Cascade Cycling Classic from the sidelines

Yup, Cascade Classic did not happen for me this year.  I was planning on it up until the last minute…but my finances ran a little low (that’s what happens when you don’t have a job) and so I failed to register.  I had mixed feelings about it.  For one thing, after witnessing the phonominal women’s field that was out there this week…I don’t know if I would have lasted 1 day.  On the other hand…it would have been awesome to try.

Chris and I arrived in Bend last Thursday and immediately headed out to preview the TT course.  The hill is that stupid hill from High Desert and Cascade…only it goes on a little longer.  And then the rest of it is awesome!  Rolling, down hills, smooth pavement…everything a TT-er could want.  So, basically I’m looking forward to the last part of the TT – which could really end up being a good thing.

Friday we went out and did a couple laps around the Aubrey Butte circuit course – and I once again realized why I didn’t sign up for the Elite Nationals Road Race.  That steep hill is CRAZY!!!  Yeah, it’s short, but man….I don’t think I could race up that 4 or 5 times.  I’m feeling bad for the elite men who have to do 7 laps…yeah…that’s right!  7 laps around that course!  Beastly!

We’ve been around for all the stages and have watched all the OBRA categories (2-4) and the Pro races.  It’s been great fun to be able to go out and ride and do our training and then watch everyone else suffer.  Kinda makes me jealous though…

Anyway, my team mate Scotty has been gracious enough to let us stay at his place for the week and 1/2 that we are here.  It’s great!  And him and his GF michelle have the cutest mini australian shepherd named Bella.  She wants to play alllllll the time.  Even when she’s panting so hard she can hardly breath.

Today we watched the last day of the Cascade stage race.  Aubrey Butte Circuit.  As I mentioned before…tough course.  One beastly little pitch of a hill.  So, Chris and I met up with Lindsay and watched people suffer.  I succeeded in calling the Pro men’s break a bunch of ladies!  Yeah…a little embarrassing and quite hilarious.  We thought the women were doing one more lap than they actually did…so they should have been coming up the hill next.  Well…both fields had a break up the road that was about the same size.  So, here this group of riders comes…and I’m shouting…”ALRIGHT LADIES!!!!  KEEP IT UP GIRLS!!!! Nice job! “   Then they get to me and I quickly realize…those are some masculine looking females!  Yeah, it was the pro men’s break, and the women’s race had been cut one lap short.  I think one of them may have laughed a little about it cause I certainly don’t think he was smiling about going up that hill for the 5th time.

Anyway, I’m ready for some active rest and recovery and some TT nats on Friday.

High Desert Omnium…

…kicked my butt.  But, really, it was on my own accord, so that was a much different feeling from last year.  The crit was fun.  I love that course.  A little technical toward the back side, but not too bad.  There was a great field of 1/2 women that showed up, which was even more awesome!  I ended up trying a couple breaks and working at the front, none of which succeeded in anything but tiring me out.  I tucked in the last couple laps, moved up to the front, and unfortunately was not on the same side as Jade when she attacked clear before the downhill corner.  I knew she’d probably go early and I should have been on her wheel, but at that point, between elevation and heat, I wasn’t really thinking properly.  I jumped when I saw her and ended up coming in 4th at the line.

My penultimate goal for that race was to not sit down when I sprint, no matter how tired my little legs are.  Well, for one thing, my legs felt awesome at the end…they weren’t even screaming in pain really…and secondly, I didn’t sit down. I started right from the 200 and went.  I was gaining on the 2 people in front of me, but unfortunately the finish line came just a little too soon.  Aw well…4th was good enough for some omnium points.

Skyliners time trial course is now my current arch nemesis…I hate it, it hates me.  Sort of an understanding I guess.  It was hot and my plan was to go out quite a bit below my normal threshold level at least in the first part, then hit it at the top and fly on the way back down.  My power data says otherwise.  I thought I was seeing low numbers (which was good) and then couldn’t understand why I had completely blown up at about mile 3.5.  But according to my power file I was clear above threshold almost the entire time, so especially with the heat and being at elevation, it’s not wonder my legs didn’t work once I got to the 4% grade section.  I am frustrated because my time trials have not been successful lately – but then again, most of them have had hills and I tend to enjoy the flat ones the most.  Either way, something needs to be done.  The other thing I noticed about my power was that my torque and power output was extremely inconsistent…I’m thinking some work on efficiency needs to be done?  It was just weird looking at what I actually did on the bike that day, but definitely explains why the outcome was not as planned.

Road Race: much easier than last year.  much. much easier…still got dropped on the last climb, but I didn’t really care. I attacked my whole way through this race.  The pace got slow, I attacked. I attacked down the hill, up the hill (new one for me), on the flats. I participated in pace lines to try to amp up the pace…I was just very active this entire race.  I had two goals for this race.  A: eat and hydrate properly.  I succeeded at this goal and felt amazing when I pulled across the finish line.  B: Conserve, sit in, and not work too hard.  Negative completion…about 1/4 of the way through, I decided I didn’t like this plan.  I figure I probably won’t be able to contend at the finish anyway because it’s right after a beastly false flat, so why not have some fun in the middle.  I know that I attacked at dumb places, but I definitely got a work out in. I knew I was burning matches, and sure enough, 1/2 way up the final climb I blew.  My last match was burnt, all my chickens were out of the coup.  I finished with a small group of women and tried leading out Kristen for the sprint.  It was fun, I made myself tired.

Tonight I think I may be racing the 1/2/3 men at the twilight crit…hopefully I last longer than a lap…