Despite temps in the 20's and a windchill that brought them into the teens, I headed to Portland for my road club's annual end of season ride/race. The event makes use of the club's normal Saturday morning ride circuit. But, this ride is made a little sweeter with sprint money on the line plus an extra loop. There are 4 sprint spots on the loop and they were worth $25 each on the 1st lap, $50 on the 2nd. It culminates with a gathering at Cyclemania for some waffles (very apropo for the time of year) and swopping of war stories.
I was very inclined to not set an alarm for 5:30am. But, having skipped this event in the past in far better conditions, I was not going to wuss out just because of the weather. Plus, I needed to charge the system as I hadn't raced for a couple of weeks.
The event was very well attended as it is open to anyone, including the local clubs. There was a strong contingent of PVC, SMCC, Linscott, BOB, and Base36 racers in attendence. Despite the competition, I had a gameplan in mind. I was going to ride 1 loop with the group and treat the other as a CX race putting in either a solo effort or working hard with a breakaway. It played out perfectly. I missed the opportunity to breakaway from the group with fellow CX'er John Meerse and PVC'er Stu Abramson on the first lap. John ended up going solo for quite a distance and won the 2 middle sprints outright. The group reeled him back in before the final sprint and we regrouped before heading out for the 2nd loop. This ride would not be without incident unfortunately. As we were coasting along on the regroup, a rogue stick was bouncing around. It ended up in the front wheel of fellow PVC'er Mike Claus right next to me. I heard the sickening sound of metal and plastic splintering and had the displeasure of watching Mike go face-first onto the pavement. This expression can be over-used. But trust me when I say, he was taken so by surprise he had no opportunity to take his hands of the bars and his face was the first thing that hit the ground. Something of his either bike or body hit my right rear as I coasted by in utter disgust and I just kept going. I had no ability to go back and see the carnage that I just witnessed as I feared the worst. A couple other riders got tangled up, but suffice it to say Mike got the worst of it. He ended up with a slightly fractured skull, chipped tooth and a bruised scaffoid. Fortunately, he is mostly OK!
So, off we went for round 2! The group was altogether heading into the first sprint. I ended up putting myself towards the front and in a position to contest the sprint. But a couple of guys had gotten a gap that was too big to close so I just rolled through with a few others into the Prout's Point turnaround. It was here that I noticed a couple of guys were accelerating and I thought this might be the break I was looking for (isn't that a song?!). Iwasn't sure if it was appropriate to attack after a turnaround, but when I bridged up to see it was PVC veterans Graydon Stevens and Ron Covalope, I thought what the hell. We worked very well together and soon had a good gap. I was in constant fear of getting caught so I rode hard, getting in the workout I sought. We came to a verbal agreement as the next sprint came up we would split the $, although Graydon unselfishly declined despite his effort. So, I rolled through first at the Hydrant. We half expected to get caught on the long straight before the next sprint, but we maintained our gap and Ron rolled through first. At this point Graydon had exhuasted his resources. But I wanted to keep up the effort and Ron was still game. Shortly thereafter, PVC Elite racer Brendan Cornett bridged up to us and sparked the life we needed to try to stay away for good. He had a lot of energy and put in some major efforts when pulling through. Amazingly, we stayed intact through the heinous wind and the rolling hills. The final sprint was all Brendan's as both Ron and I were done!
Back at the shop, we thawed out and talked of the epic conditions. I was psyched to have ridden with others, survived any crashes, got a great workout, and had cash in my pocket!
Next up is my best chance at fulfilling my top-25 finish at the NECCS Sterling CX race on Saturday!
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