Here is the short version:
Saturday
YAY!
Sunday
Ouch...
Before I get into the details, lets go over the stupid shit that I managed to do this weekend.
Saturday was pretty miserable weather, but being a big fatass horrible weather tends to be comparatively good to me, so I can't complain. The course was four laps with one decent size hill and one about half that. After the neutral rollout we went into the false flat through the finish and up the first hill. Lang Reynolds set a strong tempo up it but there weren't any attacks until we hit the rolling flats down the backside of the climb. There they started launching fairly regularly, but a group of four with Kyle Valenta (CMG in Oregon) Mick Walsh, Rich McClung, and Shawn Ongers (I think) made it off somewhere on the back stretch. Nothing too exciting happened over the smaller hill, and we finished up the first lap with The Garage doing some good chasing. Coming into the false flat a little over a K to the start of the second lap the pack slowed down with Andy Luhn hanging off the front. I jumped up to him and we started rotating through. Going through the finish line the officials said the break had 40 seconds on us.
As I came around the corner at the bottom of this picture I thought I saw the last wheel going around the corner they are on now. So when I got to the hill I drilled it.
It would have been nice to see how many watts it takes to push that belly up the hill, but like I said, I had installed a harness that didn't work. Speaking of that belly, Hey Pruitt, can I reserve a LARGE jersey for next time? I got a medium at Market Street, and all that was left at independence valley was a small. As Andrew would say "It jiggles." You should have seen Pat Stanko's face on the ferry ride home after Sequim when I demonstrated my girth by busting the stomach out. It was equal parts abject terror and unequivocal glee. I didn't know such a combination was
possible, but he managed to pull it off.
I lumbered to the top of the hill and caught the break just over the crest (they held up at the top when it became obvious I was going to make it). The five of us started working together but we lost Shawn in the rollers on the backside of the course. Coming into the second Hill Mick was looking pretty gassed and had been sitting on for a couple of miles, he popped off on the climb. I would say that I hate to see Mick get flicked, but then I remember what he did to me in Wenatchee last year and I stop feeling bad. The rest of the day Kyle, Rich and I worked together and for the most part stayed out of sight of the pack. There was one wide open stretch of farmland on the backside where we could see the lights of the peloton behind us before we ducked back into the trees, but that was the only section where I saw chasers. The only notable event was when we passed a guy walking four of his dogs and they tried to eat Rich. He was sitting in third at the time and they gave us all a good little scare. Kyle and I managed to roll through it without slowing down much, but Rich got a little stuck. He made it out unscathed and we were waiting safely up the road for him. On the last lap with maybe two miles to go Rich curses a little and says he's got a flat. We didn't have a follow car so he had no chance of getting a wheel change which really sucked because he definitely deserved a sprint finish for all the work he had put in. Instead he just rolled in the last two miles on the rim and still managed to stay ahead of the chasers. What a beast.
Kyle and I rolled into the last couple of K at a pretty easy pace without any messing about or cat and mouse until a K to go. There we kept it fairly even or a little staggered until the 200 meter sign (which looked a lot more like 120 meters, but whatever). I jumped maybe 20 meters after the 200 to go and came across in first.
Yay.
In the women's race Tricia Bailey and Sirikit Valentin came in first and third respectively, and Todd Bandy won the Masters A/B race. Go Wines of Washington.
It was particularly special for me to win a race that supports the Multiple Sclerosis Society given that both my mom and my aunt have MS. So many thanks to Group Health and Erik Anderson for putting on a great race that supports a great cause.
That night it was off to Leny's Tavern where my friend Mike was celebrating his birthday with 30 or 40 of his closest buddies. Truly impressive/frightening statistic of the night. They put in a thirteen hour shift and closed the bar down. There was some big time intoxication going down. I managed to get away with only 3 beers and a shot of tequila which, believe me, is getting away easy with this group.
Sunday was Tour de Dung number 2 and after one lap I was once again was in a break with 60 miles to go. It started off with three Hagens Berman riders, Rob Campbell, Nathan, Higgie, and myself. For the first lap or two Campbell was doing the Campbell in a break thing. I would explain what that is, but if you've been in a break with him before you already know, and if you haven't...well I'd hate to ruin the surprise. Two of the HB boys flatted out leaving Pat Stanko as the sole HB representative in the break and Nathan broke a spoke. Why he broke a spoke I can't imagine, I thought heavyweights were supposed to break spokes, not the lightweights. You been eating too many Krispy Kremes Nathan? After that we were done with the stupid mechanicals, I wish they hadn't happened, but that's how it goes I suppose. We had as much as 2:30 on the field and as little as 1:00 with two to go, but we managed to almost stay away the whole day.
I say almost because with 3 or 4 k to go a group of three including Kenny, Lang, and a guy named Jake McArthur who I don't know but who is now sitting second in the Tour de Dung standings, bridged across to us. As soon as they caught us Kenny and Rob started barking at each other while Lang kept on rolling and turned it into an attack. With Rob and Kenny just sitting on the back we stopped chasing and Lang opened up a gap. Finally they agreed to pull through and with one rotation we brought it down to a gap of maybe 50 meters. Then they stopped pulling through again. This is where sprinters completely baffle me. Both of them have engines plenty big enough to have pulled through one more time and had they done so, I'm certain we would have caught Lang, but they would rather stare at each other and watch first place roll away. As someone who is far more likely to win in a break than in a field sprint I guess I can only say cheers to that, and good move Lang.
The three that bridged took first through third while I trickled in for fourth. It was extra painfull. I had been done with 2 laps to go REALLY done with one to go and completly fried with 200 meters to go. Ugggh.
All around a good weekend.
Saturday
YAY!
Sunday
Ouch...
Before I get into the details, lets go over the stupid shit that I managed to do this weekend.
- Back to back 60 mile breakaways
- Celebrating Saturdays win by going to the sketchiest bar in the area
- Taking a bottle with me on Sunday that had been mixed a week and a half ago and had grown sea monkeys
- Drinking said bottle
- Getting all excited about my new PT SL hub that I had laced into my Zipp and then installing a harness that doesn't work
Saturday was pretty miserable weather, but being a big fatass horrible weather tends to be comparatively good to me, so I can't complain. The course was four laps with one decent size hill and one about half that. After the neutral rollout we went into the false flat through the finish and up the first hill. Lang Reynolds set a strong tempo up it but there weren't any attacks until we hit the rolling flats down the backside of the climb. There they started launching fairly regularly, but a group of four with Kyle Valenta (CMG in Oregon) Mick Walsh, Rich McClung, and Shawn Ongers (I think) made it off somewhere on the back stretch. Nothing too exciting happened over the smaller hill, and we finished up the first lap with The Garage doing some good chasing. Coming into the false flat a little over a K to the start of the second lap the pack slowed down with Andy Luhn hanging off the front. I jumped up to him and we started rotating through. Going through the finish line the officials said the break had 40 seconds on us.
As I came around the corner at the bottom of this picture I thought I saw the last wheel going around the corner they are on now. So when I got to the hill I drilled it.
It would have been nice to see how many watts it takes to push that belly up the hill, but like I said, I had installed a harness that didn't work. Speaking of that belly, Hey Pruitt, can I reserve a LARGE jersey for next time? I got a medium at Market Street, and all that was left at independence valley was a small. As Andrew would say "It jiggles." You should have seen Pat Stanko's face on the ferry ride home after Sequim when I demonstrated my girth by busting the stomach out. It was equal parts abject terror and unequivocal glee. I didn't know such a combination was
possible, but he managed to pull it off.
I lumbered to the top of the hill and caught the break just over the crest (they held up at the top when it became obvious I was going to make it). The five of us started working together but we lost Shawn in the rollers on the backside of the course. Coming into the second Hill Mick was looking pretty gassed and had been sitting on for a couple of miles, he popped off on the climb. I would say that I hate to see Mick get flicked, but then I remember what he did to me in Wenatchee last year and I stop feeling bad. The rest of the day Kyle, Rich and I worked together and for the most part stayed out of sight of the pack. There was one wide open stretch of farmland on the backside where we could see the lights of the peloton behind us before we ducked back into the trees, but that was the only section where I saw chasers. The only notable event was when we passed a guy walking four of his dogs and they tried to eat Rich. He was sitting in third at the time and they gave us all a good little scare. Kyle and I managed to roll through it without slowing down much, but Rich got a little stuck. He made it out unscathed and we were waiting safely up the road for him. On the last lap with maybe two miles to go Rich curses a little and says he's got a flat. We didn't have a follow car so he had no chance of getting a wheel change which really sucked because he definitely deserved a sprint finish for all the work he had put in. Instead he just rolled in the last two miles on the rim and still managed to stay ahead of the chasers. What a beast.
Kyle and I rolled into the last couple of K at a pretty easy pace without any messing about or cat and mouse until a K to go. There we kept it fairly even or a little staggered until the 200 meter sign (which looked a lot more like 120 meters, but whatever). I jumped maybe 20 meters after the 200 to go and came across in first.
Yay.
In the women's race Tricia Bailey and Sirikit Valentin came in first and third respectively, and Todd Bandy won the Masters A/B race. Go Wines of Washington.
It was particularly special for me to win a race that supports the Multiple Sclerosis Society given that both my mom and my aunt have MS. So many thanks to Group Health and Erik Anderson for putting on a great race that supports a great cause.
That night it was off to Leny's Tavern where my friend Mike was celebrating his birthday with 30 or 40 of his closest buddies. Truly impressive/frightening statistic of the night. They put in a thirteen hour shift and closed the bar down. There was some big time intoxication going down. I managed to get away with only 3 beers and a shot of tequila which, believe me, is getting away easy with this group.
Sunday was Tour de Dung number 2 and after one lap I was once again was in a break with 60 miles to go. It started off with three Hagens Berman riders, Rob Campbell, Nathan, Higgie, and myself. For the first lap or two Campbell was doing the Campbell in a break thing. I would explain what that is, but if you've been in a break with him before you already know, and if you haven't...well I'd hate to ruin the surprise. Two of the HB boys flatted out leaving Pat Stanko as the sole HB representative in the break and Nathan broke a spoke. Why he broke a spoke I can't imagine, I thought heavyweights were supposed to break spokes, not the lightweights. You been eating too many Krispy Kremes Nathan? After that we were done with the stupid mechanicals, I wish they hadn't happened, but that's how it goes I suppose. We had as much as 2:30 on the field and as little as 1:00 with two to go, but we managed to almost stay away the whole day.
I say almost because with 3 or 4 k to go a group of three including Kenny, Lang, and a guy named Jake McArthur who I don't know but who is now sitting second in the Tour de Dung standings, bridged across to us. As soon as they caught us Kenny and Rob started barking at each other while Lang kept on rolling and turned it into an attack. With Rob and Kenny just sitting on the back we stopped chasing and Lang opened up a gap. Finally they agreed to pull through and with one rotation we brought it down to a gap of maybe 50 meters. Then they stopped pulling through again. This is where sprinters completely baffle me. Both of them have engines plenty big enough to have pulled through one more time and had they done so, I'm certain we would have caught Lang, but they would rather stare at each other and watch first place roll away. As someone who is far more likely to win in a break than in a field sprint I guess I can only say cheers to that, and good move Lang.
The three that bridged took first through third while I trickled in for fourth. It was extra painfull. I had been done with 2 laps to go REALLY done with one to go and completly fried with 200 meters to go. Ugggh.
All around a good weekend.
posted by Jamie Stangeland at Tuesday, March 27, 2007
9 Comments:
I think my spoke was broken by a strong gravitational pull from a nearby large object...or my massive legs...one of the two...you be the judge!
Sweetness! Thanks for the update. (:
Jake MacArthur is a fast young kid from Wenatchee. He raced with our team a couple years ago but now rides with a local team. He graduated from high school last year. Very talented kid. I'd watch out for him, at 18 years old he'll only get stronger.
RC
Like I said on the bike "write what you like..."
Series/stage race tactics 101: --Don't help the leader keep/increase their lead (you were/are the series leader & I didn't want you in the break WHEN I STARTED THE BREAK, thanks for the credit pal!)
--When outnumbered by a strong team, don't help them beat you (i.e. 3 H-B's in the break. Sorry, didn't know one would flat, and one would crack. They could've worked the break over later if equal pulls were taken)
So there are two reasons I shouldn't have been working much.
Now, onto selective memory, already covered not mentioning that I'd attacked solo earlier, and then initiated the main break...
As for the finale, I took pulls, and then no one came through, yourself included. Remember me trying to get YOU to help? I wasn't going to pull everyone, precisely because Kenny made it clear right when he caught that he was going to sit on.
My plan was to win from a break or in a field sprint. When the race started aggressively I thought I'd better make sure I was in a break.
Had we not been caught, who do you think would have won? Would you have given me any credit then?
Easy Rob, I'm passing no judgement on how you rode in the race I'm just commenting on what (I thought) I saw. I'll be the first to admit that the vast majority of times I get into a sprint situation with the likes of you Ian or Kenny, I'm not going to come out on top. As to the comment about you doing the you thing in a break...I'm not saying it's bad tactics, I'm saying it's what you do. I know I'm not the only one who has seen it.
As to the finish I do recall both you and Kenny trying to get me to pull--when both of you were sitting on. Anyway, good racing, and hopefully I'll see you this weekend.
This comment has been removed by the author.
3 HB guys, but the wrong 3 HB guys. Even with numbers, they were going to be chased by their own team. It wasn't a full-blown effort like later in the race, but HB lent some muscle to effort to bring back the break with 3 of their own in it. The danger of letting Jamie get more series points appeared to be more of a worry than the fact that they might have won the day with numbers. I tend to agree with their tactic considering how deep the day paid ($0).
aw, come on, don't you think 4.71 w/kg for 5 min followed by 5.59 w/kg for 1:30 is a "race winning" effort?????
Lang: Obviously it was a race winning effort, YOU WON! I certainly wasn't trying to take anything away from you, I meant it when I said it was a good win, and unless you can start outsprinting Kenny and Rob it's how you are going to have to win against them.
Post a Comment
<< Home