Mason Lake #3
Number of obligatory March Madness references .....1
St. Patties day pre-race rituals not to be repeated .....1
Crashes (that I am aware of) .....1
Final (meaningless) ranking in Mason Lake Series .....1st
Current (meaningless) ranking in WSBA results .....1st
Number of times I totally imploded .....1
The third and final Mason Lake race was on Saturday. St. Patrick's day was Friday. One of the .83 people (see link on right if curious) is putting on a series of underground uphill sprint races. Friday night was the first of five. I went out and sprinted up a small hill in Discovery park six times followed by drinking a couple of Guinesses at a party and then ice cream and naked hot tubbing with some friends. Fun, yes. Good pre-race plan--not so much.
Low and behold it was nice weather for three Mason Lake races. That's nice and all but I'm pretty sure that it is the third sign of the apocalypse (MJ being the first, and The Red Sox winning the world series being the second). With nice weather we started to race. We had a few of the big boys that we hadn't seen yet this season including Russell Stevenson (leader for local team, BRI, but he just moved down to Portland so probably won't be up here as much), Dave Richter who is riding for Monex this year (domestic pro team), and Tom Peterson who jumped up to the domestic pro ranks this year on TIAA Cref. Lots of attacks were flying off early, but everyone was still pretty peppy so nothing got much of a lead without being chased down. I was in a couple of the attempts, but nothing was really getting away. Early on the third lap (I think) as we were heading up the slight riser after turn one there was a crash just in front of and to the right of me involving Kenny Williams (First Rate), Joe Baratto (Wines--that's my team in case you don't know), and Robert Valez (Valley). There may have been more, but I didn't take the time to look because
a.) I can't stand rubberneckers, and
b.) Dudes started attacking.
Attacking during/just after a crash is bad form and all, but I'm not convinced that the people up front knew that there was a crash and there had been attacks at that spot every lap prior.
At some point Ian Tubbs (Broadmark) and Derik Archibald (The Valley) went off the front, but I don't actually remember when. There is a fast downhill followed by a fairly sharp right turn a little over halfway through the course. After we went through that on the third lap they were maybe 150-200 meters up the road. The pack slowed way down after the turn and I was at the front, but most of the big guns from the other teams weren't. Fortunately for me I must have caught them off guard, I made a good jump, and only Rob Campbell (Valley) chased. The Valley already had Derik Archibald in the break and I didn't particularly want to tow Rob up there for three reasons.
1.) He has a certain reputation for not working in the break
2.) He is a better sprinter than me
3.) He was the only guy out there that could overtake me in the Mason Lake Series points standings...they don't mean anything--but I'd rather take 1st place in something than second.
So Rob was chasing me as I was bridging and he actually got into my draft just as we hit a slight increase in the grade of the hill. I gave it a little extra and next time I looked back Rob had his head down, I had a five meter gap on him, and it was growing. Whew, dodged a bullet there. I caught up with Derik and Ian and we started rotating through. At first Derik was sitting hoping that Rob would get a second wind and compleat the bridge up to us, but it didn't happen.
Ian and I are comparatively large cyclists while Derik is substantially smaller. Note that this image is of a three man break. I know, I know you can only see two guys, but trust me Derik is back there. He's just a lot smaller. He's plenty strong though, he beat me soundly at the Ice Breaker time trial, and anything he lacks in size is made up for definitively by his sweet stache. It may even be superior to the 70's porn facial hair sported by Gonzaga's Adam Morrison (March Madness baby).
For all you haters out there, I'm not even being facetious, that thing is awesome.
Stature and facial hair aside Derik was sitting on for most of the last lap and a half cause he was gassed. He would pull through every now and again, but he was hurting. As you can tell from the picture Ian and I weren't feeling particularly strong either. As we approached the 1k to go sign on the final lap with a two minute lead everyone started sitting up and the cat and mouse games were about to begin. Just after the 1k sign there is a steep little downhill--generally not the best place to attack, but we were all going slow so I did. I got a 30 meter gap and it was a perfect move for 700 meters to go. Unfortunately I had 950 meters to go and blew sky high 250 meters from the finish line (oops). The legs just stopped functioning. It was nasty. Ian reeled me in and passed me for first place and I rolled in for second. Derik had been truthful when he said he was blown earlier because he didn't pass me on that last little bit, though I think that saw a couple of banana slugs that did. Can't be certain though, things were a bit fuzzy.
My consolations are that I lost being aggressive instead of defensive, Ian was hurting too, and lastly if I'm going to lose to someone, I'm glad it's to a guy that does his smack talking with his legs and not his lips.
He got the hands up for the victory salute, but getting the head up may have been too much to ask.
As for me, I'm blowing..blowing..BLOWN!
Final standings for the Mason Lake series were as follows
1 James Stangeland Wines of Washington .....39
2 Robert Campbell Valley Athletic Club .....23
3 Ian Tubbs Broadmark Capital/Hagens Berman LLC .....21
4 Michael Murdin Garage Racing .....15
5 Derik Archibald Valley Athletic Club .....14
6 Michael Emde AxleyUSA.com/Spoke & Sprocket .....12
7 ADRIAN HEGYVARY RECYCLED CYCLES RACING .....10
7 Steven Holland Emerald Velo Cycling Team Inc .....10
9 Andrew Martin Wines of Washington .....8
10 Douglas Beardsley Unattached .....6
I'll get the Market Street (Sunday) race report up when I get a chance.
Number of obligatory March Madness references .....1
St. Patties day pre-race rituals not to be repeated .....1
Crashes (that I am aware of) .....1
Final (meaningless) ranking in Mason Lake Series .....1st
Current (meaningless) ranking in WSBA results .....1st
Number of times I totally imploded .....1
The third and final Mason Lake race was on Saturday. St. Patrick's day was Friday. One of the .83 people (see link on right if curious) is putting on a series of underground uphill sprint races. Friday night was the first of five. I went out and sprinted up a small hill in Discovery park six times followed by drinking a couple of Guinesses at a party and then ice cream and naked hot tubbing with some friends. Fun, yes. Good pre-race plan--not so much.
Low and behold it was nice weather for three Mason Lake races. That's nice and all but I'm pretty sure that it is the third sign of the apocalypse (MJ being the first, and The Red Sox winning the world series being the second). With nice weather we started to race. We had a few of the big boys that we hadn't seen yet this season including Russell Stevenson (leader for local team, BRI, but he just moved down to Portland so probably won't be up here as much), Dave Richter who is riding for Monex this year (domestic pro team), and Tom Peterson who jumped up to the domestic pro ranks this year on TIAA Cref. Lots of attacks were flying off early, but everyone was still pretty peppy so nothing got much of a lead without being chased down. I was in a couple of the attempts, but nothing was really getting away. Early on the third lap (I think) as we were heading up the slight riser after turn one there was a crash just in front of and to the right of me involving Kenny Williams (First Rate), Joe Baratto (Wines--that's my team in case you don't know), and Robert Valez (Valley). There may have been more, but I didn't take the time to look because
a.) I can't stand rubberneckers, and
b.) Dudes started attacking.
Attacking during/just after a crash is bad form and all, but I'm not convinced that the people up front knew that there was a crash and there had been attacks at that spot every lap prior.
At some point Ian Tubbs (Broadmark) and Derik Archibald (The Valley) went off the front, but I don't actually remember when. There is a fast downhill followed by a fairly sharp right turn a little over halfway through the course. After we went through that on the third lap they were maybe 150-200 meters up the road. The pack slowed way down after the turn and I was at the front, but most of the big guns from the other teams weren't. Fortunately for me I must have caught them off guard, I made a good jump, and only Rob Campbell (Valley) chased. The Valley already had Derik Archibald in the break and I didn't particularly want to tow Rob up there for three reasons.
1.) He has a certain reputation for not working in the break
2.) He is a better sprinter than me
3.) He was the only guy out there that could overtake me in the Mason Lake Series points standings...they don't mean anything--but I'd rather take 1st place in something than second.
So Rob was chasing me as I was bridging and he actually got into my draft just as we hit a slight increase in the grade of the hill. I gave it a little extra and next time I looked back Rob had his head down, I had a five meter gap on him, and it was growing. Whew, dodged a bullet there. I caught up with Derik and Ian and we started rotating through. At first Derik was sitting hoping that Rob would get a second wind and compleat the bridge up to us, but it didn't happen.
Ian and I are comparatively large cyclists while Derik is substantially smaller. Note that this image is of a three man break. I know, I know you can only see two guys, but trust me Derik is back there. He's just a lot smaller. He's plenty strong though, he beat me soundly at the Ice Breaker time trial, and anything he lacks in size is made up for definitively by his sweet stache. It may even be superior to the 70's porn facial hair sported by Gonzaga's Adam Morrison (March Madness baby).
For all you haters out there, I'm not even being facetious, that thing is awesome.
Stature and facial hair aside Derik was sitting on for most of the last lap and a half cause he was gassed. He would pull through every now and again, but he was hurting. As you can tell from the picture Ian and I weren't feeling particularly strong either. As we approached the 1k to go sign on the final lap with a two minute lead everyone started sitting up and the cat and mouse games were about to begin. Just after the 1k sign there is a steep little downhill--generally not the best place to attack, but we were all going slow so I did. I got a 30 meter gap and it was a perfect move for 700 meters to go. Unfortunately I had 950 meters to go and blew sky high 250 meters from the finish line (oops). The legs just stopped functioning. It was nasty. Ian reeled me in and passed me for first place and I rolled in for second. Derik had been truthful when he said he was blown earlier because he didn't pass me on that last little bit, though I think that saw a couple of banana slugs that did. Can't be certain though, things were a bit fuzzy.
My consolations are that I lost being aggressive instead of defensive, Ian was hurting too, and lastly if I'm going to lose to someone, I'm glad it's to a guy that does his smack talking with his legs and not his lips.
He got the hands up for the victory salute, but getting the head up may have been too much to ask.
As for me, I'm blowing..blowing..BLOWN!
Final standings for the Mason Lake series were as follows
1 James Stangeland Wines of Washington .....39
2 Robert Campbell Valley Athletic Club .....23
3 Ian Tubbs Broadmark Capital/Hagens Berman LLC .....21
4 Michael Murdin Garage Racing .....15
5 Derik Archibald Valley Athletic Club .....14
6 Michael Emde AxleyUSA.com/Spoke & Sprocket .....12
7 ADRIAN HEGYVARY RECYCLED CYCLES RACING .....10
7 Steven Holland Emerald Velo Cycling Team Inc .....10
9 Andrew Martin Wines of Washington .....8
10 Douglas Beardsley Unattached .....6
I'll get the Market Street (Sunday) race report up when I get a chance.
posted by Jamie Stangeland at Monday, March 20, 2006
9 Comments:
Jamie, Jamie, Jamie: Let me correct you before you meet an Irishman (or woman) on the road. The patron saint of Ireland who is celebrated on the 17th of March is named Patrick. Sometimes this name is shortened to Paddy. So sometimes it's called Paddy's Day. "Patties," however, are what you get (as my Irishman says) between your buns at McDonalds. There is no St. Pattie nor "St. Patties day" nor "St. Pattie's day." If you are forever banned from drinking Guinness, you have no one to blame but yourself.
-Your nitpicking sometime-stoker, Martha
Eye spel gud. Noted and corrected, thanks.
Good job Jamie !!!
It's not all corrected, Jamie.And even the corrected item is offending.
Still no Guinness for you.
The reason you cracked at 250 meters is because your bike was too discusted with you for running mis-matched tires. That's so rain bike.
Anonymous,
You're such a snob!
It's about legs, heart and lungs.
Don't worry Mick, anonymous is just poking fun at me. Besides when you are the only guy I know that spells "disgusted" with a c, your logging in as anonymous doesn't keep your identity safe...ANDREW!
Isn't this all about poking fun at you ;-)
1st off, nice job with the Mason Lake series win. Is winning that any less cool than winning $43 dollars at the Market St. road race? I think not. Revel in all wins, as your last one may be, well, your last.
As for sitting on, like at Mason Lake #1 (?), I will not contribute to someone else beating me or my team if I can help it. Working, or working hard may just lead to one getting dropped or beaten by stronger riders with better teams. Broadmark and Recycled had the advantage in that break and I wasn't going to help them beat me. When I chose to "work" it was by attacking, not helping extend the gap to five minutes.
I do remember attacking in that race near the end and trying to get something going with you as a matter of fact.
Add tactics to your game and you will be a truly complete rider and capable of the pro ranks.
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