S1: Individual Time Trial (8:17am) - A fast, 6.5 mile U-shaped course that goes around Mt. Peak. The course is basically flat with one out-of-the-saddle roller and three technical turns.
S2: Criterium (3:30pm) - 30minutes long. This 0.92 mile figure-eight course is on downtown Enumclaw streets. The course is flat and smooth with one technical turn just before the finish. The course provides great viewing for spectators.
S3: Road Race (9:30am) - 44miles. Start/Finish is the same as the previous day's criterium. The course follows the time trial route backwards to the base of Mud Mt. Dam Rd. for a 3k climb followed by a fast descent down SR410.
Warm Up
Every morning I had to wake up and ride from Ballard to my teammate Doug's house at the Old Rainier Brewery on Airport Way. This meant that I had to practice necessity. Since I was making a 7.5 mile ride just to get to him, I had to carefully decide what was worthy enough for my messenger bag. Anyone who's done a stage race before or any race for that matter, can appreciate that challenge. Here was the checklist:
- kit
-shoes
-helmet
-lots of food (pre/during/post-ride)
-thermos of coffee
-extra waterbottles
-sandals
-cap, gloves, arm warmers (just in case)
-chamois cream
-spare clothes
-towel
I just wore my "spare clothes" for the ride there so my kit wouldn't get sweaty. That ain't PRO. This situation ended up working out quite well for me now that I was getting in a 30 minute warm up spin before we got to Enumclaw (hour-fifteen drive). I was averaging an hour and a half warm-up before each stage, this never happens.
Time Trial
Doug was kind enough to lend me his Cervelo TT bike for the stage since I was going off 30 minutes after him. In a time trial, equipment is 60% of the game. I have an aero helmet, so with a rear Hed disc wheel, a Hed 3 front wheel and reasonable position on his frame (that just so happens to fit me perfectly without any major adjustments) all I had to do was try and hold my target power wattage output (320w) then let the bulls out on the last 200m. Five days prior, I rode the bike with the power meter so I knew what I would be capable of going into Stage 1. We also pre-rode the TT course right when we got to Enumclaw to eliminate any surprises.
After Doug's race, he rolled over to the start, I hopped on and took off a couple minutes later. We were gambling a little bit with this bike swap idea since the finish line is a mile from the start. Being that the roads are freshly paved, it's far too easy to crush it when you start out since youre flying with what seems like no effort. I just tried to hold ideal position and peak at my power output and not stray too far from 320 watts. As noted before, I've only ridden this bike once before so consistency was challenging to say the least. I just felt I was pushing watts all over the place, but atleast keeping it lower than my target so I'd have plenty of juice at the halfway mark. Around 5k, I caught my 30 second guy, then with 1k left in the race I caught my 1 minute and 1:30 guys. Around the last corner at 200m I dropped the gears and tried to slam over 500 watts for a strong finish.
A couple hours later the results were in: I was .05 of a second behind 1st place, John Alving of Apex Racing. He's known for killing the time trials, so this was a big morale booster for me. He joked that I must have tilted my head once to lose .06 of a second. Not bad for being completely inexperienced and on a bike that isn't mine.
Criterium
After napping, eating and lounging around downtown Enumclaw for 6 hours, Doug and I decided to ride the following day's road race course. This was especially nice so we'd be fully primed for the crit and know what to expect for Stage 3. I only needed 6 points to upgrade from the CAT4's to the 3's so a win (awarded 7pts in a crit) was in my sights. I didn't really have any General Classification (GC) aspirations outside of the upgrade. Each stage is timed and accumulated to form the GC from 1st place (lowest time) to last (longest time). Click HERE to get a better understanding.
Before the start of the race, the announcer did "call-ups" where he announces the top 3 GC leaders and they get so come to the front of the starting line for the best spot. Felt pretty rad. Next thing you knew, the gun is fired and the race is on. Even with my perfect starting position, I managed to fuck it all up and fail to clip in until the first corner. From 1st to last, just like that. I sat in until the 3rd corner and did my thing. Attack attack attack. I drove the pace for the first couple laps then sat in the front waiting for time bonus primes. When they announced the next lap winner would get a time bonus of 3 seconds Doug miraculously showed up infront of me for a lead out to secure me that prize. That's teamwork right there. I rounded (technical) corner 8 and sprinted for the line - BOOOM, minus 3 seconds is mine! I just have to finish the crit ahead of John (not a crit racer) and I'll be the leader. I sat in with 10 more minutes left in the race, noticing that the lap cards were out and the timer was off. The announcer wasn't saying much, but would occasionally mention primes left. I assumed the cards represented how many more prizes they were giving away. Wrong. 3-2-1 to go! Shit, I was mid-pack when I realized the race was almost over then almost got crashed out by a junior going into corner 4 of the figrure-8. I still wasn't sure if it was actually 1 lap to go (being that there were 10 more minutes left in the 30 minute race) but tried to move up just in case. As I rounded the last corner I saw the lead group sprint and throw victory arms up. There it was, the officials fucked up and cut our race short and I was caught sleeping. Luckily, I was still the leader of the race, but not luckily I had to work for my upgrade on the road race (6pts awarded for 4th place). Even with a pack finish like that people were congratulating me for racing smart. Haha, little did they know I was clueless. Doug and I packed up and drove home where I got ready for work and cooked until the dinner rush was over then ran home and crashed for the big day.
Road Race - Queen Stage
Rain. Cold. Wind. Great. We all lucked out with plenty of beautiful weather for the previous stages, but today would be a day for the hardman. The only thing the shit conditions really changed was the final kilometer of the race. After turning onto a roughly 3k straight-away of decent pavement there's a 90 degree left hand turn we'll make onto the final 200m of the race, or the sprint spot. Mind you this 200m stretch of road is NOT decent pavement. Doug and I warmed up on that backstretch of road so we could become acquainted with the situation. After spinning up and down the road a few times I decided I would/should have more than enough time to position myself so I could be 1st coming around that last corner. It was important to me to accomplish this for a couple of reasons:
a) it's wet and slick out there, someone WILL crash on that corner.
b) my legs felt fresh and I was feeling confident with my TT results to be "the lead out guy"
9:30 had arrived with much anticipation. A quick warning about the rules of the road from the race official and we were on our way. Everything was pretty mellow as we all waited for this proclaimed "monster climb" (7mi into the 15mi lap). I fancy myself a pretty good climber, so I wasn't intimidated by anyone in the group, just more anxious to shell out the weak so the real race could start. Finally we get to the base of Mud Mountain and the attacks begin. I knew this kids couldn't hold this kind of pace to the top so I remained steady in my accelerations from mid-pack to work my way up to top 5. Of course 2k into it, everyone starts popping and what looks like a decent selection is made. Theres a gap about 30 feet ahead of me to the 10 leaders so I accelerate my pace ever so slightly and bridge up without dragging anyone with me. With 300m left in the climb 5 of the leaders can't hold on and fall back so I weave through and join what I anticipated to be a breakaway.
Unfortunately these guys are cooked when we reach the summit and begin our 5k descent. We probably only shelled 15 guys off the back of the main field and the other small groups were able to rejoin on this rainy-head-wind ride to the bottom where we do it all over again 3 more times. Halfway through this descent there's a mild roller where this unattached sprinter looking bloke takes a flyer. This is the CAT4's and we're going downhill at 45mph, so obviously nobody chases him. He manages to get 45sec up the road by the time we start lap 2. Still not worried. In fact, I don't care if he finishes just before us, I just need a 4th place to upgrade out of Amateur Hour. He eventually disappears and holds about 1:10 on the field. I figured we'd catch him on the climb so I just did my thing and hung out with the guys that wanted to go fast uphill. To my surprise his gap started growing a little bit as the race went on. By the time we started our final lap he was 1:25 up the road and hardly anyone knew there was someone soloing away. Here's my favorite part: when a roadside race official would call out the time gap "One minute ahead!" and we'd see a (dropped) rider from a race hardly 20sec ahead of us, they'd all say "we got him, there he is"... See what I mean by Amateur Hour? This is the kind of rookie behavior that brought John Alving (2nd GC) to the front of the race with me where we worked together to chase this lone ranger. I'm ahead of John by 3.05 sec and 3rd place by 9 sec. Winner of the stage gets -10sec, 2nd -6sec and 3rd -3sec. You know there's something wrong when the GC leaders are organizing the chase, let alone, are the only ones strong enough to maintain a chase pace.
Example: John said he lost the GC at Tour of Walla Walla because nobody chased a solo rider that gapped the field just outside of his overall lead time. Just before the Mud Mt climb on the final lap, the gap was 1:10 again. So we agreed to bust our ass to duke it out like gentleman the old fashioned way and say fuck everyone else. We were racing eachother now. We took long hard pulls up and down Mud Mt, mostly just the two of us while everyone else nipped at our heels. By the time we reached the base and rolled into the final technical kilometers I noticed John was cooked. Some guys tried a couple moves to split the field up before that long straight-away so I made sure to cover them and secure 3rd wheel.
2k TO GO
The pace was roughly 25mph, 2 abreast as we all kept that corner up ahead in our sights. Behind me I heard the derailleurs clicking to each riders desired gearing and the chatter dissipated to nothing but the sound of wet rubber tyres railing across the pavement. If you've ever done a road race, you know that silent-eerie-adrenaline-pumping anticipation that I'm trying to put into words. Everyone in our lead group had busted their ass in this freezing cold crap race, conserved when they could and burnt matches at appropriate times to be in this final selection where we light up the road with every last drop of juice in our tank. I've raced enough to know that the pace is 60% of what it could be. I know they're all waiting for someone to react to. I want it more than they do, and I sure as hell know I want 1st wheel coming into this corner more than they do. The 1K to go sign is quickly approaching, and somehow I'm as tranquil as can be. 200m until the 1K sign, then 300m until the corner where dreams are made - GO - I come around the guy infront of me and sprint for the line full throttle. Yes, I'm sprinting for the line with just under 1.5K to go. I know I can out time trial anyone here and now I'm leading the train out into the corner. YES I'm first wheel into the corner and "OH FUCK-SHIT-AHHHHH" huge crash RIGHT behind me. I don't even want to look back and see if it was 2nd wheel or further I just get out of the saddle and hammer it out. I didn't realize until 50m that Morgan Simon (Apex Racing) and Peter Streit (Second Ascent) weren't affected by the wipe-out and started coming around me. I gave it everything I had with a final bike throw into the finish line but finished 3rd in the sprint by tyre lengths - OH SO CLOSE. However, Mark Fry, the solo rider finished 45sec infront of us so that put me in 4th place for the stage (hello CAT3 upgrade) and kissed my GC lead goodbye since he was 20 sec behind me in the TT.
With a finish like that, I decided that I really don't mind being the leadout guy. It's safer and it makes you a beast if no one cam come around you. They barely beat me to the line. We all shook hands and congratulated eachother (the best we could in broken English when your brain lacks the oxygen). This was a fantastic stage race. I'm thankful people like Erik Anderson and South Sound Velo dedicate their time to providing us with challenging events.
Next up: Capital Stage Race, June 15-17.
