Should actually write a bit more about Mt. Hood last week. I think the last few posts have been possibly the lamest I’ve written. So. Flew into Portland and was greeted with 75 degrees and amazing sun. Drove out to Hood River in our rented minivan(pimp). Threw the bikes together and went out for an amazing ride with the Big Paki who came out for the day from Portland. He took us out over the prologue and tt courses. Amazing day on the bike, just perfect weather. I immediately looked at real estate that afternoon. Unfortunately it looks as though Hood River is already a big destination for affluent people looking for a second home. Nothing under $350,000 to be found….
Once the race rolled around on Wednesday the true Oregon weather rolled in. Overcast and showers forecast for the rest of the week. Great. Luckily the rain waited until after the prologue to roll in. I put in a good effort for the prologue, a bit tricky 3 miles. Steep bit to begin then a few small rollers transitioning into a downhill section before hitting the final steep roller that kicks you up to Panorama Point. At the last minute before starting I decided to shift up to the 56 vs. the 44 I had planned on hitting the first climb with. Glad I did that since I was able to cruise over the climb then accelerate quickly into the 11 on the downhill. Cracked a bit on the final pitch to Panorama but managed a 6th place. A ways down on a flying O’neill.
Stage two was pretty chill, pretty flat circuit. The excitement for the day came on the downhill 5km run in to the finish. I was feeling pretty decent and decided I’d follow Pinfold from Symmetrics around and try my hand in the sprint. Great idea, 138 pounds of sprinting power ready to be unleashed. I diced a bit and saw daylight with 300m to go. I was on the far right and was just starting to accelerate and was actually coming up on the sprinters with a bit of speed when Henderson decided to throw Pinfold a nice hook. Nothing too drastic, just moved over a bit. Unfortunately for me though I was already squeezed on the far right and some contact was made and I got shoved into the gravel on the edge of the road. For a second as I was coming through the hole on the right I was thinking to myself, “Sh*t, I might win this thing!” A split second later I’m thinking, “Sh*t, I’m gonna die!” Managed to ride out the gravel though, luckily no big objects were in the gutter and I just surfed the edged of the road til I came to a stop. Disaster averted.
Stage three was a big loop done 5 times, just up for ten miles to the finish then ten miles descending. Very straightforward. The climb was pretty shallow til the last mile and a half where it kicked up a little bit. 55 and rain for the whole day. I rode with long finger gloves and a rain jacket til about 5 miles ago when I handed off my clothes to my trusty helper, Bernie. Health Net rode tempo for the whole day, pretty mellow riding to keep the two guys up the road in check. Coming into the last lap we caught the break and things were shaping up for an uphill sprint to the finish. With two miles to go as we came into the steeper bit I had Burke attack to put Health Net on the defensive. He put in a big dig with Moninger reacting in the field to bring him back. Mattis countered and Moninger kept the gas on at the front of the pack. As we caught Mattis with a k and a half to go Moninger just kept upping the pace to discourage any more attacks. I felt great and kept waiting for someone to give it a dig. I was really expecting some big attacks to come. I think everyone was pretty pegged though, no attacks until O’neill jumped with 300m to go. I was on his wheel and jumped with him and started my sprint almost immediately. Came around him with room to spare to take the win. Very stoked. A bit bummed after the race though when O’neill and Moninger were complaining that I shouldn’t have sprinted since they had their boys on the front all day. So I should give the stage win to O’neill since they had two guys riding an easy tempo on the front all day???? Right.
The win moved me up to second overall so I had the pleasure of starting 30 seconds in front of Nathan in the next morning. Ten mile tt, five miles of 5% grade then turn around and fly to the finish. Some motivation for me with Trebon in front of me, also motivated to stay ahead of O’neill as long as possible. Made a last minute wheel change with Zagorski, put his carbon trispoke on the front. Very fast. I started out well and put time into Trebon immediately. As the turn around approached I came up to Trebon’s rear, at the same point O’neill caught the two of us so the three of us came to the 180 all together. The descent to the finish was a bit dicey. O’neill leading with Trebon behind me. Nobody was riding away from anyone, just 56×11 to the finish. The three of us staggered across the road and kept about ten bike lengths between riders. All in all I was happy to lose only 32 seconds to Nathan, less than I had originally expected.
The evenings night crit was pretty mellow fortunately. Early move went almost immediately with four riders, Henderson and Bernie plus Mattis and Pinfold. A perfect move for us and Healthnet. O’neill, Moninger, and myself controlled things at the head of the bunch and made sure that the foursome stayed out front to contest the win. Hendy got the better of Bernie in the sprint, not a bad result for Bernard though.
47 seconds down on O’neill coming into the last day. Three climbs today with the finish being on top of the final climb. Planned to have Burke put HealthNet on the defensive today. Worked out well as Burke put in some big attacks on the first climbs and eventually got away solo. Burke took some risks on the moss covered wet descent and stretched his lead to 2:30 coming into the second climb. His gap came down quickly over the second climb when O’neill and Moninger attacked as soon as I flatted my front wheel. Classy. Took a big effort to come back after a slow wheel change. Had a few guys in the field expressing disbelief to me that the HealthNet boys would resort to attacking me with a puncture. Ah well. Got back in there and waited for the last steep bit to the finish. Caught Burke at the base of the final climb. O’neill set a hard tempo the last few km’s setting up Moninger to launch with 200m to go. I got caught out by his attack and wasn’t able to pull back the ten meter gap. Second place on the day with second on GC locked up. Not a bad week. Pretty miserable cold and wet conditions but feeling good and looking forward to battling with the HealthNet boys at the next few stage races.