A sunny day, a 7 PM start. In theory, flats, but due to some work on the drag strip, it’d be counter-clockwise with the escape route. Should be a good hills workout, especially after all the March racing. The 1/2/3s head out… then the Masters. Huh… there’s still a lot of people about.

Over 90 people, to be exact!

It’s just a huge, huge pack. It’s actually a bit intimidating, to be honest. I’m in the middle. The first couple of laps are tough and I’m winded… I’m not bombing down the escape route as there’s tons of people. And it’s tough moving up, as the pack is fast… very fast. It’s 30 minutes, so people are taking it like a crit, and I’m having a hell of a time climbing. I get dropped after the 2nd hill, so I sit up at top for the pack to come around. When they do, I race to catch on the back… and don’t! The pack is moving at around 26-28 MPH, and I can’t catch on for the life of me. Turns out the 4/5s also passed the Masters… just a fast moving pack. I do one more lap, then I’m done. Oof!

Hill repeats. Must do hill repeats.

Friday, 9 PM, 3/28. I’m packing up the race gear. It’s snowing. There are two races the next day, a rarity. Sequim #2 or North Shore circuit up in Bellingham. I haven’t done Bellingham, but it’s hilly, and about the same distance as Sequim. And it’s snowing. In theory, Sequim is in the rain shadow, and dry. Bellingham, not so much. I check the radar… there’s rain and snow everywhere.

Saturday, 6:30 AM, 3/29. It’s partly cloudy… could Sequim be nice? Or would it be a waste of a 2 hour drive and $23 in ferry tolls to see Dungeness snowed under?

8:45 AM, 3/29. We arrive, in weather that could only be described as, “Doesn’t suck.”

It was chilly, but warming and gorgeous. And dry. A great day for a race!

There were 35-45 in the Cat4 field… the race marshall at the beginning said 35, but folks at the end said 45. Felt more like 35, but who knows. Anyway, there were 8 Wines and 2-3 members from the usual suspects. Two strong Carter guys did a ton of work, but we were covering their moves. And of course anytime any of us tried to get away, the pack would chase things down. So, while a few people would get popped off the back, the pack mostly rolled around the course uneventfully. One of our guys caught a pedal in his Zipps… totaled the front wheel, but he stayed upright and nobody else crashed. Otherwise, bunch sprint at the end. The two Byrne guys, including Jeff whom I rode with last week, took first and second, and then our guys rolled through 3rd and 4th and then scattered throughout the pack. I didn’t take the last corner well, and the pack started sprinting almost immediately, which was about 1000km out. I was further back, so had to catch some wheels, but didn’t have enough gas to get into good position. Ended up #22 - better than last time. Still gotta work at having gas as the end though.

And for fun, some shots of the folks after the race. Here’s Alec and Jon checking on their placements at the finish line:

And here’s Mark Wistrom, who hung at the back nearly the entire race and still finished well! He was #21, as we were both out of gas.

Here’s Dessa relaxing after the race. He also had a good race, finishing 11th.

Good stuff. Oh, and as for what happened in Bellingham?

Race canceled. We’ll see ya next year!

Well, that was fast.

Independence Valley is a ~20 mile loop down in Rochester, WA, which is just off I-5 halfway between Seattle and Portland. It’s a narrow, chip-sealed route with two ~250 foot hills. That’s where the race is won and lost… those that can stick on the hills, make it to a sprint finish with maybe 20-30 other people out of some 70 that start. I figured I could hold my own at least on the first hill, and hopefully the second.

Nope.

I kept up a bit about 80% of the first hill, but couldn’t keep speed. I tried to catch back on the descent, but the pack was just out of reach. Jeff, a Byrne guy who also got dropped on the hill, caught up with me and we rode to the next hill. As we were huffing up, the 5s overtook and those who could climb passed us. We let them go (not that I had much choice) and hopped on down a nice windy descent. We picked up a few of the 5s who had also been dropped and cruised the final few miles to the lap marker. The 5s we were with decided to do another lap; Jeff and I packed it in. We met up with a few other 4s who had also been dropped along the way towards the end.

Welp… time to get on the trainer and work on those hills. But hey, next week - Sequim #2!

An annual tradition started early this year. On Tuesday, Budu Racing started its twilight racing series at Pacific Raceways! Every Tuesday night at 7 (6:45 for the first two weeks) is a quick ~hour long race along the 2-mile track at PR. About a third of the time it’s “the flats” which means a 2-mile loop on a flat course. The other 2/3 are along the back, which have a descent and ascent of some slope, depending on which direction we’re going that week. They’re quick practice races, good to get the legs pumping.

This week, there was a huge crowd — well over 50 in the 4/5s. We just did 6 laps for 30 minutes, but were cruising between 23 and 25 MPH each lap. I finished upper-middle of the pack; I don’t think there were many drops. Did some time pulling, spent some time at the back, busted up a few times… generally worked on cornering and moving within the pack. Good times.

Oh, and best of all - I got #39 again this year. Bit of luck, bit of timing… w00t!

The final race of the Mason Lake series, #3, happened today. Since the Ravensdale race is tomorrow, a race much closer to Seattle and on a faster, wider course, not many people were at Mason. For the 4s, there were only 25 of us, which made for a much more interesting race. Moving up was amazingly easy, as the pack was typically in either a single or double line. At one point I found myself at the end, and so I just hopped out near the center yellow line and moved up to the front, about 4th, just like that. And I don’t think anyone actually followed my wheel, which says something about how fluid things were. People were attacking and covering often, and because of the small field the surges were felt by everyone… or at least me.

Near the end of the second lap I almost bumped into Dessa… he was swooping out a bit on a corner, but all was good. He apparently recognized my profile, and asked if I was with the Touring Machines. I said yup! And he introduced himself. I guess he’s on the CycleU team now; good for him! Anyway, we didn’t have much of a chance to talk as the there started to be attack after attack on the back rollers. This managed to sap my strength a lot faster than I would have thought, and I got popped off towards the beginning of the 3rd lap with a FSA guy. We chased for a while, but after a few miles it was pretty clear we weren’t going to catch the pack. We did a reasonable pace to finish and called it at 3 laps, just in time to see the Masters C/D and 5s packs come in a few minutes later.

I’m still not sure why Mason is so hard for me… not sure if I can blame it on the rollers. Last week my legs blew up… this week, I just got popped. The third lap solo I clearly had gas still in the tanks, so perhaps I need to be closer to the front when attacks start coming. Easier said than done of course!

Next week: Sequim #2… back to the flats!

Update: one of the most flattering shots of me I’ve seen in a while, from the fine folks at WheelsInFocus.com:

Ah, Sequim… the top of the peninsula. A fast 12-mile loop along wide, dry pavement. The race winds along the top portion at usually a fast clip, then hits a 5-mile straightaway that’s usually into a 5- to 10-MPH wind. Staying with the pack will yield a good finish typically, but that also means it is easy to get dropped! Last year, I had a good race and finished 16th and 19th. This year?

As it turns out, there was very little wind. This means the field of ~65 racers was packed together, and actually sped up on that 5-mile straightaway. A bit boring of a race for the first two laps. About the third, a break got away with Duane, our fearless captain, and four others, including a rider from Hagens-Berman, the other strong team in the field. Well, once a break with teammates has gotten away, the team in the pack knows what to do: mail it in! So, nobody chased. Starbucks tried to chase, but couldn’t quite get one together and just ended up blocking and getting yelled at. Then, around the end of the third lap, a few people went down near me inexplicably… one bumped my wheel, but I was able to get around it and get back with the pack. A few minutes later at the beginning of the fourth lap, another crash, again far too close to me for my liking. At this point the pack settled having lost about half its number due to the crashes, and we had a nice ride to the finish.

Near the end, I tested joining a minor break, but discovered my left leg was cramping… I went from 3rd to 20th in a second as I worked it out. At that point, I decided that a simple finish would do fine… no sense in killing the leg on the second race of the year. So the pack rounded the final turn and sprinted for 6th place. I finished with the pack, somewhere below 20, but hey, it was a fun race. Duane ended up taking 3rd after hearing he and the two remaining in the break were 2 minutes ahead with 3 miles to go and letting the other two get away (the 4th and 5th in the break having been dropped earlier). Ben Collins, a rookie pro triathlete and the ox leading the break, towed HB’s Cat 2 track sprinter to the finish in time to watch what sprinters do best - pop around and win from behind. Oops.

9:30 AM. Dave Douglas, former president of the WSBA, gives his annual inaugural speech to 70-odd Category 4 racers.

This is a training race. There are no prizes, no cash, no merchandise, no points for winning. This is just to remember how to ride in a fast pack again. The centerline rule is in effect, so don’t go over the yellow line. If your team put in some wheels and you have a flat, move over to the right and get a swap. If not, sucks to be you. Make sure your numbers are on the right side. Last lap, the full road is available for sprinting to the finish for the final 200 meters. Neutral until the first corner, and then you’re racing!

And we’re off! I’m towards the back, foolishly, and spend the first lap getting my heart rate under control and trying to move up a bit. I get to the 2/3 mark of the pack… a bit better, but still yo-yoing too much on the turns. There are some new kits to old teams… the brown Zoka is now red Cucina Fresca, and red Native Planet has turned into green and white Starbucks. My team, Wines of Washington, is still black, white, silver, and yellow… a bit too noisy for my tastes, but that’s OK.

Laps 2 and 3 are OK… my heart rate is under control and I think I’ve got gas. Last year at this time, I was dying 4 miles from the end of Lap 3. This year, no problems. We sail through, bounce about and make a left onto good road and an incline. I handle the turn nicely (a shock, as I’m still horribly at following wheels on turns), keep behind a guy as we latch back onto the pack… and I’m done.

It was a weird sensation… the legs just lost energy, and I saw the pack starting to slip away. The follow car was quite generous in giving me time to catch back on, and I knew in my head that my race was done, but didn’t want to admit it. I tried pushing to get to the downhill and catch back up, but nothing doing. OK, fine… I’ll have a slow 11-mile cooldown. Bad idea… left side starting cramping and freezing, and really, by the time I was at the 6 mile mark on the course (halfway around), I was hurting. Spun my way out of it at maybe 15 miles per hour, going very slowly up the rollers. Oof…. not an auspicious start, but hey, it’s a rolling course, and clearly, I still suck at hills. And really, gotta be in the front from the beginning!

BTW, our team plan generally works… we hid until the end, and then we bunch sprinted on the right side to the finish. Got 2nd and 3rd, although one of our guys went down hard in a 4-man crash… that sucked. 2nd doesn’t get you anything in this race, but Greg got some stitches in his knee for his effort. Ah well, that’s racing.

Next week: points matter, as we head up to Sequim for Tour de Dung!

Well, after a month or so galavanting around Europe, I was back on track on the track - Pacific Raceways, counter clockwise down the escape route. An hour around the track. There was a decent field; a bit small but enough for a good race. I was hoping to make at least half the laps before getting dropped, and that turned out accurate. Around lap 5, the legs started to burn up the hill, and lap 6 I got popped. I chased back on during the flats, but on the next uphill I had no energy left. I sat out a lap and caught back on for another couple when the pack came around again after five minutes. This was actually much better than toughing it out solo… the final laps are interesting, especially the last which feels more like a 2-mile semi-sprint rather than a normal finish. Because of the big uphill climb, on the downhill everyone spreads out and then on the uphill people are already sprinting, as there’s no help from drafting.

Good race regardless… next week is up, which I’ll probably miss, and then the final race in two weeks - flats!

In the official Pacific Raceways flier, Rory leaves a clockwise and counter clockwise day open so he can decide on the day of the event whether to use the S-Curve or Escape Route. Today, we were doing clockwise, which scares people away — HILL! And since it wasn’t known to use the escape route, people guessed it would be the S-Curve, meaning BIG HILL! But, thanks in small part to the heat on asphalt, we just did the easier clockwise loop - escape route. This was still brutal, as it’s a big hill about 10 times. I managed to get dropped on the first preme when the pack bolted after the hill - finish line was at the main grandstands where we start, vs at the hilltop. I didn’t feel like waiting out a lap, so I just muscled through, occasionally catching a draft with the Masters or once the 123s. Given how small the field was today, it wasn’t that big a deal.

That’s it for a while for PR — no event next week, and I’m out for a few weeks after that. So perhaps a closing event in August or so!

Today, July 3rd, the day before July 4th, we had a weird race at PR. It was the flats and fairly benign at first, at least for the 4/5s and Masters. However, the 1/2/3s only had about 25 in the field, and it disintegrated pretty quickly after numerous attacks. At one point, a few overtook the 4/5s (and we went neutral right - meaning we slowed to a neutral pace and let the 1/2/3s pass on the left - as is normal). Then shortly a few more overtook, but yelled for us to go neutral left. Then the 4/5 peleton overtook the combined breakaway as they apparently sat up. This was weird, and at some point people squeezed in while we were going about 30 MPH… and we had some bumping, and next thing you know it’s a 8 person pileup, including myself. Ow.

I’m a bit scraped up, but nothing bad. The bike appears to be fine - I need to retrue the front wheel, and I need a new saddle, but I didn’t really like the one I had anyway, so no big deal. One of the other guys in the pileup may have broken his collarbone - an EMT racing with us took him to check.

Here’s a snapshot of the HRM right before the crash to see what it looks like… nice and dramatic!

Well, as they say, if you race enough, it’s not if, but when you crash. Although I was getting some ribbing about maybe now I’ll shave my legs to make healing scrapes a bit easier… although I’ll have to see if MK will let me.

Update 7/5/2007 - The guy behind me was apparently recording… check out the video! Looks like just the guy in front stopped and veered left, and then I plowed into him and others plowed into me. Plus, I did apparently go down on my right side, as much as I thought I went down on my left. Huh!