meanwhile up in the break we are duking it out for the last few primes. Just as i hear the bell for the last prime, I see Ian comming up all by his lonesome. I still want to get the last prime so I sit in and look for the sprint. AJ takes the prime and Kyle attacks. We all let Kyle go and I wait for Ian. We are now at about 3 laps to go.
Ian and I put in a few good pulls and reel Kyle back fairly handily. At a lap and a half to go we are catching Kyle; I attack. With a tired break from being off the front all evening there is not much motivation to chase me and I stay away for the win. Ian, sitting in, and clearly the best sprinter from who is left takes second. Colin takes second in the field sprint to Kenny.
A great evening of racing. We truly raced like Startled Panthers.
I got away with Kyle (Garage), Brent (Lenovo), AJ (Hagens) and another Hagens rider I didn't recognise. We worked together and fairly quickly put in a good twenty to thirty seconds. After a few laps the other Hagens guy was out. We continued to work togehter and pushed the gap up to a minute. I took the first three primes.
Meanwhile, in the pack Hone attacked with Ronnie on his wheel. Ronnie, reluctant to pull hone up to us didn't work much and forced Hone to work a bunch. The two of them were eventually reeled back to the pack.
At one point Venable (lenovo), chopped Ronnie's wheel. While Ian was scolding him people backed off and suddenly Venable and Ian had a gap. With this established they began to bridge.
Meanwhile up in the break we are duking it out for the last few primes. Just as i hear the bell for the last prime, I see Ian comming up all by his lonesome. I still want to get the last prime so I sit in and look for the sprint. AJ takes the prime and Kyle attacks. We all let Kyle go and I wait for Ian. We are now at about 3 laps to go.
Ian and I put in a few good pulls and reel Kyle back fairly handily. At a lap and a half to go we are catching Kyle; I attack. With a tired break from being off the front all evening there is not much motivation to chase me and I stay away for the win. Ian, sitting in, and clearly the best sprinter from who is left takes second. Colin takes second in the field sprint to Kenny.
A great evening of racing. We truly raced like Startled Panthers.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
State Road Race
The race. A bunch of laps, 100 miles total, a distance worthy of a state championship road race. Mick Walsh attacked early and everyone let him roll off. Not long after our very own Dan bridged up with Phil Elasser from team Fanatik. The three of them must have been cruising because they got as much as a 4:20 gap at points and had no representation from Haggens, Lenovo, HSP, or really anyone but us and Fanatik. Gin mostly sat in and covered a few bridge attempts, but it was overall fairly passive racing for the first half.
Halfway through the race Ian decided that his bladder was about to rupture and he just could not get himself to pee on the bike (Ronnie hadn’t told him about long division yet). So he pulls off for a 2 minute Austin Powers style urination then proceeds to chase back on for the next twenty minutes. Amusingly enough JOD came to the same conclusion a mile later and they were both peeing and chasing back on independently. Maybe some of that team money we get from the race can go towards buying some team radios. Communication is good and all.
Unfortunately for Mr. Mensher and JOD right around when they were peeing is right around when it started getting an organized chase. They both managed to get back on though. Ronnie flatted out sometime mid race and Dux was done with one or two to go. After 80 miles of racing the early break of 3 finally was reeled back in. I gave Dan a “nice work Dan” but I’m pretty sure he was comatose at that point. Impressive that Dan can still ride a bike while fully unconscious though. Shortly thereafter I attacked up the right side nearly taking myself out in the process thanks to a nice slick layer of mud on the shoulder. I pretty quickly got a 20 or 30 second gap. Just before the final turn I caught the Lead women’s group and passed them. When I got to the 1k to go sign the lead car neutralized me so that the women’s field could repass me and sprint. This mucked up the womens finish pretty good and had me very frustrated. They restarted me with a 20 second gap but I’m convinced that I had closer to 40 seconds or a minute by the time they stopped me. It sucked, but whatever. I started rolling again and put another 10 seconds into the field right away. The gap floated from 20-35 seconds for the remainder of the lap. I knew that this was the card I had played and that I had Ian sitting in for the sprint, so I put everything into it. Back in the pack I hear that Hone, Stanko, and Clayville were all chasing, but I managed to stick it. Finally after 20 miles of racing I hit the final 200 meters and was undoubtedly THE SLOWEST person to climb that hill that day. At least that is what it felt like. I finished it off and was able to post up and celebrate my victory, but less than 10 seconds (maybe more like 5) after crossing the line the field crossed behind me. I heard Ian screaming in triumph as he handily took the field sprint from the best sprinters in the NW. Awesome.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
So yesterday was Vance Creek aka Tour de WPPSS.
Gin had Jamie, Dan, Galen, Colin, and me in the line up of 47 riders brave enough to come out for 92 miles of racing. The weather was near perfect, just a tad on the cool side. Somehow we found Christina, the most awesome wife of a cat 3 guy, to give us feeds--she was spot on and we owe her our gratitude.
The field was strong, with Morgan Schmitt, Patrick Stanko, Mike Hone, Kenny, Richter, Herriot and a host of other cats. We knew we could launch surgical strikes throughout the race and we started out early. Every move we had someone in there either initiating or countering. Joe Barrato was still there after the first lap, which I guess is one barometer of how the pace was from the back. At the front, it was hot and heavy. Gininjas shooting up the road and surfing the front wave. Truly awesome. Galen was in a move with Hone and Jiri (Second Ascent) that stayed away for a lap. As they were caught, I countered and took a solo flyer on the second lap through the farmland. As I was reeled back, Stanko and Jamie came rocketing past with a Lenovo in tow. Philip Elsasser from Shuksan bridged up when the break was still close. And so they were four. Travis Venable was the Lenovo guy and we started taking bets how the new upgrade would handle a 4 man break with two diesel engines and about 70 more miles of racing. Hone was optimistic, but was pretty noncommittal when I asked him whether Travis had ever raced 92 miles before (actually, he raced Walla Walla, so he has done it before--just not in a break).
The time gaps kept coming back positive for us. 1:40 or 2 minutes was what we heard and we were pleased. We just kept chasing stuff down like we were at a carnival, shooting ducks on a wall. We'd tag-team and take turns bridging up to some poor idiot who'd attack. The same was not true for Rob Campbell's dying swan-like attempts to somehow either bridge the 2 minute gap or solo in for 5th place and effectively do a 50 mile TT. Lenovo covered some stuff as we went along and Morgan would animate things with the occasional Herriot bomb.
With about 3 laps to go, we heard that Venable was cramping bad. Jamie said they dropped him by about 10 meters in the rollers before the climb, but that when Jamie punched it just a bit, Venables was nearly out of sight. Ooops! Venables' return to the pack sparked a few Honey Baloney blistering attacks for which he is famed. Sound and fury, signifying nothing. Sucka just rode himself stupid. And there was much rejoicing.
I figured Jamie had the race in hand unless something bad like cramps or a mechanical took him out. Jamie was not to be flexed with. In the last 1k, Elsasser attacked. Stanko just upped his tempo and caught him. Jamie sat on, like a wise pre-birthday boy. Into the final turn, Jamie throttled like hell and crossed the line with full arm salute with an added airplane twist.
Back in the pack and prior to Jamie's victory salute, Morgan Schmitt lit it up with 2 laps to go. I was on his wheel as he guttered the field and just rode everyone into the ground. I looked back not realizing he was even dropping people and saw only Brian Ecker and Kenny with us. Herriot bridged up and sat on. I rolled through once or twice, but Herriot wanted Richter to catch on, which he did. Some Team Oregon dude, Joe King, and Trevor Kosa made it up, too. We rode pretty hard and attacked each other until the last lap. Morgan drilled it again and dropped half of our group. But we sat up in the rollers. Herriot led Richter up the hill. Just before the turn, I got stuck behind Joking and had to sprint up to Kenny, Morgan and Richter. Jamie witnessed my little-ring lashing of Kenny and Morgan, but I couldn't close the gap to Richter. I was 5th
Colin cruised over the line nicely up in the bunch, with Galen and Dan in tow.
Once again, 2 Gininjas in the top 5 and in the money. Birthday present for Jamie, hard earned! Big props to all the boys on the day for some fantastic racing and solid work to nail down the lid on every move.
Gin had Jamie, Dan, Galen, Colin, and me in the line up of 47 riders brave enough to come out for 92 miles of racing. The weather was near perfect, just a tad on the cool side. Somehow we found Christina, the most awesome wife of a cat 3 guy, to give us feeds--she was spot on and we owe her our gratitude.
The field was strong, with Morgan Schmitt, Patrick Stanko, Mike Hone, Kenny, Richter, Herriot and a host of other cats. We knew we could launch surgical strikes throughout the race and we started out early. Every move we had someone in there either initiating or countering. Joe Barrato was still there after the first lap, which I guess is one barometer of how the pace was from the back. At the front, it was hot and heavy. Gininjas shooting up the road and surfing the front wave. Truly awesome. Galen was in a move with Hone and Jiri (Second Ascent) that stayed away for a lap. As they were caught, I countered and took a solo flyer on the second lap through the farmland. As I was reeled back, Stanko and Jamie came rocketing past with a Lenovo in tow. Philip Elsasser from Shuksan bridged up when the break was still close. And so they were four. Travis Venable was the Lenovo guy and we started taking bets how the new upgrade would handle a 4 man break with two diesel engines and about 70 more miles of racing. Hone was optimistic, but was pretty noncommittal when I asked him whether Travis had ever raced 92 miles before (actually, he raced Walla Walla, so he has done it before--just not in a break).
The time gaps kept coming back positive for us. 1:40 or 2 minutes was what we heard and we were pleased. We just kept chasing stuff down like we were at a carnival, shooting ducks on a wall. We'd tag-team and take turns bridging up to some poor idiot who'd attack. The same was not true for Rob Campbell's dying swan-like attempts to somehow either bridge the 2 minute gap or solo in for 5th place and effectively do a 50 mile TT. Lenovo covered some stuff as we went along and Morgan would animate things with the occasional Herriot bomb.
With about 3 laps to go, we heard that Venable was cramping bad. Jamie said they dropped him by about 10 meters in the rollers before the climb, but that when Jamie punched it just a bit, Venables was nearly out of sight. Ooops! Venables' return to the pack sparked a few Honey Baloney blistering attacks for which he is famed. Sound and fury, signifying nothing. Sucka just rode himself stupid. And there was much rejoicing.
I figured Jamie had the race in hand unless something bad like cramps or a mechanical took him out. Jamie was not to be flexed with. In the last 1k, Elsasser attacked. Stanko just upped his tempo and caught him. Jamie sat on, like a wise pre-birthday boy. Into the final turn, Jamie throttled like hell and crossed the line with full arm salute with an added airplane twist.
Back in the pack and prior to Jamie's victory salute, Morgan Schmitt lit it up with 2 laps to go. I was on his wheel as he guttered the field and just rode everyone into the ground. I looked back not realizing he was even dropping people and saw only Brian Ecker and Kenny with us. Herriot bridged up and sat on. I rolled through once or twice, but Herriot wanted Richter to catch on, which he did. Some Team Oregon dude, Joe King, and Trevor Kosa made it up, too. We rode pretty hard and attacked each other until the last lap. Morgan drilled it again and dropped half of our group. But we sat up in the rollers. Herriot led Richter up the hill. Just before the turn, I got stuck behind Joking and had to sprint up to Kenny, Morgan and Richter. Jamie witnessed my little-ring lashing of Kenny and Morgan, but I couldn't close the gap to Richter. I was 5th
Colin cruised over the line nicely up in the bunch, with Galen and Dan in tow.
Once again, 2 Gininjas in the top 5 and in the money. Birthday present for Jamie, hard earned! Big props to all the boys on the day for some fantastic racing and solid work to nail down the lid on every move.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Volunteer & Brad Lewis Crit
Saturday Volunteer Park:
Fortunately, Volunteer park was dry. Attending were, Dux, Ronnie, Colin, Ian, Jamie and Myself. In the pre race meeting we agreed that it would be a good day to whoop some ass and get in the break. As we all lined up I heard that a cute young lady friend of Jiri Senkyrik was seen flashing the pack. I, unfortunately missed this.
As the race began there was almost immediately a group of five that went up the road including our own Ian ‘d’ Mensha. It eventually got reeled back as the rest of us moved with counters. I’m not sure if it was the first or second prime, but Ian defninitely took one of the early ones. Maybe halfway through the race Adrian “The Hungarian” Hedgevary moved off the front and Jamie bridged up to check it out. The two of them would trade of pulls to stay away for the win. Apparently, as the end of the race approached Jamie saw the pain in the eyes of Adrian and at that moment understood the hardship he had gone though growing up as a foreigner in this great nation. Thus, out of pity, Jamie sat up and let Adrian take the win.
Meanwhile in the pack, it was a little clogged up but Gin Optics still had two in the top ten going into the last lap, Galen in 6th and Ian in 10th. As we came around the last corner Lang, who was leading out Cooper pulled left as Cooper was coming around to the left and the two of them successfully crashed out each other and yours truly in the process. Ian was able to maneuver around the mess and take third in the field sprint for 5th overall. Gin Optics again, with multiple spots on the podium.
Sunday Brad Lewis Crit.
On Easter Sunday, as you may remember, it was raining really hard. At the start line was Dux, Colin, Ian, Jamie, and myself. The highlight of my race was before it even began when I received a call up, not for winning any race, or for being one to watch but for having been nominated Seattle’s Sexiest Cyclists by The Stranger’s staff. I got my picture taken with and a kiss from one of the three HOTTEST PODIUM GIRLS EVER!
The race began and it was very fast from the gun. As I understand, about a third of the pack dropped out in the first 15 minutes. Ian, Jamie and I worked to follow and counter all the important moves. The decisive move came when Adrian Hegevary got a little gap off the front all by himself. Ryan Iddings (U-23 national champion and pro mtb rider) attacked for the bridge and I covered. I clung for dear life onto the wheel of this skinny kid as he pulled me around for more than a lap and a half. During this time Sam Johnson got away from the group and attempted to bridge up to Ryan and I. I eventually pulled through and by the end of my short pull Sam had caught up to us. Ryan apparently didn’t like my pull because he decided to attack my suffersome ass instead of pulling through nice and smooth. I rode myself cross eyed trying to catch onto his wheel but to no avail. Sam Johnson, however, was able to move from my wheel up to Ryan’s.
Sam and Ryan would catch up to Adrian and the three of them would lap the field with Sam taking the win. Morgan Shmitt would make a solo bridge attempt and finish in front of the pack for 4th. Kenny Williams and Jamie would take first and second in the field sprint to round out the podium.
Fortunately, Volunteer park was dry. Attending were, Dux, Ronnie, Colin, Ian, Jamie and Myself. In the pre race meeting we agreed that it would be a good day to whoop some ass and get in the break. As we all lined up I heard that a cute young lady friend of Jiri Senkyrik was seen flashing the pack. I, unfortunately missed this.
As the race began there was almost immediately a group of five that went up the road including our own Ian ‘d’ Mensha. It eventually got reeled back as the rest of us moved with counters. I’m not sure if it was the first or second prime, but Ian defninitely took one of the early ones. Maybe halfway through the race Adrian “The Hungarian” Hedgevary moved off the front and Jamie bridged up to check it out. The two of them would trade of pulls to stay away for the win. Apparently, as the end of the race approached Jamie saw the pain in the eyes of Adrian and at that moment understood the hardship he had gone though growing up as a foreigner in this great nation. Thus, out of pity, Jamie sat up and let Adrian take the win.
Meanwhile in the pack, it was a little clogged up but Gin Optics still had two in the top ten going into the last lap, Galen in 6th and Ian in 10th. As we came around the last corner Lang, who was leading out Cooper pulled left as Cooper was coming around to the left and the two of them successfully crashed out each other and yours truly in the process. Ian was able to maneuver around the mess and take third in the field sprint for 5th overall. Gin Optics again, with multiple spots on the podium.
Sunday Brad Lewis Crit.
On Easter Sunday, as you may remember, it was raining really hard. At the start line was Dux, Colin, Ian, Jamie, and myself. The highlight of my race was before it even began when I received a call up, not for winning any race, or for being one to watch but for having been nominated Seattle’s Sexiest Cyclists by The Stranger’s staff. I got my picture taken with and a kiss from one of the three HOTTEST PODIUM GIRLS EVER!
The race began and it was very fast from the gun. As I understand, about a third of the pack dropped out in the first 15 minutes. Ian, Jamie and I worked to follow and counter all the important moves. The decisive move came when Adrian Hegevary got a little gap off the front all by himself. Ryan Iddings (U-23 national champion and pro mtb rider) attacked for the bridge and I covered. I clung for dear life onto the wheel of this skinny kid as he pulled me around for more than a lap and a half. During this time Sam Johnson got away from the group and attempted to bridge up to Ryan and I. I eventually pulled through and by the end of my short pull Sam had caught up to us. Ryan apparently didn’t like my pull because he decided to attack my suffersome ass instead of pulling through nice and smooth. I rode myself cross eyed trying to catch onto his wheel but to no avail. Sam Johnson, however, was able to move from my wheel up to Ryan’s.
Sam and Ryan would catch up to Adrian and the three of them would lap the field with Sam taking the win. Morgan Shmitt would make a solo bridge attempt and finish in front of the pack for 4th. Kenny Williams and Jamie would take first and second in the field sprint to round out the podium.
Mason #3, Dung #2
Mason Lake #3
For the third week of Mason lake the weather was great. A bit on the cool side, but that’s the way I like it. We had a bit smaller crew, Myself, Colin, Jamie, Dux and John. Both Colin and Dux admitted that they were not feeling great but they would make a difference in the race. Jamie is an ox and thus always a good bet.
Our strategy was the same as usual: keep moving through the pack and cover but don’t burn yourself out. From the gun the race was very aggressive. Big players were throwing down, but everybody wanted to bridge, chase and counter. Much like the first Tour de dung, it felt like a 60 mile crit (except this one was 72 miles).
Later in the race, some weird dynamics started. People were attacking but not aggressively. Instead of a hard attack and maybe a hard counter that would string the pack out and pop guys off the back they were little surges that took energy to cover but did not string out the pack. A bunch of us got stuck in the much of the pack while three guys got off the front: David Fleshour (Herriott), Chris Tuefel (Garage) and some one else. Interestingly enough, even though Hagens and Lenovo had missed the break, neither wanted to chase. With my race brain went to the front to do some work assuming Hagens and Lenovo would send a couple of guys as well. They didn’t. After about three miles pulling all by myself I realized that maybe I shouldn’t be wasting myself to pull up the entire pack. I pulled off and Jamie scolded me appropriately.
Because no body wanted to chase those three stayed away for the podium. In the field sprint Jamie had some race brain as he decided to go on Richter’s wheel as he sprinted from 500 meters out. Somebody else won the field sprint. We finished the race feeling a bit grumpy but met up and had a quick chat about how we would do better next time.
Sunday: Tour de Dung#3
On Sunday we had the same crew minus Dux. That means four guys to cover the whole pack. Keeping in mind what happened on Saturday and the fact that this course can be windy, we decided to tweak the plan. We would be less aggressive in going with every attack but would keep all four of us in the front third of the pack the entire race. This way, we could let moves go and just follow the flow of the pack without having to burn a ton of matches to cover, but if something dangerous went, we were all ready to bridge.
Whether it was “the plan” or just each rider reading the race and measuring efforts, we seemed to be fairly effective in controlling the race this way. One lap in a group got away with Tubs, Emde, Stanko, Fleshour and our Dr. Strangelove. This looked to be a great move: all big teams represented, all strong guys and a long day off the front is Jamie’s specialty. Surprisingly enough, after about two and a half laps, the break would be pulled back by a very well organized chase by Wines of Washington. Just as they break was getting pulled back, Stanko would attack again for a solo effort off the front.
Then it was back to attack and cover for the next few laps while Stanko remained dangling off the front. Again, the team rode an excellent race. Every good move had a strong cover by a Gin rider. I wish I could list every counter every move that we covered, but suffice to say, I was honored to be riding among such teammates.
At about a lap and a half to go, two guys were able to roll away off the front, Kyle (Garage) and a Lenovo rider I did not recognize. They seemed to hover about 300 meters off the front and nobody felt inclined to go after them. JOD must have smelled the packs hesitation to chase because he moved up the left side and bridged across to what would be the winning break. These three would catch Patrick Stanko, the man of the day, who would then take the group sprint for the win. Bravo Stanko! John, who later kicked himself for not attacking the break would still podium for third.
Back in the field, Colin and I set up a leadout for Jamie. But the last few miles got sketchy and dangerous and our lead out was broken up at about a mile and a half from the finish. Fortunately, though it was broken up, we were mostly at the front. At about 800 meters to go, Jamie was boxed in on the left side and I was free and open in about tenth palace. At 500 meteres to go I was in sixth place as the speed really started ramping up. I saw a big red Ian Tubs out of the corner of my left eye, moving up fast. I moved left and accelerated to get on his wheel when I heard “No, mine” and recognized Jamie’s voice. I pulled right as Jamie stuck Ian’s wheel barreling towards the finish line and pulled around Ian just in time to win the field sprint by a tire’s width.
At the end of the day, with only a four man team, we had two guys in the top 5. Way to go Gininjas!
For the third week of Mason lake the weather was great. A bit on the cool side, but that’s the way I like it. We had a bit smaller crew, Myself, Colin, Jamie, Dux and John. Both Colin and Dux admitted that they were not feeling great but they would make a difference in the race. Jamie is an ox and thus always a good bet.
Our strategy was the same as usual: keep moving through the pack and cover but don’t burn yourself out. From the gun the race was very aggressive. Big players were throwing down, but everybody wanted to bridge, chase and counter. Much like the first Tour de dung, it felt like a 60 mile crit (except this one was 72 miles).
Later in the race, some weird dynamics started. People were attacking but not aggressively. Instead of a hard attack and maybe a hard counter that would string the pack out and pop guys off the back they were little surges that took energy to cover but did not string out the pack. A bunch of us got stuck in the much of the pack while three guys got off the front: David Fleshour (Herriott), Chris Tuefel (Garage) and some one else. Interestingly enough, even though Hagens and Lenovo had missed the break, neither wanted to chase. With my race brain went to the front to do some work assuming Hagens and Lenovo would send a couple of guys as well. They didn’t. After about three miles pulling all by myself I realized that maybe I shouldn’t be wasting myself to pull up the entire pack. I pulled off and Jamie scolded me appropriately.
Because no body wanted to chase those three stayed away for the podium. In the field sprint Jamie had some race brain as he decided to go on Richter’s wheel as he sprinted from 500 meters out. Somebody else won the field sprint. We finished the race feeling a bit grumpy but met up and had a quick chat about how we would do better next time.
Sunday: Tour de Dung#3
On Sunday we had the same crew minus Dux. That means four guys to cover the whole pack. Keeping in mind what happened on Saturday and the fact that this course can be windy, we decided to tweak the plan. We would be less aggressive in going with every attack but would keep all four of us in the front third of the pack the entire race. This way, we could let moves go and just follow the flow of the pack without having to burn a ton of matches to cover, but if something dangerous went, we were all ready to bridge.
Whether it was “the plan” or just each rider reading the race and measuring efforts, we seemed to be fairly effective in controlling the race this way. One lap in a group got away with Tubs, Emde, Stanko, Fleshour and our Dr. Strangelove. This looked to be a great move: all big teams represented, all strong guys and a long day off the front is Jamie’s specialty. Surprisingly enough, after about two and a half laps, the break would be pulled back by a very well organized chase by Wines of Washington. Just as they break was getting pulled back, Stanko would attack again for a solo effort off the front.
Then it was back to attack and cover for the next few laps while Stanko remained dangling off the front. Again, the team rode an excellent race. Every good move had a strong cover by a Gin rider. I wish I could list every counter every move that we covered, but suffice to say, I was honored to be riding among such teammates.
At about a lap and a half to go, two guys were able to roll away off the front, Kyle (Garage) and a Lenovo rider I did not recognize. They seemed to hover about 300 meters off the front and nobody felt inclined to go after them. JOD must have smelled the packs hesitation to chase because he moved up the left side and bridged across to what would be the winning break. These three would catch Patrick Stanko, the man of the day, who would then take the group sprint for the win. Bravo Stanko! John, who later kicked himself for not attacking the break would still podium for third.
Back in the field, Colin and I set up a leadout for Jamie. But the last few miles got sketchy and dangerous and our lead out was broken up at about a mile and a half from the finish. Fortunately, though it was broken up, we were mostly at the front. At about 800 meters to go, Jamie was boxed in on the left side and I was free and open in about tenth palace. At 500 meteres to go I was in sixth place as the speed really started ramping up. I saw a big red Ian Tubs out of the corner of my left eye, moving up fast. I moved left and accelerated to get on his wheel when I heard “No, mine” and recognized Jamie’s voice. I pulled right as Jamie stuck Ian’s wheel barreling towards the finish line and pulled around Ian just in time to win the field sprint by a tire’s width.
At the end of the day, with only a four man team, we had two guys in the top 5. Way to go Gininjas!
First weekend of Racing
Saturday: Mason Lake #1.
While it was snowing here in Seattle, somehow it was bright and sunny at Mason lake. Attending were Dux, JOD, Tyler, Colin, Ian, me and Dr. Strangelove. During our pre race meeting Dux reminded us that the first mason lake has been won from a long break every year for the past six years. While Jamie is our strongest rider at the moment the plan was for him not to get into the early break so that he might save his strength for Sunday’s race which had Washington cup points (and cash). We acknowledged that both Ian and I have been riding pretty well and would be good candidates for an early break, but the general plan was to move with the natural flow of the pack and cover breaks as they formed. As I like to say: “Don’t initiate, anticipate”.
The race began and it was go, go, go from the start. Within the first 4 miles I’m pretty sure at least everybody had covered at least one move. By the end of the first lap the break was established: a seven man group with a number of strong riders including Aj, Ben Rhodes (Second Ascent), Kyle Farrell (Garage), Ian “De-Mencia” Mensher, me (G-spot), and former teammate Shawn “Mr. March” Ongers. We fairly quickly established a one minute gap which would stick, more or less, for the remainder of the race.
Meanwhile back in the pack, Jamie and team were shutting guys down like a big breasted blond at Seattle bar on a Saturday. But, eventually a chase group of Rob Campbell, Kenny, Hone and Jamie formed. As Jamie had two guys in the break, he had no incentive to work so he sat on as Kenny and Hone proceeded to yell at each other.
While this was happening, at two laps to go, old G-spot was coming unraveled. I tried sitting out a rotation or two and pulling back through. Somehow, whenever I am out of shape I end up in the front group, and I have found that if you sit out completely guys will yell and bitch and start attacking. But if you pull through every few rotations people shut up and deal with it. Unfortunately I did not get enough rest (or training?), because at the beginning of the last lap, Kyle attacked and I got dropped like a bad habit. Fortunately, so did AJ and the Cucina Freska rider. In my oxygen deprived state cruising in no mans land between the break and the pack I saw a large white object approaching fast. It was Jamie. AJ and I hopped on his wheel as he motored by looking poised to catch the break. I decided that no matter how tired I was I would work to help him catch the break. I pulled through once and my legs reminded me that they had given their two miles notice four miles ago. Jamie continued with AJ cross eyed and glued to his wheel.
I drifted back to the pack as some late attacks were being launched. It was bit of a blur but I remember a murderous look in JOD’s stride as he launched off the front with a Hagens rider, Chris Parrish. He and Parrish would go on to catch Jamie just as AJ was popped. Unfortunately, at about that time, Ian was reminded that it was important to eat when in the break for 68 miles. Jamie, JOD and Parrish passed him as he was swerving and mumbling to himself something about penguins (or so I hear).
Shawn Ongers would take the win with Ben Rhodes and Kevin rolling in a little behind. Next was JOD, Jamie and Parrish. JOD attacked at 800 and took 4th Jamie rode Hagen’s wheel until 150 meteres to come around him for 5th.
All in all, we showed very effective racing as a team. We were the only team with two guys in break and the only team with two guys in an effective bridge. Room was left in Ian and my performance which is fine by me. Let Sean take mason lake, I’ll take the later races.
Sunday:
Again, with hurricane sleet and snow covering the state, we raced in the small pocket of sunshine. Attending were the same crew from Saturday minus Dux (Sweetnes, De-Mensha, the Kid, JOD, G-spot and Strangelove). This mostly flat, power course suits a rider like Jamie, and he is fit right now. So our plan was to get Jamie into a break at some point, to rack up the Washington Cup points, Series points and cash. Otherwise, we would move with the pack and anticipate the attacks.
From the gun the race was fast and punchy. There was attack after attack. I heard the race described as a 60 mile crit. AJ (Hagens), remarked to me at one point that more of these guys should have spent 70 miles in the break the day before, then they wouldn’t be so goddamn anxious. But it worked out well for us. Ian and I covered a bit more early and JOD and Colin gave some throttle a little later. Of special enjoyment for me was sitting on Hone and Tubs’s wheels as they moved up and attacked. Both guys telegraph their attack way before they move.
So the attacks were launched and the team responded. Midway through the race Adrian Hedgevary went solo off the front where he stayed for almost two laps. We were not phased by this as we all saw that the overall aggression in the pack would bring him back as it eventually did.
We did miss one move that got away with about a lap and a half to go. JOD, Tyler and Sweetness rallied to the front and chased down the break like a bunch of rabid dogs. This was a great move because we saved Ian for the sprint, Jamie for the late move and allowed me to finish with the pack (by that time my legs were blown out so bad, I barely hung onto pack).
Another thing that this chase did was string out the pack almost to the point of snapping. This is when breaks are much more likely to go. Jamie smelled the opportunity and moved up to go with whatever broke off the front. Sure enough, a five man group got away with Tubs, Herriott, AJ, Parrish, and our own Dr. Strangelove. Out of this five man group Jamie would take Second, by a tire’s width to Northwest sprinter and marriage pro* Ian Tubs.
In the field sprint our Ian “De” Mensher would take fourth to Ross sparrow, Dave Rocket Richter, and Aaron Levin. Two more riders back was Colin and then the bulk of the pack.
All in all, it was an excellent day of racing by the Gin Optics Cycling team. Everybody stepped up and saw where and how they could be effective in bringing in our goal, whether they were covering, chasing our making that important move. In my opinion it was a fantastic way to start a season. Cheers boys!
*Marriage Pro refers to a guy who’s wife pays for him to race. He does not need or have a job but to race his bike.
While it was snowing here in Seattle, somehow it was bright and sunny at Mason lake. Attending were Dux, JOD, Tyler, Colin, Ian, me and Dr. Strangelove. During our pre race meeting Dux reminded us that the first mason lake has been won from a long break every year for the past six years. While Jamie is our strongest rider at the moment the plan was for him not to get into the early break so that he might save his strength for Sunday’s race which had Washington cup points (and cash). We acknowledged that both Ian and I have been riding pretty well and would be good candidates for an early break, but the general plan was to move with the natural flow of the pack and cover breaks as they formed. As I like to say: “Don’t initiate, anticipate”.
The race began and it was go, go, go from the start. Within the first 4 miles I’m pretty sure at least everybody had covered at least one move. By the end of the first lap the break was established: a seven man group with a number of strong riders including Aj, Ben Rhodes (Second Ascent), Kyle Farrell (Garage), Ian “De-Mencia” Mensher, me (G-spot), and former teammate Shawn “Mr. March” Ongers. We fairly quickly established a one minute gap which would stick, more or less, for the remainder of the race.
Meanwhile back in the pack, Jamie and team were shutting guys down like a big breasted blond at Seattle bar on a Saturday. But, eventually a chase group of Rob Campbell, Kenny, Hone and Jamie formed. As Jamie had two guys in the break, he had no incentive to work so he sat on as Kenny and Hone proceeded to yell at each other.
While this was happening, at two laps to go, old G-spot was coming unraveled. I tried sitting out a rotation or two and pulling back through. Somehow, whenever I am out of shape I end up in the front group, and I have found that if you sit out completely guys will yell and bitch and start attacking. But if you pull through every few rotations people shut up and deal with it. Unfortunately I did not get enough rest (or training?), because at the beginning of the last lap, Kyle attacked and I got dropped like a bad habit. Fortunately, so did AJ and the Cucina Freska rider. In my oxygen deprived state cruising in no mans land between the break and the pack I saw a large white object approaching fast. It was Jamie. AJ and I hopped on his wheel as he motored by looking poised to catch the break. I decided that no matter how tired I was I would work to help him catch the break. I pulled through once and my legs reminded me that they had given their two miles notice four miles ago. Jamie continued with AJ cross eyed and glued to his wheel.
I drifted back to the pack as some late attacks were being launched. It was bit of a blur but I remember a murderous look in JOD’s stride as he launched off the front with a Hagens rider, Chris Parrish. He and Parrish would go on to catch Jamie just as AJ was popped. Unfortunately, at about that time, Ian was reminded that it was important to eat when in the break for 68 miles. Jamie, JOD and Parrish passed him as he was swerving and mumbling to himself something about penguins (or so I hear).
Shawn Ongers would take the win with Ben Rhodes and Kevin rolling in a little behind. Next was JOD, Jamie and Parrish. JOD attacked at 800 and took 4th Jamie rode Hagen’s wheel until 150 meteres to come around him for 5th.
All in all, we showed very effective racing as a team. We were the only team with two guys in break and the only team with two guys in an effective bridge. Room was left in Ian and my performance which is fine by me. Let Sean take mason lake, I’ll take the later races.
Sunday:
Again, with hurricane sleet and snow covering the state, we raced in the small pocket of sunshine. Attending were the same crew from Saturday minus Dux (Sweetnes, De-Mensha, the Kid, JOD, G-spot and Strangelove). This mostly flat, power course suits a rider like Jamie, and he is fit right now. So our plan was to get Jamie into a break at some point, to rack up the Washington Cup points, Series points and cash. Otherwise, we would move with the pack and anticipate the attacks.
From the gun the race was fast and punchy. There was attack after attack. I heard the race described as a 60 mile crit. AJ (Hagens), remarked to me at one point that more of these guys should have spent 70 miles in the break the day before, then they wouldn’t be so goddamn anxious. But it worked out well for us. Ian and I covered a bit more early and JOD and Colin gave some throttle a little later. Of special enjoyment for me was sitting on Hone and Tubs’s wheels as they moved up and attacked. Both guys telegraph their attack way before they move.
So the attacks were launched and the team responded. Midway through the race Adrian Hedgevary went solo off the front where he stayed for almost two laps. We were not phased by this as we all saw that the overall aggression in the pack would bring him back as it eventually did.
We did miss one move that got away with about a lap and a half to go. JOD, Tyler and Sweetness rallied to the front and chased down the break like a bunch of rabid dogs. This was a great move because we saved Ian for the sprint, Jamie for the late move and allowed me to finish with the pack (by that time my legs were blown out so bad, I barely hung onto pack).
Another thing that this chase did was string out the pack almost to the point of snapping. This is when breaks are much more likely to go. Jamie smelled the opportunity and moved up to go with whatever broke off the front. Sure enough, a five man group got away with Tubs, Herriott, AJ, Parrish, and our own Dr. Strangelove. Out of this five man group Jamie would take Second, by a tire’s width to Northwest sprinter and marriage pro* Ian Tubs.
In the field sprint our Ian “De” Mensher would take fourth to Ross sparrow, Dave Rocket Richter, and Aaron Levin. Two more riders back was Colin and then the bulk of the pack.
All in all, it was an excellent day of racing by the Gin Optics Cycling team. Everybody stepped up and saw where and how they could be effective in bringing in our goal, whether they were covering, chasing our making that important move. In my opinion it was a fantastic way to start a season. Cheers boys!
*Marriage Pro refers to a guy who’s wife pays for him to race. He does not need or have a job but to race his bike.
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