First off, I apologize to my 2... no... 3 loyal readers, as I haven't posted in quite some time. My life has been consistently mundane as of late. That is, until this weekend, where I was able to combine multiple exciting events into 4 jam packed days; each worthy of it's own blog post. So without further ado, I give you the full (uncensored) recap of the most exciting weekend of my life (in the past 4 weeks).
The Eugene Celebration Road Race is the last big race of the year, and I've been looking to complete in it for quite some time. Because this race is so late in the year, I've always been burnt out by the time it comes around. Last year (2011), I begrudgingly participated in it, only to get dropped in the road race and to stop to pick black berries during the time trial; completely overtrained and apathetic. This year, however, was a little different. Because of what is now known as the Bolivia Incident, I was unable to train seriously for almost 2 months, which allowed me to not be burnt out come August and actually look forward to racing. For those of you that don't know, the Eugene Celebration consists of a 5k uphill time trial (go up a hill as fast as you can), a 57 mile Road Race, a 15 mile flat time trial, and a 45 minute criterium race. The person with the lowest time overall wins the entire race.
The Mcbeth Hill Climb: Being a smaller guy, I should be able to get up a hill pretty quickly, right? Well, no. Wrong. For some reason (the reason being that I'm slow) I was able to put in a sub par 13:00 hill climb, placing me 23rd out of 38 riders (the winner was around 11:20 to get up that same hill). This was nothing spectacular, and there is no excuse at why I'm as slow as I was. Alas, I digress. My legs turned out to give a much better showing the next 2 days of racing.
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| Finishing the uphill climb in a world of pain |
Briggs Hill Road Race: I've ridden this course more times than I can count, and this definitely gave me a slight edge over the other riders. My goal was to be like a Milford Man, and boy would I have made Lucille Bluth proud. The course consisted of two climbs, with the main being Briggs hill; a 5 minute climb riddled with cutbacks and steep grades. I knew were the potholes were, I knew when to surge, when to hide and when to drop back. But most importantly, I knew to be patient. No one knew of my existence until the 2nd lap (each lap being ~18.5 miles, 3 laps total), when the field started to fracture up Briggs into groups of 3s and 4s. Feeling rather opportunistic, I decide to go a bit harder and crescent over the hill in the lead 5 riders, with the #1 and #2 GC riders being the two of the very few guys in front of me. We were off the front for about a mile and a half, but everything quickly came back together on the descent, and I faded to the back with a newfound confidence in my climbing legs. During lap 3, a group of 5 snuck off to join up with a solo rider (making the total 6). This didn't concern me too much, as the #1 and 2 GC guys were still in my group and I just decided to sit in and be patient until the final climb, I knew I could keep up with them over it. Once there, the group started to thin out immediately, and the pace ramped. I looked up ahead and witnessed the 1 and 2 guy sneak off the front at the base of the climb, but (sadly) I was wedged in between 2 riders and had no way to jump around. Everyone around me was fading, as rider after rider kept falling off the pace at the front, and there was no semblance of a field. I, however, was having a blast and feeling the best I ever had in a race; I was able to crest 3rd wheel over. I could undoubtedly been in the front, but there with the descent, I figured it was best to let others work. On the way down, about 6 of us started to work well together to catch the (now) lead 8 riders. Unfortunately though, our group got a little too big for our own good (possibly 12) by the end; not everyone was taking pulls through, and we ended up about 6 seconds away from catching the lead 8. I placed 16th on the day... I still suck at sprinting.
Post race, I stayed well hydrated and drove the lead car for the masters field. Well, I actually stayed a little too hydrated; by lap 2/3 I started to feel a quite strong urge to urinate, and by lap 3 I was on the verge of unleashing the wrath of my bladder in to my car. You know when you have to pee, and it's like a surgey kind of pain and you're fighting your bladder to control it? I'd consider that a 9/10 (with 10/10 pissing yourself). I was around a 9.7. Man, did I really have to go, but the race would be over in 35 minutes, and I kept telling myself I could definitely make it. Well, I did eventually make it, and when I found my way to the port-a-potty I decided to time how long of a stream I could hold. It turns out, I peed for 46 seconds CONSISTENTLY! 46 seconds without letting the stream break! And this was a strong stream, too. This was truly my finest moment of the day. I just had to let you know how accomplished I felt after.
I would also like to take just a quick paragraph of my post to tell you about how Dan Mahoney forgot his cycling shoes for the 2nd time in as many years as we've gone to this race. I know it doesn't sound very funny when hearing this news, but I really just want to point out how stupid he should feel for forgetting his shoes, and that I will (most likely) never let him live this down.
Coburg 15mile TT: The Time Trial has been the bane of my existence ever since I started riding bicycles. I've never been powerful, consistent, or fast. Three things that are crucial to being good. This time, however, I wanted to make sure there was no excuse as to why I was slow. I put Alex Wentz's TT wheels on Tiffany, and committed 100% to doing the best I could.
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| Tiffany's lookin good |
The Criterium: Holy shitballs was that sketchy. The race wasn't terribly fast, but it had lots of surges and consistently had near-crashes. I've been spoiled by racing with the 1/2s with how fluid and fast they are, but this race truly made me uncomfortable. We cornered 4 wide at points, people would hit their brakes pretty hard, and surge back. I almost lapped wheels twice (both because I was forced outside by the rider inside of me taking a shit line). I was never comfortable in this race unless I was on the front. I attacked maybe 3 times, but each time the GC leader hopped on my wheel. I'm not sure why... I was around 16th overall, but maybe he sensed the sketchyness as well.
The race ended with my rolling in as far back as possible without losing any time (somewhere around 25th?), and overall very pleased with my mediocre results.
The best part of this weekend though, was not the race; it was what I got to come home to after the race. I was asked to house sit in a beautiful home with two drop dead gorgeous dogs. One Golden Retriever (who I call pup), and another Labradoodle (named Gus). The house is amazing, but taking care of dogs is the best thing I could ask for. Here is a picture of them.
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| Pup |
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| Another of Pup |
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| Gus, who vaguely looks like a mop in this shot |
It's been a really good weekend.
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