2011 Elkhorn Classic

2011 Elkhorn Classic

When I first read about Elkhorn over the Winter I knew right away that this was a race I really wanted to do. Big miles with lots of climbing in an amazing location. I was still really excited last week leading into the race but my expectations for a good result were extremely low after getting dropped on the final day of the Capital stage race. My plan was to have a great time, hammer the TT, survive the Crit, and help Travis as much as possible. Travis and I along with Jason Cemanski left Seattle around 4:00PM Thursday and arrived in Baker City at 10:30PM after stopping for a great steak dinner in Pendleton, OR. Cemanski had three other teammates racing that were staying in the same motel (Knights Inn), we agreed to meet up for breakfast and get in a spin before getting ready for our 2:00PM race start. After breakfast Friday we took the TT bikes out to check out the TT course. We ended up taking the wrong route but got in a good “easy” spin.

Stage 1: The Oregon Trail Road Race

71.6 miles with 3,055’ of elevation gain. The weather was beautiful, warm enough to race w/o any thermal gear but not too hot. The fields were down 40 percent this year so organizers mixed the cat 4/5 with the masters 4/5 but would score us separately. One of Cemanski’s teammates Bill was racing Masters 4/5 and we all agreed ahead of time to race together as much as possible.

The first couple miles were neutral as we rode out of town, it was pretty cool starting in town vs. the middle of nowhere. Travis was off the front a couple times early but never got too far away. The first Cat5 climb came at mile 23, I started near the front and faded back to the middle/rear of the peloton, I wanted to conserve as much energy as possible. Shortly after the climb the calls came out for a pee break, I didn’t really need to go but I figured I should since everyone else was. By the time I finished up most of the group was riding again and several of us had to put in a solid 2 minute effort to catch back on. Getting dropped on a pee break would seriously suck! The next 20 miles cruised past w/o incident, then we hit the Cat3 climb and things blew up. The climb was 2.9 miles and gained almost 800’, I tried not to panic when a few riders started pulling away. After the first 5 minutes I started to get into a groove and began pulling riders back. I slowly moved past Travis and Bill, I was now pulling a few riders along behind me. Cemanski was doing the same a few meters in front of me, I put in a big effort and soon we were a group of 10. Our grupetto was roughly 30 seconds behind the leading group of 8-10 at the top of the climb. We closed in a bit on the descent and quickly reeled the leaders back in within a few miles. After a hard chase I was elated to hear Travis and Bill had rejoined the group. Over the next couple climbs we dropped a few riders but the 4 of us were still together. The final rollers that led into the final climb were brutal for me, they never seemed to end. I was really digging deep to hang on, I didn’t want to get gapped off after all the work I had already put in. Somewhere on the final climb a Master came across the road at a wild angle and slammed into Travis’s front wheel. Travis kept his bike upright but his bars were knocked sideways and he had a damaged front spoke. Travis was able to finish the stage but this cost him over 3 minutes on the lead group. A young Second Ascent kid soloed off on the final climb, our chase group was 1:05 down to him at the top of the final rise. Over the final 3 miles we cut his lead to 30 seconds, but there was no coordinated effort to chase him down. Our group was now 15, Cemanski and I were both scared to mix it up in a sprint with several of the remaining guys, it was surprising how many poor bike handlers there were. With 1K to go Cemanski agreed to try to lead me out, at 200M he swung left across the yellow line, we had a clear shot to the finish. I would love to see video of the sprint, before we hit the line both of us cramped up and were yelping, I went around Cemanski too early and didn’t (couldn’t) pull past him before the line. We finished 1-2 in the sprint though, 2-3 for the stage. 

GPS Data 

Cool Video of stage 1

Results

Stage 2: The Pleasant Valley Time Trial

11.3 miles with 260’ of elevation gain. It was a cool overcast morning, perfect for hammering a TT! 

The TT was an out and back with an addition mile added past the start line so we finished in town. The first 5 miles were slightly uphill and into the wind, I wanted to be careful not to blow up on the way out. Travis and Cemanski both out TT me so I really wanted to take 3^rd and not let Cemanski who was starting right behind me pass me on the course. Mission accomplished! Cemanski almost got me but I held him off. Travis won the TT in 25:30, Cemanski was 2^nd with 25:36, I took 3^rd with 26:00, 4^th place was a further 41 seconds behind me @ 26:41. Podium sweep = sweet. Cemanski took over as race leader, I was 2^nd 24 seconds back.

GPS Data  (I didn't stop it till .3 miles past the finish)

Results

Stage 3: The Gold Rush Criterium

40 minutes on a 6 corner flat course.

This was really the race that wasn’t. by the end of the TT in the morning the rain had started and we figured the crit would be canceled, our start time was 2:30PM. Around 2:00PM we jumped on the course to check it out and get a warm up in. Main St. has a lot of river rock in it so it was clear that if it was wet there would be problems. Well, it was wet. The rain started picking up at the start line while we were getting instructions from the race official. I got a good spot on the front line and was able to clip in quickly as we started, I was able to get a good position near the front. I gave up some ground early so I could keep an outside line thru the corners, it was already getting slick. In the first corner of the 3rd lap there was a pile up of 6 riders. As I passed by the kid who won the first stage was screaming that he lost his teeth, bad news! We were neutral (sort of) for the next couple laps before the crit was officially cancelled. Goal achieved, I survived the crit.

 

After dinner Travis and I along with the Apex guys drove out to Dooley mountain to check out the summit finish of Sunday’s stage. 8 miles of climbing to finish a 101 mile stage, ouch. I took some solace in the fact that the pitch wasn't that bad, 4.3% on average with the steepest sections near the start and at 4.5 miles. We headed back to town and had a fantastic dinner at Barley Brown's Brew Pub. The rain had stopped and we were treated to watching the Men's Cat3 and 1/2 races. 

Stage 4: Dooley Mountain Road Race

100.5 miles with 6,635' of climbing.Six rated climbs, 2 Cat5's, 3 Cat3's, and a Cat1. It was a bit chilly warming up before the race, I started with arm warmers but no other thermal gear.

Our neutral rollout was a couple miles, as soon as it ended Travis took off. This is becoming Travis's MO to open his legs up early. A few guys freaked out and started to chase but Travis stayed away for several miles before sitting up. Cemanski and I were both concerned about the guys 3rd and 4th in the GC, they could climb well. One guy (#411) had talked a little trash at the crit the night before, he wasn't thrilled that he was out sprinted in the 1st RR and beat by all three of us in the TT. The other guy Paul was a total wildcard, this was his first bike race! We all came to really like him and were super impressed by his climbing. I was really just hoping to make it to the final climb with the peloton and have a crack at defending my 2nd GC position. I had 5 rated climbs to contend with 1st though!

About 14 miles in I was at the front with a team Oregon rider, we each took a little pull and then slid off. At least I tried to get off the front, I looked down and I was doing 16mph (into a modest wind) and the two of us had gapped the field a bit. Right away I thought, hey, if I can get a head start on the first short Cat5 I might as well take it. We worked together at an 80% effort for the next 3 miles and hit the climb with a small gap on the field. Travis and Jason in an attempt to make 411 work chased up to us and took 411 by surprise, this forced him to pull the field up to us. Half way up the climb 411 pulled up to me huffing and puffing hard, Travis's move clearly worked. 10 miles later we started the hardest of the cat3's, 3.2 miles, 4.4% grade. The pace was hard but none of the better climbers were trying to hurt the field. Despite this, at the top of the climb 15 minutes later the peloton was halved. The second Cat3 was a lot of work but the pace was slightly softer than the previous Cat3. Next up was a Cat5 that was fast but a non event. The Final Cat3 came up a couple miles after the previous Cat5. The pace was up and there was a lot of huffing and puffing in the field. Maybe a 3rd of the way up Travis took over pace making. It was perfect, fast but not so fast he dropped us. This kept 411 in check until near the end of the climb when he soloed off. Cemanski started to chase but I told him not to, 411 was not going to solo the next 30 miles on his own before the final climb.

As I mentioned before the 4/5's were racing with the Masters 4/5's. Before the second Cat3 a breakaway formed that contained 4 Masters and 1 Cat4. the Cat4 got spit out the back pretty early so there was no pressure on the 4/5's to chase. I was in favor of double pacelining to real the break back and help Bill out but there was no interest from the 4/5's outside our group. For the most part Bill and 2-3 other Masters drilled it for the next 30 miles, at times we were north of 30mph on the flats (we had a helping wind), it was work to just sit in. Travis had been protecting me all day and helped pull me along during this stretch.

Dooley Mountain:

92.5 miles in we hit the final climb. 411 went right to the front and was drilling it. I started to lose his wheel after a few minutes, Cemanski and Carsten from Second Ascent came around me. Carsten was only about 80 seconds down to me in the GC. I was able to dig deep and pull back up to 411's group. The road swung left, I was hurting to hold on, then I hear a bad sound and see Cemanski's chain hit the ground right in front of me. I couldn't believe his bad luck. Before the next switchback I was gapped, 411, Paul, and a Master were pulling away slowly, SHIT! Bill was on my wheel when I started feeling better, I unzipped the jersey to get the nice white trash look going and picked up the pace. I started reeling Carsten back in, this fueled my fire. I tried to attack Carsten when I went past but he had some fight in him and held on. For the next few miles it was just the two of us, he tried to pull a couple times but it was short lived, I did 90% of the pace making. Up the road I saw Paul pass 411 and the Master he was dragging along. I only had 41 seconds on 411 and 56 seconds on Paul. About this time Travis starts yelling encouragement to me from an SUV, WTF? I was pumped up but confused, turns out he felt so bad about Cemanski (#1 GC) sitting on the side of the road that he handed him his bike! Pretty fricking amazing, after helping drag our asses 92 miles with 5K of climbing he gives up his bike, wow. I dropped Carsten with a few miles to go and was flying solo. I have to say it's the closest to a Tour de France type experience I have had racing all year. I went deep the last few miles and finished as strong as I could. There is a festival with free beer and pizza at the top, very cool. not 15 seconds after I finished Cemanski comes flying in. He almost caught me after his earlier disaster. I finished 3rd on the stage but dropped from 2nd to 4th GC. I had a great climb up Dooley, 13.0mph average was faster then all the previous shorter climbs that day. Next year my power will be up and my weight will be down!

GPS Data

Results

GC results

Elkhorn is an amazing race! I would encourage everyone to consider it for next year. This was my 6th stage race of the season and by far my favorite.

Between Cemanski, Travis and I we picked up 6 of 9 possible podium spots (no podium for the crit) including a sweep of the TT, not too shabby.

If you made it this far you must be a hard core cycling nerd, or retarded, or both.

Final note: One of my goals was to get some upgrade points this weekend. I succeeded by picking up 9 ORBA points, bad news is USA Cycling won't accept them, total BS!

Nice!

Weekly Riding Stats

Ravensdale Road Race 2011

Today was my 20th bicycle race since March 6th and sadly this is my 1st blog entry. Come to think of it I'm behind at least 2 ironman races, 2 70.3 IM races, and a bunch of other crap. I'll get caught up on that soon I'm sure :-)

Anyway, today's race!

Last week at Vance Creek we enjoyed dry sunny conditions, the same could not be said for today. The Cat4 race didn't start until 11:09, it was great to be able to sleep in a bit and "enjoy" slightly warmer weather then the morning starters. Today we were racing 5 laps at about 9 miles per lap. Pretty standard stuff, nothing really significant about today's course, one little hill and a couple small rollers but that's about it. At either the end of the first or second lap there was a crash in a corner, I was a couple wheels back and managed to swing wide to avoid it. I had to chase a bit to catch back on to the pack but it wasn't too serious. The rain and wet roads were awful, today was a day to stay on your toes. On the third lap I was about 4-5 rows from the front when I saw my teammate Travis off the front with 2 other riders, Jed and Jason. Jason has won nearly every race he's entered this year, Jed is very strong, and Travis is a beast. I knew if the pack didn't close them down soon that this was a breakaway that would stick, they had some serious horsepower. At the beginning of the 4th lap I moved up to my teammate Chad who was near the front. He was sitting behind 4/5 Byrne (another team) riders who were working at the front to bring the break back. I respect that they were trying but either they didn't have the legs or the heart to really do much. The race official gave us a 1 minute to the break time check around this time, I knew the worst Cycle U (my team) would finish today was 3rd, the break was going to stick. One final note on the break. Bikesale is a team that had 11 riders in the field and they made absolutely no effort to pull the breakaway back. I was truly embarrassed for them, not to even try was pathetic.

Back to me, it is my blog after all, even if I only update it once a year! Since I had Travis up the road I was able to just sit in the pack and take up space till the end. At the start of the final lap I moved back up near the front with Chad. Chad is fantastic at moving through the pack, I stayed stuck to his wheel the rest of the lap. Inside the last mile Chad was in the lead up the final hill, he was setting a strong pace and I was sucking his wheel, thanks Chad! With a few hundred meters to go riders started coming up on both sides. I was able to jump behind Paul from Recycled Cycles and actually catch my breath a little. Somewhere inside 200M a couple guys launched hard up the side, I was slow to react but I slid left and hammered it. I was able to get by Paul and a couple others but I ran out of road before I could run down the two guys who broke early. I rolled in 3rd behind these guys finishing 6th overall. All things considered I'm pretty happy with 6th. Last week at Vance Creek I finished 4 seconds off the winner but rolled in 26th and was very disappointed.



Recap:
6th place out of 72 starters + Travis took 2nd place = great day for Cycle U in the 4's.

GPS data:
http://app.strava.com/rides/529110

Pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonconnell/sets/72157626546701639/

Lewis and Clark Ultra race report.

May 29th 2010
Garmin File
Photo's from the race

Drove down to Battle Ground Friday night, between traffic and an accident it was a four hour drive. The race started at 6:30am, we arrived at the start about 10 after 6:00 just in time to catch the pre race briefing. My official start time was 6:37am. I had 20 minutes to get dressed and get my bike ready. At the last minute I decided to put on a windstopper jacket, I’m glad I did it stayed on for the next 9 hours. Racers started 30 seconds apart beginning at 6:30, at 6:37 I was off.

The first 3 miles are flat and being aero was nice, I passed a couple people that started ahead of me. Right at 3 miles you run into an 18% grade hill, oh hello nasty hill, I’ll see you again another 5 times on the short course. There were a couple 600’ climbs in the next 27 miles before we dropped down into the Columbia Gorge at mile 30. The rain was falling heavily for much of the first few hours. It was nice catching occasional glimpses of the river, Beacon Rock, and the Bonneville dam. At roughly 50 miles we headed north through the town of Carson. The next 15 miles was a gradual climb gaining a little over a thousand feet. The roads were quiet for the most part now that I was out of the gorge. Anessa and Hunter had stopped for breakfast earlier so I was on my own for about an hour and a half. One of the relay teams swapped riders around the 60 mile point and the fresh rider bombed past me, this was a low point. The gradual uphill that never seemed to end was weighing on me, getting rained on and working reasonably hard but only making 16 miles per hour.
In typical “Jason style” I briefly read the route description and knew there was a “big climb” around mile 70 but that was about it. Little did I know I was climbing a damn mountain pass, Old man pass to be exact. My biggest worry doing this race was cramps, prior to 2008 they had never been a problem but the last couple years they had struck at various running races. I am by no means a climber so I didn’t have to swallow much pride to take it easy on the climb. My 39/28 gearing worked well but I was still out of the saddle a fair bit. Time Station #2 was on top of the pass at over 3,100’. It was great to see Anessa and Hunter at the summit, I had a few orange slices at the time station and started the descent. The ride down Old Man pass was wet, wild, windy, and dangerous due to limited visibility at high speeds (49+mph).
(Picking this report back up on 10/2/10, I’m a total slacker)
The final check in station was in Cougar and went by w/o incident. At this point I had not seen another rider for probably an hour. I made my only big mistake around mile 120 in the town of Yacolt, I missed a right hand turn and ended up doing a 5 mile detour (check out the Garmin file). Once back on track I was feeling great and finished the 140 mile big loop strong. When I rolled into the high school check point the volunteers were chatting away and seemed a little surprised I was checking in. I used the rest room and chatted with Hunter and Anessa for a bit before starting the short loop(s). I had no idea where I was in relation to the other riders but I was enjoying be out there competing.

After 4 short loops I was ready to call it a day, there was less than 30 minutes left and I knew I couldn’t complete another full 10 mile lap. I was urged on by a volunteer to try to squeeze in a few last miles, and figured that was probably the thing to do. Anessa and Hunter were great when I asked them to follow me out on the course in about 20 minutes. I made it to mile 6 in 11:59 so I pulled over and waited for Anessa to pick me up. I reported my 6 miles back at the high school and then headed back to the hotel. Once the results were posted later I was shocked that I took 2nd place despite the extra 5 miles. I felt even better when I found out the guy who beat me is a pretty hardcore CAT3 racer who was intent on winning this race. His race report is here.
Not bad for a fat guy who bought his first road bike 10 months before this race.
Notes:
Food:
Breakfast consisted of a Starbucks sausage and egg breakfast sandwich, a chocolate old fashion doughnut, a small Super Food, and a Starbucks energy drink.
On the course I consumed:
• 3 King size and 1 regular snickers bar
• 8oz of Hammer gel
• 2 32oz red Powerade’s + 8 scoops of Carbo Pro
• 1 Almond Joy
• 2 Banana’s and ½ an Orange

What I will do different next year:
• No TT bike, road bike with semi aero wheels and clip-on bars.
• Don’t get lost!

2010 Vance Creek Road Race

3rd CAT5 road race! Expectations for this race were very low. Legs were a little weak from the TT the day before and a mile uphill finish does not suit a 205lb rider. Finishing with the main pack and maybe helping set up Travis and/or Rob for the final sprint would be considered a win for me. Rob got lost on the journey down to Elma and missed the start, he ended up racing in the afternoon with the Masters. Travis’s friend Nate that rode with us the weekend prior was also racing, it was cool to know a couple people in the field.

Start: I rolled out at the back of the 40 rider pack, after a few miles Travis and I moved up to the front 3rd of the pack. At the end of lap 1 of 3 (13 mile laps) I was situated near the middle of the pack. There is a 10%+ small hill in the final 200M that hurt and would hurt again twice more. Nothing crazy about lap two, Travis pushed off the front once and I followed. For a mile or two we were up front but never really clear of the field. About half way through lap 2 Travis flatted, I found out after the race that Nate had flatted on the first lap. At one point the only bikesale rider in the pack (Aaron) pulled up along side me. He let me know that all the other CAT5 riders on his team upgraded and this was “”my race”. I paused a bit deciding how big of an asshole I was going to be. I figure I must be the douche bag on the Orange Tarmac to the bikesale team. I decided to blow off the comment and let him know any race with a long uphill finish was never going to be “my race” I think he got dropped shortly after that and ended up finishing 2nd to last.

In the final 1km of lap 2 a Jr. racer who had been swerving all over to this point managed to go hard into the back wheel of the guy in front of him. The Jr. who was just left of me went down and managed to take 3-4 other riders with him. Thankfully I managed to avoid another CAT5 crash. I didn’t have much time to think about it because I was trying to haul my fat ass up this damn hill! I focused on the guys wheel in front of me and was determined not to lose it. When I popped up out of the saddle to get over the final kicker the main pack had split in two and I was stuck in the middle. For the next couple miles I worked hard to try to bridge up to the main pack but it wasn’t happening. I let off the gas a little and let the chase group that and formed pick me up. The chase group was totally unorganized but after about 8 miles we latched back on to the lead group. Inside the final 1km the front part of the group split apart, there was no way I was going to be able to match the speed of the guys pulling away. I did manage to hold my own though and actually pass a few guys in the final few hundred meters. I ended up 12th.

2010 Pedal Dynamics Time Trial

Let me get this out of the way upfront, I’m a total retard. Not that you need proof but here goes. Last Thursday 4/22 I met Rob on Mercer Island to get in a few miles on the TT bike and test out my new Giro Advantage 2 aero helmet. We were zipping around the Island when Rob threw his chain on the short steep hill on the SE side of the Island. I waited for him on top of the hill while he put the chain back on. He was in a tall gear so he said I need to go back downhill to downshift. I call down to him to lift the back tire and spin the crank while downshifting. I decided to demonstrate and promptly fell over. The lady getting her mail must have had a great laugh at the dumb ass on a TT bike outfitted with a disk wheel and rockin an aero helmet falling over. Ouch! I mainly tell this story to explain why when I woke up the morning of the TT I couldn’t turn my head. Damn my neck is sore! It’s not like riding 12 miles in the aero position really is hard on the neck though, right? Wrong! After taking a boatload of Advil before leaving the house it really didn’t turn out to be much of a problem.

The Race:
I ran this same course in early March and was really disappointed to only average 23.7mph. Report here: I had two goals for this TT, stay relaxed, stay aero! I think I did a pretty good job of both. Finished in 28:25 and averaged 25.3mph. A nice improvement over March despite plenty of wind and rain.

Few pictures of Rob and I here:

Weekly catch up.

Signed up for a couple races tonight, the Pedal Dynamics 12 mile TT in Black Diamond on Saturday and the Vance Creek road race on Sunday. I really want to bring it on Sunday but I need some redemption on the Green Valley TT course. I raced 10 miles back in March on the same course and was very disappointed in the result. Whatever happens it should be a fun weekend!

Skipped work today to stay home with a sick 9rd old. After Mom got home I was able to get out for a quick ride. The rain was looming so I stayed close to the house and got a couple climbs in. I was thinking Zoo Hill but the legs were a little weak after yesterday’s 100 miler and I settled on Lakemont and Forrest dr. I also worked on sprinting over some short climbs, burn baby burn!

Garmin file:

4/18

Met Travis (from last weeks race) and his friend Nate in Woodinville at 8am. Nate was really strong (especially after finding out he had only been on a few rides this year) Travis is a monster! I did my best to hang on his wheel as much as I could all day, that was no easy task. About 85 miles in Nate and Travis headed back to Seattle over the I-90 bridge and I finished riding across Mercer Island and back to the house. At about mile 95 I had a TOTAL power outage, I needed calories pretty bad. I swung into Starbucks for a smoothie and finished with a little dignity.

Garmin file.