Mt Hood stage race - cat 3

I've been slacking in the blogging department lately, but I had a stage race last weekend, and we've been moving to Portland and it's been busy.

Last weekend was the Mt Hood stage race. I did it last year, in the cat 4 division, and this year I was in the Cat 3s. The field was strong, and about 80+ strong to start the race. On Thursday there was a 66 mile circuit race that consisted of 3.5 laps around a course that was about 18 miles. 9 uphill and 9 down. We went up the hill 4 times, and each time the main pack got smaller. There weren't any real break aways, just some tempo riding at the front. I did not ride at the front that much, until the last lap, when I sprinted ahead of the field for about 30 seconds. It wasn't really an attempt at breaking away, Just a surge or whatever. Then I went back in the pack, and stayed in until about 1 kilometer to go, when the pack slowly pulled away and shattered. I ended up 28th and about 1.5 minutes back from the winner. It was Therapeutic Associates teammate Scott Gray who won the stage, so that meant he was in the leaders jersey, and he would be the last to start in the next days individual time trial. Sweet!

Back when I did triathlons I think I was a pretty good time trialer, because I rode alone, alot. Now I do alot of group rides, and few solo rides out in the wind. So my time trail skills are not on par with where they maybe should be. I got passed by 4 people (we started 30 seconds apart, so do the math) and finished the TT over 6 minutes behind the winner of the TT, but I only moved down one spot in the GC (overall standings) so that wasn't all bad I guess. oh yes it was I was 52nd in the ITT.

The big day was Saturday, 89 miles in 90 degree heat through the mountains east of Mount Hood. It was super tough and my teammate spencer and I almost were dropped on one of the climbs in the middle of the race. The pace was hard, on the uphills and people were getting dropped on most of the climbs. The downhills were easy, and I was surprised that nobody pulled through, to increase the pace. Most of the downhills were straight open roads and we were going fast, but there was constant breaking, which got a little annoying. By the time there was 20 miles to go, there were probably 30 people left, and one guy off the front by minutes (he would win the stage). I was not cramping, so I guess I drank enough, but I knew I was feeling it, but I think everyone else was tired too. Scott (teammate) dropped his chain with about 15k to go, so I waited for him and pulled him back to the pack. It was nice of me to do, but I think he would have made it back anyway. He was still in the top 10 overall, and stood to move up in the GC because he's a great climber. I held on to the pack until about 5k to go when the race got really hard and turned onto the road that goes up to the Mt Hood meadows parking lot. I limited my losses, and finished in 26th just over 7.5 minutes back from the leader, and I beat pro mountain biker Evan Plews. If you're pro, and you don't want to have some no-name cat 3 say that they beat you on their blog, then you should be racing with the big boys, and the other pro mountain bikers like Carl Decker. I moved into the top 25 after Saturday's road race.

On sunday was the criterium, and our team (Therapeutic Associates) won all of the primes. The crit course was super fun, but there were crashes, all which seemed pretty minor. I suffered in the back of the pack, when I should have been in the front, because I think it's easier riding in the front, with less braking into the corners, and less chasing out of them.

So the race was a success, but I need to time trail faster. I used my old bike w/ areo bars and a disc wheel and still lost more than 6 minutes (in the end of the 4 days I was less than 12 minutes behind). Laurie got some pictures of my back in the criterium, and I'll post those if I can find the camera cord after we are finished moving to Portland (we move for good on Monday June 11th). I'm planning to do the cat 3 Cascade classic in July in Bend.

Later Skaters.