CHERRY BLOSSOM CYCLING CLASSIC
The beginning of April marked my return back to Oregon racing where I kicked things off with the Cherry Blossom Classic located in The Dalles, Oregon. It was a 3 day race comprised of 4 stages.
The first day was a 75 mile road race where an early break was expected. It is a typical course that favors the all-rounder with gentle rolling terrain, some flats, and one 1.5 mile climb. Typically the wind plays a role in guttering the peloton as well. After rolling out from our neutral start at the Petersburg Elementary School the attacks began in a hurry. Solo attacks, twosies and threesies, big groups, etc. But nothing was sticking for the first few miles as the peloton was quite antsy and chased down everything. Eventually, a decent size break gingerly rolled off the front and the usual reduced paced of the peloton followed. Unfortunately, I missed the break and my previous attempts at trying to escape from the group failed. I ended up sitting in conserving energy with an occasional flex of the muscles. By the fourth and final lap of the circuit team Red Truck congregated at the front and began a moderate tempo chase. By the finish, the break only had a minute on the pack which would be much more manageable at trying to reduce in the next days’ time trial. I ended up finishing 24th on the day and had quite a bit of motivation to improve the results with each stage.
The Saturday morning time trial was, to say the least, extremely windy. After rounding the first corner, just about 200 meters from the start, I was slapped in the face with a 20-30 mi/hr wall of a wind. Battling to keep the front wheel straight, I pushed a decent gear and tucked my six foot two frame as much as possible trying to make time on the first 6.5 miles to the turnaround. After motoring along at what seemed to be a turtle’s pace I looped around the turnaround cones and began the screaming stretch back to the line. Picking up the speed to an average just over 40 mi/hr my rear disk and deep dish front wheels whooshed along the country road. Sprinting past the finish clock and officials I came in 8th place with a time of 26 minutes and 13 seconds over the 11 mile course moving me up to 8th on GC.
The Saturday evening race was a late night rectangular twilight crit in The Dalles’ downtown. Beginning at 9 PM the crowds were minimal and the temperature took an extreme dive. I wasn’t too thrilled about the late night 45 minute escapade so the plan was to just tail gun for the evening and save all the energy for the following day’s queen stage. Basically, my evening consisted of standing under a propane heater, lining up, avoiding sketch riders, finishing in the middle of the bunch (50th), and getting into bed as soon as possible.
The last day was a 71 mile circuit which consisted of two short loops and four longer loops which included a sweet dirt climb and another longer paved climb. I was pretty excited about this stage and wanted to move up once again on GC. After concluding the neutral section the attacks began again. Only this time it looked as though the first move was the one that was going to stick. We completed the first short lap and I attacked off the front to bridge to the break which was still in sight. With a couple others in tow we rotated a few times eventually crossing the gap and joining the remaining escapees. The peloton seemed content at letting us go and we quickly began increasing the time gap. We finished the second of the shorter laps and came around to begin the long laps. Still rotating well, we hit the first big paved climb of the day where a couple riders were eventually shed off the back. We tried maintaining a decent and steady pace so we could continue rotating well. However, each lap would see riders being shed off the group and eventually would be widdled to three. I made quite a few pulls with another Red Truck rider while the third sat on our wheels the ENTIRE time since he was trying to protect a GC teammate. Talk about frustrating!
Coming around on the last lap we were given time splits of the shattered peloton that was putting down the hammer. Just over a minute, down to 45 seconds, down to 30, and I began the quick glances back only to see a handful of riders making contact with us just before the last time up the dirt climb. Trying to power my way up, following wheels, I lost contact with the small bunch and would eventually latch on to two others that had caught me. Making the dash to the line I came in 7th on the day and moved up to 5th on GC. It was a great day to be in the break and I was pretty happy to make the podium alongside some other great riders.
KINGS VALLEY ROAD RACE
With a short week of some recovery and longer rides I was back to racing over the weekend with the one day Kings Valley road race just East of Corvallis, Oregon. This is another course which suits the all-round rider with rolling terrain, flats, and a 1 km finish climb. With 75 miles on the menu and a decent sized group the attacks were to be expected again. My goal for the day was to be very aggressive and try to make the break once again. After following my plan of attacking and trying to roll with moves the majority of the day, it finally materialized into a break of five guys at the end of the last lap.
Our gap grew quickly to almost two minutes. The rotations were smooth for the most part but the cat and mouse games soon followed as we approached the last few miles of the race. I wasn’t too interested in playing the games and continued pulling at the front not wanting the pack to catch us before the finish climb. Just after passing the 1 km to go sign an attack came from the break resulting in a small gap that I just couldn’t close by the finish. I rolled through second on the day.
After spinning back to the start and chatting with others, I capped off the day with another 70 miles around the scenic Alsea Falls loop and began the 2.5 hour drive back to Bend content with another top place and a burger in the tank.
