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....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
