Today was unarguably Portland’s most beautiful day of 2008… Freezing cold? Definitely! But absolutely gorgeous to say the least.
Being an Ohio transplant by way of Montana made today’s freezing temperature pretty easy on me. Though not-so-much true for native Portlanders. Today I learned that ice sneaks up on you; especially when descending steep, rural roads on a bicycle. There’s a lot of water run-off in Portland and water freezes. Surprised? I was…
For those complaining about the cold, just remember, it could always be worse. Take Newfoundland for example, where oceanic waves freeze at mid-crest.
Another thing I’ve learned during my (almost) 24 short years is that people are lucky to have at least one passion–something which forces us to go beyond our comfort zones, pain thresholds, laws of science, etc., just for the love of it. For some it’s children, others it’s nothing, for me it’s sport, cycling to be more precise. It’s what drives me, inspires and influences every piece of my life–from family and friends, to work and the pursuit of success… The aforementioned was demonstrated earlier today while struggling for another hour of riding to complete our (David, Garren and I’s) 5-hour training goal. Riding up was the most convenient route to accomplish our goal, so up we went. Aside from a few scattered showers and temperatures near the high-30s, we were lucky to be dry at hour 4. Then, like the weather, our luck changed. The sky turned gray and everything around us became white. Snow was flying and the temperature was falling, it was chaos, so much that all we could do was smile and keep moving. Oh! And pray no drivers were dumb enough to be on our snow-dusted road, just cyclist.
By definition, an Indian Summer is a period of warm, sunny and subsequently incredible weather in Autumn. The climate’s a little odd, but I’m not complaining as it’s great weather for off-season training rides. However, I am a bit concerned because of this “global warming” thing I’ve heard so much about.
Nevertheless, I will continue to enjoy the beautiful fall days and try not to procreate, for fear that my offspring will be tortured by tsunamis, endless day-light and scorching heat as a result of the post-global-warming apocalypse… Just thinking ahead.
I venture to say there’s no Cyclocross scene in the U.S that can rival Portland’s and its surrounding areas. While there are people from coast-to-coast with a passion for Cross, I’m sure; Portland is just on another level. The aforementioned proved true (as far as I’m concerned) at Sunday’s second round of the Cross Crusade, Horning’s Hideout. Competition was fierce in all categories and fields’ never dipped below 50 racers, not to mention the thousand-or-so friends, spouses and children vigorously ringing their cowbells.
Sadly, Sunday could have very well been my final race of the 2007, mostly due to minor injury and a sultry case of “racers burnout.” So, it’s for the best, but don’t be surprised if I’m out trying to throw it down this weekend.
Without further adieu, here’s this past Cross Crusade’s video recap. From the eyes of the Guinness Cycling Team, of course.
Jay hooked up another super rad video documenting this past weekend’s Cyclocross race, which was the first Cross Crusade of the season. In the end, thousands of people showed up and Guinness had 3 riders in the top 10 of more than 90 starters; Garren WON, Jay took 8th and I rolled in at 9th. Enjoy!
In short, it was a weekend full of debauchery, questionable athletics, cyclocross and, on a more spiritual note, true love. Wait…that’s not to say debauchery, copious amounts of alcohol coupled with bicycles and a guy in a speedo isn’t spiritual. Never-the-less, here’s what went down, in chronological order of course:
The weekend kicked off with Chris’s bachelor party. Woot! Woot!
Then continued with the ?? annual Guinness “Back Woods” Beer Criterium:
That’s the only way to explain today’s Battle of Barlow Cyclocross Race, CHAOS!
After two solid days of rain I woke up knowing today’s cyclocross race was going to be a flippin’ mess. Actually, that’s not not entirely true because I don’t entirely remember waking up this morning. Why? The evening before saw copious amounts of alcohol consumption coupled with a Thanksgiving-like feast, some karaoke and a man in a wedding dress (don’t fret, It’s not what you think.) Needless to be said, I probably shouldn’t have been racing my bike, but after a pot Starbucks and a steaming bowl of oats I was ready to roll.
Words can’t describe today’s race, so Jay and I I made some videos. Enjoy!
So I got a few emails asking where I’ve been during the past week. Actually, I got one email and, needless to be said, it was from my mother. Anyways, it has been a pretty crazy week. Not crazy like me getting married, having a kid or catching a deadly virus, but crazy in the sense that a lot has been going.
Between work and cycling, which already takes up the majority of each day and night, I had my brother, Nick, in town from Chicago. Nick spent a week in Portland and I am quite sure that he now knows the city a bit better than I do. After Nick’s departure I hosted a small dinner party, did a local weekday bike race then headed to Eugene, OR for the Eugene Celebration bicycle stage race.
Mind you this is my first multi-day race in the category 1 & 2 field. That said, it is a relatively small fiels, which is good, but, at times, not as fun. In short the race is going moderately well for me. I am sitting somewhere in the back of the top 10 with one more stage still to come. On paper the final stage is weighted in my favor, but only time can confirm that. Stay tuned!
Sunday I participated in the Oregon State Time Trial Championship. For the not-so-cycling-savvy, a time trial (TT) is one of three race formats in competitive road cycling (time trials, criteriums and road races.) In a time trial it’s just the rider against the clock and typical race strategy is thrown right out the door; it’s what I like to call “the race of truth.”
I won’t call myself of a TT specialist, but I have been known to ride well against the clock. However, this wasn’t the case on Sunday as there was a lot of hype riding on my shoulders and I just couldn’t deliver. Oh well…you can’t win them all, but I sure try to.
Anyhow, my friend David took this video of me hauling to the finish of the 40 kilometer solo effort. I am the second rider. Enjoy!
Yesterday I blogged about arguably the worst day in the sport of cycling. Much to my dismay, I lied, yesterday was not the worst day in cycling; instead, today was. Today started with another exciting stage, one said to be the most difficult of all 20 and it was a number of riders final chances to make their moves to advance in the general classification. In the end, the stage was, in my opinion, the most exciting of all 20. However, today’s post-race activitivities involved even more doping allegations and departures from the Tour De France.
The chaos started when, within hours of winning the stage and securing his spot on the top of the overall podium, Michael Rasmussen was fired by his team, Rabobank and subsequently kicked out of the tour. The fun didn’t stop there either, as an hour later French team, Cofidis, left the race after one, Cristian Moreni, tested positive for a banned substance.
“Numb” is the best word to describe my feeling towards today’s events. I am not shocked, nor am I sad, I am just numb to the whole entire situation. I’ll continue to love the sport, but only in my own respects. That’s not to say I am no longer a fan of the sport’s professional level, because I am. However, my trust in the riders, all riders that is, is gone.
I am not sure how or if professional cycling can be cleaned up. One solution might be to have two divisions-clean and doped, just like it’s done in professional body building. After all, it might be kind of fun to just see how fast men can go on bicycles, but then again we run the risk of allowing men to kill themselves with drugs.
For those of you who regularly read Penny For A Thought, it probably comes as no surprise that cycling is my favorite sport. My passion for the sport goes beyond my own participation in bike races, as I follow and know close to everything about the professional level of the sport. Domestically, interest in professional cycling is on the decline, particularly because we are in the post-Lance Armstrong era and, in the past few years, the sport has been contaminated with drug [doping] scandals. Last year we saw many of the sports biggest names (Ullrich, Basso and Landis to name a few) implicated in doping scandals and-for the first time in years-it appeared as though cycling was cleaning up and this year’s Tour De France would be a clean race.
Each year there are lots of big bike races, many of which taking place in Europe; however, Le Tour De France is unarguably the most popular and prestigious race on the pro tour. Le Tour spans over 3 weeks and consists of 20 different stages. Today, during the third week of what has been an exciting race the 2007 Tour De France took a turn for the worst. The turn occurred when, what seemed to be, one of the sports most influential, strongest and classiest rider, Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping and his entire team, Astana, left the tour.
Today’s news was extremely disheartening, as Vinokourov (aka. Vino) is an all-around favorite of cycling fans around the world. Furthermore, Vino is the last person many fans would expect to be accused of doping. His riding style is like no other rider’s in the peloton. Vino’s strength is often-times uncontested, but at the same time he shows vulnerability and that he is human by having the occasional bad day and cracking during crucial race moments. Myself, like many cycling fans, have always looked up to Vino. As dorky as it sounds, Vino has always been like a Super Hero to me, so today’s news came as a personal blow.
I won’t pretend like the Vinokourov scandal will deter me from being a cycling enthusiast; in fact, I will pay just as much attention to the remainder of this year’s Tour as I did yesterday and the days before. However, I have to question the cleanliness of the athletes. If Vino was doped, anyone can be doped. Today was a bad day for the sport and I fear what the future has in store it, as more recent news suggests that there is discussion around removing cycling events from the Olympics.
Well, it’s the moment y’all you have been waiting for…The verdict of today’s race. Put simply, today could not have gone much better than it did. Actually, it would have been best if I was able to go on a solo breakaway to make up the mere 35 seconds keeping me out 1st place in the general classification. However, the two riders-supported by their teams-ahead of me on GC were too strong to let that happen. So, after a few unsuccessful attempts and one “almost” successful attempt, I was forced to concede and think of another to have success on the day.
Success today didn’t just come in the form of a 3rd place overall finish in the stage race’s general classification. Yep! That’s right…Team Guinness (made up of Jay and myself) took both 1st and 2nd on the fourth and final stage of the Cascade Classic. Today’s result was a truly pleasant surprise to me, as I’m usually not one for sprint finishes, especially in the finale of a tough 70 mile circuit race with moderate amounts of climbing. Oh! I forgot to mention that we road today’s stage in less than 3 hours. Needless to be said, we were flying.
In conclusion, today was a great way to end a magnificent weekend of bike racing in Bend, OR. I captured 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd place stage finishes and left with a 3rd place overall finish-3 seconds out of 2nd place and another 30 out of first. OUCH! Oh well, I won’t lose any sleep over it, thought the 87 other men I beat might
Here’s some pictures to sum up today’s stage. Check out my Flickr page for more.
Well, I’m off to sleep now, but thought I’d give those waiting, once again, by there computers a quick update. In short, today was another successful one. I road a smart race and with the help of my dedicated teammate, Jay, road to a 3rd place finish [see podium pic]. Jay’s stellar performance bumped me up to 3rd in the General Classification (GC). Today’s stage wasn’t quite as difficult as I expected, but it was grueling nonetheless. I guess I just kind of psyched myself out since I new we’d be riding upwards of 7,000 feet above sea level. That said, the elevation had little, if any, impact on my performance.
The weather today was magnificent, though pretty warm at times, approaching somewhere in the low 80s. I kept my cool for the better part of the race and tried to distance myself from unforeseen danger. In the end I was pretty happy with my result, of course I would have loved to win, but I did what I could. Check back tomorrow to see if hold, or possibly increase, my GC position. Night!
p.s. The race organizer was reluctant to give me the podium six-pack of beer, as she wasn’t certain I was of age. Flattering? A little! Embarrassing? Yes!
I meant to post this last night at Day 1’s end, but fatigue set in early so I put it off until now. I am sure all of my readers (Mom, Dad, Aunts and a few others) were waiting by their computers all night. That said, Day 1 ended in successful fashion. The day started with an individual 15 mile individual time trial; the course suited my riding style well, so I gave it my all and ended up 4th out the 90+ starters.
After about a 4 hour rest the day continued with an hour long criterium, where everyone raced around a short and technical course in downtown Bend, OR. I am usually not an aggressive crit rider and my primary objective is to just stay safe, as chaos can break loose quickly. So, I stayed in the front for the beginning of the race, sitting about 10-15 riders back, but that wasn’t close enough as pile up happened right in front of me. I dodged the big pile-up and road onto another riders body before ejecting from my pedals. Luckily I escaped safely and was back on the saddle in seconds. However, the crash forced me to chase back onto the main field. Once back on another crash occurred, then another and another. In all there were roughly 5 or 6 crashes, all of which I avoided. Hurray!
With about 3 laps to go I found myself in the back 25% of the field, which is not a good place to be when everyone is bumping elbows for a solid position. So, I knew I needed to advance and it quick…really quick. For the next full lap I went all out and used every trick I knew to cut through the field around the corners and ended the lap in the top 10 riders. From there I was still feeling snappy so I throttled it. In the end I took 4th place, which I was happy with since the I typically sprint like prepubescent little girl with a sprained ankle. [see image-this is when I initiated the attack on the field and brought a few guys with me.]
The race continues today with a long (90 mile) and difficult road race. It’s going to be hot and hilly so I am expecting it to be a race of attrition. Stay tuned for an update tonight.
Like most weeks, this one is shaping up to be another busy one. However, like last week, this one will be cut a day short when I take off a day early for an extended weekend. On Thursday night I depart for the mountain town of Bend, Oregon where I will participate in the Cascade Cycling Classic (CCC). The CCC is the final of a series of three multi-day stage bike races in Oregon.
If you remember back a few weeks you may recall me competing in the Elkhorn Cycling Classic. That particular race went extremely well for me-that is until the last day when I…well…fell apart to say the least. That said, I aim to have my vengeance this weekend in Bend and pity the rider(s) who try to foil my plan.
Until Thursday evening, when I depart for Bend, I will continue my training regimen, which includes a few hours of easy riding each day, maintaining a regular sleep pattern and storing copious amounts of glycogen, carbohydrates and protein. The race kicks off Friday morning with a 15 mile individual time trial followed up by an hour long criterium. The race continues with a 90 mile road on Saturday, then ends with an 80 mile road race on Sunday.
Stay tuned because, like Elkhorn weekend, I will be blogging daily updates from the race. That’s assuming the Best Western in Bend, OR has WiFi.
Today was unarguably Portland’s most beautiful day of 2008… Freezing cold? Definitely! But absolutely gorgeous to say the least.
