Hellbender State RR

After a very poor performance at Joe Martin I was looking for a confidence builder this weekend. The state Road Race was in Newberg again this year. If you don’t know the course, it is two laps on a 35 mile loop. There are two major climbs. Climb #1 is just under two miles long and is right after the start of the loop. It’s not too big a deal because there are some flat spots on the way up and after Joe Martin it seems really, really short. Climb #2 is at the halfway point. It is less than a mile long but gains almost as much altitude as the first climb. The finish is flat and winds along the river. There is an off-camber, left-hand, 120 degree turn 300 meters before the finish.

The major teams were THF and Big Shark. THF attacked right from the start. I kind of expected it and think everyone else did too based on how Hermann went down. The first half lap was full of pain. There were constant attacks with one, two and three-man breaks being reeled-in in short order. The first time up hill #2 a largish group rolled over the top about 30 yards in front of me. I followed them over the top and chased-on in the next mile. The rest of the field joined us soon after. Nolan and a Big Shark guy (Justin I think) got off the front right after that and everyone sat-up. We were down 1:30 with a lap to go and I really though we were racing for third.

My legs felt so-so the second time up hill #1. I was a bit worried about a repeat bonk, so I sat on the back for a while and conserved. Some guys went to the front and started doing some work and the 2-man break was brought back to within 10 seconds by the time we started our second trip up hill #2. I had started feeling progressively stronger as the race wore on and I was able to roll over the top of the hill in good position. One guy had bridged to the 2-man break on the way up the hill and we pulled all three back over the next two miles. A THF guy attacked and got about 10 seconds in front of us with about 10 miles to go. I felt strong and did my share to bring him back.

With 8 miles to go I was feeling well enough to try an attack of my own. I got about a 10 second gap and the same THF guy bridged to me. I kept pedaling and let him grab a blow for a bit then moved over for him to come around. He held my wheel. He said he did not have the legs to pull, so I attacked and he covered. Seems to me if you have the legs to cover, you have the legs to pull. I’m just sayin’…… Two more bridged to us and it was more of the same story. Oh well, I guess that’s racing. We were all back together a minute later.

Big Shark lined it up with a mile and a half to go and kept the pace high. Josh was cracking the whip the whole time then took his turn with less than 1k to go. Last year I won making a move 100m before the turn. That was in 4’s. These are 1’s and 2’s, so the same move yielded less than stellar results. My line through the last corner sucked. Two guys passed me right after the turn and one more got me 100m before the finish. I was lucky to finish 4th.

Sheri 2nd, Phil 5th, Luke, Kurt, Jim and Steve in the top 10. Nice job guys and girl, and a big thanks to Jeff and Sandy for handing us bottles. It was a fun weekend and I’m looking forward to next year.