Thought I'd give a recap of the Cascade classic from this past weekend. This is definitely one I circle every year and look forward to though I was a bit more subdued this year. Teammate and one of the GC favs for the race, Chris Lyman, crashed hard training the week before; we all know what Chris has endured the past week and we are all thinking of him. I must have had 15 different cyclists come up to me this weekend asking about Chris. Masters racers are pretty cool.
Disclaimer: I'm not going to proofread this thing so please excuse typos.
Stage 1 - Mt Bachelor RR - Nats Preview
Why did they have to change the nats course? I'm going to keep whining about this until I get myself into shape. Knowing I wouldn't be climbing with the likes of Phipps, J Moore, Bryant, Carinio, Sam K, etc, I told myself I should probably try and get in the break - it would be the only way to win the stage and/or the overall.
The race was pretty aggressive actually and a promising break went up the road right after I'd attacked. But ThirstyBear, Folsom and others weren't having any of it. They chased hard on the Cascade Lks Hwy and we caught the break just after the last feed.
I was feeling horrible, having almost been popped before the first feed zone (downhill mind you if that gives you and indication of my "fitness"). I hung tough and tried to get to the front. The 2 kickers before the real climb nearly killed me but somehow I managed to hang on.
Now to the real race. I was able to move up and get myself 4th heading into the Sparks/Todd Lake climbs. I would need every inch to gracefully float back to the back of the pack and hopefully attach to the "contender" group for the finish. I barely made it onto them before the flat in between climbs. But I made it. However, we weren't going to catch the leaders. There were 9 others in between us and the finish so I was sprinting for practice. Well practice makes perfect. I got tenth by winning our little group sprint. This really only mattered because of TT start positioning but that can be mentally important. Overall I was happy to be 10th overall. Carino won the day with Phipps a close second and Bryant taking 3rd. Studs.
Stage 2 - Skyliners TT
I really like this course and it seems to suit me, for about 5-8th every year. Wait, then maybe I don't like this course. Whatever. Nats TT is going to be pan flat and I needed some work on my position and fitness - this would be a good test. I've done some research on my TTs versus others and have really figured out I'm giving something away on the downhills. This needs to be improved so I've "practicing" it as well as trying to improve the position.
The race sets in and so does reality. I'm looking at my power meter and things must not be right. I'm barely holding 300 watts, uphill, and I have at least 12 min more of climbing. I know my power from the year before on the climb (330 watts), so I'm starting to get a bit depressed. I climb on. Near the top my minute man, Ben Thompson, catches me. Sucky but I know how strong Ben is and that he's been using a TT bike this year so I'm not too surprised. Now for the downhill. Ben was a bit of a carrot and it didn't take me long to catch and pass him. I was only running a 53 qring (Rob A had sent me his 56/44 qrings but they didn't work with my Spec/Quarq crank set up). Whatever again. I can pedal 125rpm. So I did. Ben and I swapped positions a couple times going down but my power felt steady and he didn't gain any more time on me. I finish 8th on the day. Not horrible though I felt horrible. Kudos to the bike, helmet and position. W/O them I would have been 32nd.
Sam Kreig, who says he can't TT uphill won the day, convincingly - 20 seconds over Phipps, who I thought was a lock for 30 seconds on everyone. Things were very tight for the next 3-4 positions. Then me.
Sitting 8th overall after the stage.
Stage 3 Crit - downtown Bend.
Same course they've been doing for 3 or 4 years, same course from last year nats. Nearly the same result I always get in this crit. In the promising break, caught with 2 laps to go.
This crit is way too short - 30 minutes this year after they decided to reduce by 5 min for some unknown reason. Tres sucky. Nobody ever gets away in this crit because anyone can hang for 30 min, especially when there's 1km straight stretches. Things will be different for nats though.
Knowing this I told myself to get in a break. Why? Because it's a lot more fun then sitting in with a bunch of dudes. I stayed near the front for the first 10 min of the race waiting for the right time to take off. Then it presented itself - hard man Dan Martin off the front solo, I'm sitting 5th wheel with field slowing down coming through start/finish and a tiny gap to poke through out of the wind where it wouldn't be easy to follow. I caught him quickly with Ben Thompson on my wheel and the three of us were off. This was looking good. This one has to work, right? Ben was sitting 5th overall I think with a lot to gain by potentially winning the race (10 sec time bonus plus whatever gap we'd have on the field) Of course, I didn't think he'd win but he should be motivated. He was and we all traded good pulls and established 20 seconds. Then come the $100 premes. Oh no.
Me: "Guys, let's split the premes. Don't sprint."
Dudes:
Me: Uh, wonder if they heard me. Oh god.
Dan and Ben go for the $100. Of course.
Me: "Guys, c'mon. We can stay win the race..."
Dudes:
Not good.
We had 2 more $100 premes. Same thing from both of them. I'm not happy. We are dicking around on the backstretch, partly because these guys are tired from sprinting, pointing fingers at each other, partly because I don't feel like I should pick up the pieces. Honestly, I"m not sure who was initiating the sprint but they were definitely both going for them. I still want to win the race.
3 laps to go, we have 8 seconds. Ding, ding, ding. Another $100 preme. Guess who's going to win this one? Kudos to Dan Martin for leading me out as 4 or 5 others had bridged up out of the pack. It wasn't close as I rolled through with 2 to go. Head down, I keep hammering thinking something may happen to keep me away, or the right guy will bridge. Nope. Not happening. I'm swarmed. I hold my position near the front and sprint in for 8th I think.
My wife went and purchased a new swim suit with the $100. She deserves it after playing mommy in strange confines for 5 days.
Stage 4 - Awbrey Circuit Race
I obviously love this race and was very interested to see how I'd perform knowing my current fitness, how I felt at LCSR with similar tough guys (I wasn't near them), etc.
500m into the race a break rolls away. It swells to around 10 dudes. I'm right there but can't go with it for a number of reasons (my reasons):
- I'm solo.
- A break has never stayed away since I"ve done this race, at least not from lap 1.
- Even though I'm nowhere near the strongest, I'd be marked and if I jump Thirsty and others would chase.
- I want to see how I climb with the fast guys. Fun, huh?
Things stay this way for awhile: We go balistic up the feed zone climb - I detach a bit knowing I will have to make a big move on the false flat - I get back on and rest up for Archie Briggs. Archie ended up not being as hard for me as the feed zone climb but I am still hurting.
We haven't seen the break forever. We've have a couple updates from the moto but nothing consistent and nobody really knows where they are. All we know is there's probably no chance we see them again. We take a right on the descent leading to the feed zone climb and moto tells us 2:45. Uh oh. This one is really going to hurt as the virtual race leaders are in the break and we only have 10K to go.
Phipps, et al go all out on the feed zone climb. I slide back and away from the group but don't panic. For some reason I decide I might as well try to get back on, so I push hard for 1:30 or so until I reattach. Ouchers. I have no idea why I'm doing this as our group is racing for 7th, I am out of the top 10 because of the break, etc.
Carino and Ben T attacked and got a decent gap off our group. Phipps in on the front doing his thing w/o much help. Things are pretty close between the top 5 and I decide I'd rather help to ensure NorCal hard men win this race (or Sam K), than the guys in the break or Matt or Ben (sorry guys). So I go to the front and put in a big dig for the group. I get some thanks. Back to the back. Rest. back to the front, go hard. repeata. One more big pull into the base of Archie and then I pull the plug and watch the group disappear.
Well, they ended up catching everyone in the break except Dan Martin who stayed away by 4 seconds. maybe I could have stayed in and sprinted for 2nd. Or maybe I pass out going up AB for the 4th time with what will undoubtedly be 5 2012 national champions.
I'm just happy to be close to them right now.
Good times guys and we missed you Lyman.
Jason
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