Hammer Velo

MA dominates the Lewis and Clark Ultra

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:11:00 +0000

Check out the coverage of her race in UltraRaceNews

John's take on the Silverton State Champs road race (and beautiful women)

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Wed, 18 May 2011 20:33:00 +0000

There are two things that scare the hell outta me: beautiful women and road racing. One of them breaks your heart, while the other breaks you physically. Having either of those things happen to you is not fun, for sure. I'd probably rather have my heart broken then have road rash from a crash. Anyways, up until today, I've been a weenie and not given group road racing a shot. I wasn't too sure what compelled to me choose the Silverton Road Race, but I'm sure a lot of people could say the same thing about their boyfriends/girlfriends/wives/husbands.

Pre-race: I had to pee twice. I chalk that up to nerves. I was torn between just sitting in my car until race time or warming up by riding a few of the hills close to the start. I did a combo of the two, but totally regretted not warming up some more. I felt ever more nerves when I was lined up at the start and saw all the blingy $5,000 carbon bikes.

Race: The start was a downhill and then basically uphill for a handful of miles. I felt comfortable going down the first hill on the first lap and started to gain some confidence. I was in the front 1/3 of the pack and had a good feeling. Towards the end of the first downhill, a hear "Pssshhhh". Someone around me got a flat, but I had trouble gauging whether the culprit was behind or ahead of me. I got my answer in about 3 seconds, as the pack started to flow around a Team Oregon guy with a mushed-to-the-ground front tire. I braked and made the split second decision to weave to the right of the Team Oregon guy and the right edge of the road. The pack wasn't far ahead; so, I just sprinted to the last few guys in the pack.

This threw me off my game a little bit, but I tried to regain some composure. The uphill now began, and the pace was pretty friggin' fast. The pack seemed to slow then speed up on the uphills. This annoyed the heck outta me and eventually the gap between me and the guys in the front pack became too insurmountable. There were about 10 or 15 guys behind me; so, I figured I could join a handful of guys behind me and work to get back to the pack. Not a good fall back plan, as it turns about.

After about 1 mile of riding alone, a charming chap dressed in the green and white of Guinness comes up along side of me with a West End rider in-tow. Yippee! Here is our chance! Actually, not really cause the West End rider dropped off .5 miles later; so, it was just me and the Guinness guy, Brian.

The follow-car for our category got within eye-sight after about 6 miles of pacelining, but our chances were more realistic than having my brother-in-law set me up on a blind date.

On the second lap, we passed about 4 riders who were on those blingy $5,000 carbon bikes. Evidently, these guys were the leaders on lap 1, but took a wrong turn and couldn't get back on. I got the feeling that these guys and their $5,000 bikes were going to wimp-out and just going to roll back to their cars; so, it was just Brian and me again. I wanted to HTFU and finish the race; so off we went!! Brian and I ended up riding together to the end.

Post race: I ate a banana. I parked next to two cows and I was amazed at how loud and human-like they can moo. I saw Kevin and suggested at he warm up to avoid the early race disaster that I had. I didn't stick around for the end of Kevin's race, but I'm sure he did good!!!

Mr Smith tames Piece of Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:04:00 +0000

After pre-riding the course the week before the race with the Wombat and Erin (that girl needs a nickname), plans were made in the Men's Cat 4 field. Plans about when to break away, how to run the gravel, how to use the wind to our advantage, who should block, who should attack, etc, etc. These plans were discussed at length all week.

Many of these plans went right down the crapper about 1 mile into the race when Little Blond Ironclad rider decides to pick up the pace on the first hill. You know, the one you can see from the start. He makes a few of the younger guys antsy and they start head up the road a bit. At the start of the gravel, they let it rip. A kid with a white River City jersey and gigantic holes in his ear lobes, we'll call him Tiny vegan boy, takes off with some other guy on his wheel. The pace cranks up and I am seriously regretting not warming up. Ian is ahead of me and the rest of the HV boys are somewhere behind me. By the time we get to the 2nd turn in the gravel section I am fighting to stay on the wheel in front of me, having already fallen off of it 3 or 4 times and beating my cold, slow un-warmed up muscles to hang on. I remember thinking, "It's like a crit, hold on for the first few minutes and it will settle down." Two poor bastards that were in front of me have already flatted. I get a quick glance over my shoulder at the turn and realize I am dangling off the front group that is strung way out and there is no one behind me for hundres of yards. I think, if I lose this wheel, my race is over. (I am going to chalk up this big gap to some blocking on the part of my HV team mates as Ian and I were in the lead group. That was one of the plans we discussed).

Coming into the 3rd turn in the gravel (the left turn after the loosesest section) the Cyclisme guy who's wheel I am chasing takes it wide and almost ends up in the ditch. Little Blond Ironclad boy did something wrong and he is sort of standing off to the side (flat? hair out of place?). I cut inside Cyclism and try to close the gap to the next wheel but can't quite pull it off. Cyclisme gets it back together and we trade pulls for the next couple miles trying to close the 50ft gap in front of us. I know there is a huge gaping nothing behind me and I would REALLY like to be in a group before we turn into the crosswind. As we near the bridge before the small uphill, Ian starts to dangle off the group and look back at me, like "Do you need a little help back there?" I yell at him to get his ass back on the group and not to worry about me. I figure at the rate I am going, I am going be cashed and I want someone on the team at the front.

Knowing how poorly I climb (and you guys who did the race know this is about a 30ft climb...sad I know) and how I feel, I know I am not going to close the gap on the front group. So I sit up and spin as well as I can up the short incline and hope the pace lets up enough for me to get back in it before we turn across the wind. As I come into the corner, Cyclisme hasn't quite cut the gap in front yet, I'm 30ft behind him and as I start to pick my line into the turn I realize there is this other guy on my wheel that I hadn't seen and must have just caught up. Cyclisme, myself and the new guy (Capitol Velo), come around the corner into the rollers and crosswind and we're still chasing to get back on. This is where Divine Providence steps in. The follow car zooms up next to us and tells us there is a crash in the field ahead of us and we might get neutralized and have to slow up a bit. I didn't take the time to thank whatever benevolent god sent me this miracle, but I should have.

Thanks to the slow up, we can see the riders off the front and Capital, Cyclisme, myself and some 4th guy who I have forgotten about get rolling in a textbook four-man rolling echelony paceline thingy and start cruising the downhill trending rollers in the crosswind. My legs stop feeling like crap and my heart rate returns to a more reasonable rate. We start talking about keeping the rotation and picking off the guys in front of us. It was sweet!.

Mr Smith and his fancy leg warmers tearing up the course
(photo: Oregon Cycling Action)

The guy I have forgotten drops off at some point and we catch one guy (he's at the front of the four-man paceline with the turquoise bike and the hot red knee warmers...you guys thought I looked stupid) who hangs with us until the end of the lap and then peels off. I don't even know if he was in our race.

Lap 2: Capitol, Cyclisme and I kept rolling our paceline and picked up Ian in the gravel on lap 2. Everything was great for several miles until Cyclisme is at the front of the echelon, (I am on his immediate left) and he misses the damn right turn into the wind. I am on the wrong side of him and have to jam on my brakes and cut behind him to make the turn, Ian has to avoid me and Capitol had just peeled off to the right and made the turn. Capitol and I get to the top of the rise together and soft pedal a bit waiting for Ian and Cyclisme. We have a conversation about should we wait, this is the brutal headwind section and if we don't wait, they probably aren't going to get back on. We figure four is better than two if we want to catch anyone in front of us (we can see a lone rider up ahead). We get it back together and pick up Half Fast.

Lap 3 (thank god it's almost over): In the gravel, Half fast starts to drill it with Capitol on his wheel and I just can't hang on. Ian and Cyclisme have dropped back and I figure they're gone for good. I finally get back on to Capitol's wheel and see that Cyclisme bridged up to me. I didn't think he had it in him because he was having a hard time keeping up his pulls for half of the last lap. I keep getting the twinge in my left hamstring that precedes a cramp. I am stoked I managed to hang in this long and try stretching it whenever I can. Near the end of the gravel, I have recovered from chasing and start to drill it coming off the gravel and for the next half mile. It's downwind and trends downhill. Not surprisingly, I don't actually shake anybody. We stick together until the bridge and my little hill and I trickle off the back. Half fast actually dangles a couple bike lengths and looks back as I start to catch up and shortens my chase. A short while later we make the right turn into the crosswind where it starts to go down again and we hit the corner hard and somehow lose Half Fast. (I felt a little bad about this as he helped me get back on...I got over it. I am also not sure he was in our race either).

Capitol, Cyclism and I stuck together to the end. I tried a burst of speed at 1k left as I had nothing in me for a sprint. It was anemic and that left me sitting on the front while the other two guys wouldn't let me peel off going in to the finish. Cyclisme out kicked Capitol and I rolled in 8th.

I am stoked as that is the best finish I have ever had in a road race. I have never raced that hard for that long in my entire life. I have never felt that bad, for so long, in my entire life. I suffered more than I thought but pleased that it paid off.

I neglected to mention my apparently improperly adjusted front derailleur that would not be trimmed to avoid rubbing, and dropped me into the little ring unexpectedly at least five times during the race, the torrential rain, followed by sunshine, followed by hail, then sunshine, then a wicked freezing headwind with downpour during the last mile of the race. Through it all, my sweet (used to be) white leg warmers keep me warm.

Thanks to the Cat 4 boys for plotting and scheming and pulling off one small portion of our plan. Thanks for supporting me when I wasn't sure that I was really the guy anybody should support.

If you have read this far, I hope you enjoyed it. No one was here to 'encourage' me to shut up!

'....and now there are two' - BB1 Race report By Kevin O’Connell

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:47:00 +0000

All in all, I thought the Masters 4/5 race was tame and well behaved. The packed move along with minor slowing, many attempted breaks, a few were sustained but eventually all breaks were reeled in.

Lap 1: Jamie and I were riding mid pack in close proximity, we were successfully moving to the most efficient positions in the pack. Hugh was riding very well ahead of us, toward the front. Three quarters of the way through the lap Jamie and I found ourselves working up the messy right side, at this point I heard to unmistakable sound of a flat I looked down and noticed it was Jamie’s rear wheel. Jamie did a commendable job of controlling his bike with little to no disruption. I worked my way up to inform Hugh of Jamie’s misfortune to which he replied, “and now there are 2.” I found this a bit comical in light of the fact that a few of the larger teams had several riders in the pack.

Lap 2: I continued to sit in and observe how the pack responded break away attempts etc.

Lap 3: Started to move around the pack back to front side to side looking for efficient lines. At the very end of lap 3 we went neutral to let the juniors finish their race, they were very impressive on the hill sprint.

Lap 4: Immediate challenge was transitioning from neutral to a last lap situation, I moved to the front in the event that riders on the front attacked once the juniors cleared, fortunately we moved rapidly past the juniors in an orderly fashion. (credit to the OBRA staff as this could have been a mess).

In my mind it was now time to race. As we approached Lee road I was prepared for an attack which did not develop. I then soft pedaled until we approached the dam. A long paced line formed to the right side of the bridge, I slipped onto the left side of the pace line and moved straight to the front with minimal effort. I got my desired line through the left hand corner leading to the hill and started climbing, as I passed Hugh all I had was real estate in front of me. I then let the dogs off the porch and climbed as hard as I could. I slowed a bit and 3 riders caught me at the top. To sustain the gap we attempted to team up, but it didn’t happen. I noticed the 2 disinterested riders were on the same team, I suspected team tactics, I called them a name or two and moved on. After the race they told me they were too tired to do a pace line.

As the larger group caught us I regrouped with Hugh, recovered for a few minutes, observed a few more pointless attaches, and decided that I would throw down one more effort which I new would be pointless but I wanted to tire the group a bit more. So, from about number 5 position I laid down a sprint. Again Hugh joined me after things settled down. So, picture this, a double pace line moving at race pace with Hugh and I on the front and absolutely no one stepping up. Hugh looked at me and said something like, “I don’t think there is a worse place we could be right now, to which I responded, “you know I was thinking the same thing.” With the help of a Portland Velo buddy Hugh I got off the front and recovered for a bit.

Given that all tactical attempts had failed thus far, I stopped thinking about what could happen and started preparing for the up hill sprint which came sooner than anticipated. At the base of the hill I was boxed in, so I took the right side. As I started to wind up for my final effort, I was nearly pushed into the guard rail. This was predictable but an expectable risk as once I cleared this guy I had a clear path to the line. I sprinted the remainder of the hill and finished 5th.

Two wonderful things - Angela's BB#1 race report

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:05:00 +0000

Two wonderful things happened in the cat 4/ master women's race today. I finished with field and in fact was frustrated with the slowing of my fellow racers as we climbed hills. That is until the last time up the big hill. Two powerful master women turned their jets on and fired up the hill after riding at the back until then. What was pretty dang cool is that I was the only one to hang with them, until I didn't; about 3/4 of the way up I ran out of power and slowed exponentially Before that I frequently the first one over the top. For those who have raced with me in the past you know how dramatically different that is. True I would frequently get pasted for a bit mid-way up but my speed did not slow until the last heroic effort. I think I finished 5th or 6th in master wm and probably in the top 10 overall. I think it may well be more mental then physical that I did not finish one place higher. The gal that took that spot certainly kept me digging deep but not for long enough. Just the same my goal was reached in that I did not get dropped from the pack even if I did not keep up with the breakaway. Who knows what next week will be like.

The other wonderful thing is that Cristina raced discreetly and with impressive patience. Sure, she could have gone much faster, but she didn't and she most likely got 2nd or 3rd. Sure she might have gotten 1st or 2nd riding her old way but what progress she made. Instead she chastised me for pulling too much! She chatted a tiny bit, but never took a pull until the rubber hit the road on the last lap. Even then she worked with the small group to keep the pace and to keep the group working together. I am proud of her and many of you would be too.

Cristina and I stayed until late in the day volunteering for the afternoon races. I did lead car for master 4/5 men once again. Hugh and Jon Gornick set the pace the first lap. Jon keep pulling and Hugh placed himself mid-field, something I've not seen before. He stayed there until the last lap when there was a lot a battling for good positions and winning sprints. The helmet that stood out during lap 3 and 4 was Kevin's. He was a little easier to spot with his blue and white helmet. His excellent riding was noteworthy as well. That group of master 4/5 are so tight, it is pretty dang cool. I think they may have dropped a few, but no one was really gonna get away. They all ride tight and strong! Despite ferocious efforts to break things up, the field held to the finish and those who could sprint that hill and find the hole or path through others made it in the top. Kevin came in around #5, Hugh around #10. Mr. Jon Gornick used his matches up a bit earlier. He did not get dropped from the field, but he came in toward the end.

I heard Mr. Jamie Fitzgerald wasn't in the mix due to a flat early in the first lap. S***! He'll undoubtably have something more interesting to say about it.

I got to wear my new kit and LOVE IT! It looks great too!

Finally, those of us who got to start our races between 9:30 -10 had the best weather. It was fantastic!

Thanks everyone

Emptying the match book - Matt's account of BB#1

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:28:00 +0000

After being pampered with a late start at Cherry Pie two weeks ago, 5am was a cruel return to the racing I knew from Washington. I nearly shelved my racing today 3 times....

1.) at 5:01am

2.) as I started to fall asleep again while driving at 5:30 (yes, I got there waaaay too early)

3.) when I saw the course covered in ice upon arrival

Well, of course when I was putting my trainer away after the warm-up at 8:55 I heard that we had a 30 min ice delay. Crap... so I rode around for the next 30 min visiting the restroom to hold off the hypothermia. It was great to see some of the Hammer women warming up, and it was good to have some company and great job Christina, 4th place!

Lap one started with lots of futile attacks, I covered a few but tried to stay out of the wind as best I could. Wow, its hard when you have no idea who to watch and I was second guessing every move and whether I should go cover the attack. After the first lap, I sat in and tried to hover around top 5, when people went off I tried to watch their body language to see if they might be a threat and act accordingly.

On lap two some guy from Bike Racing Attorney launched a huge attack. The way he moved (upper body bobbing like crazy) I thought "no way buddy" and kind of let him go. Well, he stayed away for about a lap before we caught him.

Lap 3 I got in a 10 man break after the dam, I thought we might stay away but it wasn't to be... and we got caught.

Lap 4... crazy Bike Racing Attorney dude didn't get enough pain from lap one so he went off again. This time he took two other guys with him, one from Team Oregon... and I was not paying attention, sipping a latte in the back. S***! These three quickly make a sizable gap, and I knew this was a very dangerous move. Team Oregon and BRA went straight to the front and in the most subtle way went 4 abreast put their arms out and slowed down. I immediately did my best Bryan Smith impersonation trying to rally a few troops to chase.

No dice... everyone sat around happy to be on a Sunday stroll. I was just about to take out my water bottle and bean the one TO guy in the back of the head with it when I saw a little opening and gunned it. I took 3 guys with me, heads down, and we just buried it in the red. We were not making much ground though and I saw my book of matches burning up like crazy... we had a few other chasers join us and help the effort.

Slowly we started whittling away the breaks' lead but I was so far in the red I was concerned that I would have nothing to finish with. We caught the break inside 1K and and I was sitting 3rd wheel coming up on 200M... as soon as I hit the 200M mark I gave it everything I had, figuring that I could maybe catch a few people off guard make some space and then see what happens.

What happened?

I could nearly taste victory when I heard a rider coming up on my left he had a super kick and left me and my empty match book to take 2nd place.

Some Thoughts of 2010 Season

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Tedder) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:56:00 +0000

Well Hammer Velo had our best finish yet in overall OBRA Team Bar points, finishing in a solid 2nd place for the 2010 Season. It's been a great year for the team, I think we ended up having 8 state championships for the year, 1 being for me, the highlite of my season and my main goal for the season was to win the Masters State Crit Championships, which I did do. Thanks to Christy (BBOH) for going out every Thursday morning at 7AM, 7 or 8 weeks prior to this race and doing hard sprint workouts with me, we both had some great workouts and it was the key to winning this race....Plus Christy used these workouts and the speed she gained by finishing on the podium at the Ironclad Street Sprints, I was so happy for her....Other highlites for me this year was at the Raven TT series, I ended up 2nd overall after the 3 race series in the Masters. But the second week I really needed to have a good race, got a good start and about 1.5 miles in I was sweeping through a big right hand bend slightly downhill and down on the bars flying, and BANG!!!! I hit a nail or something that rolled up and sliced the sidewall of the tubular on my rear disc....I have no idea how I held it upright as it pitched the whole bike sideways and I was heading across the road into the other lane of traffic heading for the ditch at 30 + mph....somehow I got out of my aero bars and got to the brakes and then stayed upright....Whew...I thought wow, I guess being a good bike handler pays off sometimes even if it's just a natural action to hang on and hopefully not crash....So I popped my shoes off and started walking back to the start area...My day was over....Well I thought it was, Rich the Neighbor had gone by me in his race while I was walking, so when he finished he jumped in his car and drove back and picked me up, then I get back to the start area and ask, can I restart??? They say sure you have about 5 minutes and we will let you go last in line....So back to the truck, I had to swap cassettes from my 10 speed wheel over to my 9 speed off my disc....I made it to the start and I put a foot down and away I went....Ended up finishing 2nd that day after all that and then I had to just finish well the next week and I had 2nd place overall in the series in hand which I did....Other great memories for me were some of the long rides we did as a team this year, Bridge of the Gods 100 milers, we did this 3 times this year with good sized groups, very fun and some great times with team mates. And then the low of maybe my cycling career and for sure in 2010 was letting my team mates down at the Rapha race....It was 100 + degrees about 70 miles into the 125 mile race and I had to bail, the heat really got to me, something that had never happened to me before, but once it did I was done, as my team mates had to leave me in Scappose and I was waiting for a ride, ( Thanks MO!!!! : ) I was tired, emotional and hot and I kinda had a melt down as I watched them ride away....I felt terrible that I could not go on and I was a huge dis-appointment to myself and them...But Mo took care of me, took me back to her place, got me some food and a cool shower and then I started coming back to life....It took me weeks to get over that. But I did and moved on and I was so proud of the other 5 for going on in the conditions and making it through the 125 miles of hell...We have some great and tough cyclists on this team and that is my most important thought of 2010...Looking forward to 2011 with a few new folks on our team and another great season to come....The new design of the Hammer Velo Kit will be out after the first of the year, we are really excited about that, it is very cool....So it was great being involved in OBRA again this year and congrats to all the HV peeps for a great season. Onward and upward for the future. See ya...........Jeff

US Cyclocross Nationals half-lap report....

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Read about Wombat's less than stellar outing at the Cyclocross Nationals here.

Psycho Cross race report - Wombat

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:14:00 +0000

Wombat's account of the weekend's racing in Eugene is here.

Hillsboro race reports - Wombat's take

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:32:00 +0000

His two rather silly Hillsboro race reports can be found here.

First 'cross win - Angela

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 03:08:00 +0000

Racing has been great but what lingers more than anything is the support and company of our teammates. This past weekend Jeff had the team site all set up. The tents were up, trainers ready and Jeff’s new toolbox got more use than ever. It is so nice to have a place to go to and know I will find my teammates. Bryan Smith was supporting riders all day and then once again was all over helping to get things taken down and packed up. For this I am extremely thankful! Sallyanne and Julie made sure our podium girl theme was all that it could be. Again, I enjoyed seeing my teammates out at the fairgrounds in Astoria just as I had seen many mates at PIR. However I missed the race and the party on Saturday, but I heard about some good times.

Now about racing. I warmed up for the women’s race using my trainer and downing some Hammer gel Anna provided me. The sound of my wheels spinning was impressive but only because they are carbon. I am racing in the 45+ group which has been the epitome of good feminine competition. With my 1st place finish on Sunday, the top 5 now all have a 1st place finish and a fair share of the various top 5 finishes. A crazy thing happened in the women’s race on Sunday, we had to restart after everyone was at least ½ to a whole lap into the race. I had a great start both times and only saw other 45+ racers when I lapped them. I was riding hard, climbing strong and going through the muddy descents aggressiveley.

On my last lap my lovely green sprinters dress got caught on my saddle after I went down in some slick, swift mud just before the bleachers and the descending turns through the trees. I finally had to leap off my bike to get untangled. When the race was over I was stunned by my lead. At the time I did not feel like I had worked all that hard. However, after the trick or treaters were asleep and I had a few hours of sleepful rest in my body, I began to feel the most significant soreness of the season. Throughout the day on Monday, my body informed that I had indeed pushed it very hard on Sunday.

Hugh pulled off a 9th place finish on Saturday and a 7th on Sunday, which puts him at 15th for the series. Jamie Bradley did great too and is sitting at 3rd in the series I think. It was impressive to see Jeff cruise around on the course showing off his ripped muscles along with Cristina and her flowered SS, Kristin sporting some obnoxious outer underwear and her amber colored rims as well as German on his sweet prize from last year! Lisa looked good, really good on her SS. There’s so much more to share, but that’s enough from me. I look forward seeing many of you and racing again next Sunday so close to home at Washington CO fair grounds.

Cat's NinKrossi race report

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 19:49:00 +0000

They said it was "fast and flat", perfect for beginners. Just three days before, at Blind Date (my very firstest cross race ever!) I was hooked on 'cross bad, so Ninkrossi sounded like a perfect next fix. Umm...yeah, it was a perfect fix of Pain! And Suffering! And I don't remember flats anywhere. Although there was the fast, the careening down bumpy terrain with only a micron of control over the bike. Terrifyingly transcendental.

Before the beginner women's race, Karleta, Hans, Jeffy and I watched "thumbs up" German, and "meat pants" John Lin and Rich the Neighbor and Killer Kristin tear it up in the SS race. They looked like they were hurting but they were going freakin fast. German did well, but his glory was shadowed by getting passed by a girl so he lost out on a beer from Tedder. John held second place solidly (maybe he was wearing the meat undies?), Neighbor kept motoring and stuck out his tongue a lot, in defiance, as if to say: take that, Ninkrossi! and KK rocked it, even after recently battling the Revenge of the Crepe.

Then it's our turn, Karleta and I. I almost missed the start when I take too long on the pre ride. Huh, must have been those pesky climbs! We're off and it hurts, immediately, but I remember something about it being fun, and how I PAID to do this, and cross is rad. Right.

I managed three laps (Three, really? Coulda sworn it was seventeen) and then it was over, thank all the gods and stars and heavens above, it was OVER! There were some harrowing moments, like getting passed by some chick (too close!) and eating it, and navigating the Ninkasi N, boy that was thrilling, but overall I actually stayed on the bike and didn't die. Yay!

Cat enjoying kicking butt at NinKrossi (photo: R. Rosko)

It was very extremely unspeakably wonderful to see teammates (and Hanser!) cheering us on throughout the race. Encouragement from friends and loved ones is a beacon through the haze of pain. Thanks, guys :) And being out there with Karleta was fantastic--it felt great to have a teammate out there with me, bonding through extreme physical trial.

Despite the bitching and moaning about this race, I hafta say there is something beautiful in it. Pain is purifying. Know what else is purifying? Goddess Nectar.

P.S. Julie Carter, thank you a million times for letting me use your bike! She rocks! And she's very forgiving.

P.P.S. Great job everyone on this weekend-yeow!!

Alpenrose race report - Allison

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:22:00 +0000

Pre-Race: After fighting a cold this past week, I still wasn’t sure I wanted to race Alpenrose this morning and I knew that I wasn’t going to have my 'A' game, but I had done all the laundry and I didn’t want to go for that 10 mile training run. So I pulled out my fun socks (thanks Sallyanne) and decided to race. I am not one to arrive to races super early. I hate waiting and it often makes my nerves more jittery. I left the house at 12:50 had to promptly turn around 2 times (once for the pump and once for the advair inhaler). This is also part of my warmup since my heart rate likes to climb each time I had to turn around and worry that I was going to be late. I knew the inhaler would help because I still have more post nasal drip than normal and I knew my lungs would fill up during the race. I got to Alpenrose about 1, but I went to look for my checkbook and I had no checks, so I had to make a quick stop at Albertson’s for some cash. I got to the parking lot and found a spot quickly (whew). This was also helping increase my heart rate.

Warm Up: Then I got ready, rode to registration and got to jump ahead because I already have my number from that race I did a few weeks back that was really really hard. I then hopped on the bike and went to warm up. It was a great warm up. The local streets were empty and offered some nice ups and downs to get the heart rate up. I saw a school and knew that would be a great place to ride on some grass and practice a run up and also some mountaing/dismounting. My brakes were still a little chattery from Starcrossed, so I had the RCB guy look at them. He couldn’t help, so off to the start I went.

Race: They had pretty much already done call ups so I just hopped in. I was about 5 rows from the front, which was okay. I have no clue where I should have been. Once the whistle blew, the ladies were off and I was probably in the front 15 or so for the first lap. Then, I guess I didn’t have much else and I got really really tired (to the point of barely pedaling on the second lap). Soon after I died, I saw "the Knight" Ryan Weaver, and he had coupons for Shimano goodies in his back pockets. I didn't have any steam to catch him and I watched the girl in front of me grab an envelope. At that point I was just trying to move forward as people continually passed. It’s nice and demotivating that’s for sure. But I kept going and found a little wind with about 8 minutes to go (thanks body). That was more fun because I could actually keep pedaling and felt like I had some power.

Allison rocking it at Alpenrose (photo courtesy of John Rudoff)

Then it was over. I didn’t make the last lap and I watched everyone else finish wondering if I could have given anymore. This race I couldn’t. I realized that when I finished, I was coughing and now it’s almost 8pm and I am still hacking a bit. I think my body is telling me I went hard. My heart rate monitor thought I could do a little better with my max at 180 and my average at about 170. As for the course, I thought it was pretty awesome. No crazy hills like Pain on the Peak and the velodrome part made me feel fast. I definitely let loose on my sprint at the end. I think I even scared the beginner that was in front of me.

It was great to hear so many people cheering me on and it was great to watch all the HV gals tearing it up!

Thanks for the support from all you awesome people and here is to hoping that everyone is warding off all the cold/flu bugs that are going around.

MA's first cyclocross race

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:02:00 +0000

I did not flat, I did not crash, I just plain sucked.

This was my first cross race. I never practiced cross before; the bike was new to me (Jeff helped me find a SS cross bike and put it together Thursday evening); I realized right before the race that the cleats I had didn't match the pedals (Jeff saved me again). I got lined up all the way at the end which was nice because I was spared the pain of seeing 40 something girls passing me since they were already ahead of me. Not really knowing what to expect during the race I dived head in and gave it all I got for half an hour.

The race itself was a bit of a blur. First lap was a trial and error exercise, after that I got the flow. I kept on passing people on flats and hilly sections only to see them flying ahead of me as I was trying to run over the barriers in slow clumsy motion. By the third lap I was dry heaving and ready to puke with one and a half lap to go. Most of the field did 5 laps, I managed 4 and a half. Finished somewhere last ten or so. I still felt like puking two hours after the race ended.

While this was the most painful race I've done so far (more so then Rapha or ROF) it was also the most fun I've had in a race. Although my ass was handed to me I had a giant grin most of the time. Can't wait to do it all over again.
Cristina enjoying post-race refreshments with Allison
(photo courtesy of Mo)

Pain and Suffer'n indeed!

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:33:00 +0000

An account of Wombat's most humbling race experience can be found here.

Stampede ride report

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:49:00 +0000

Parts one and two of Kristin's gravel-tastic Stampede Race-ish report.

Kristin's Rapha Ride report

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:16:00 +0000

Read Kristin's entertaining account of the drama that was the '10 Rapha Ride here for part one, here for part two and here for the final chapter.

OBRA Road Race Championships - Mindy's report

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:42:00 +0000

I second Amanda’s comments (below). Tough race! And I didn't even have the pleasure of Amanda "coming on me" (HV patented this race language earlier this season, BTW).

Yes, that hill hit us like a brick wall about 5 miles into the race...I was seriously in the pain cave trying to keep up as all 100 lb of Anona attacked. A group of 5 pulled away near the top, and I had to chase hard with a few other ladies to catch them. There were a couple other short, steep hills right after the long one, then a descent. I knew we'd be much better off in a larger group with the wind coming up. I remember at one point looking at my computer and thinking "oh crap- we've only gone 8 miles and feel like I'm ready to be DONE!!". Anyway, we caught them, became a group of 10, and pacelined at a pretty good pace the rest of the way. There were a couple sections of really strong wind...and a lovely, rolling, sunny section where the sun was heating up the pine needles and it smelled wonderful.

Then a FUN descent. Brubaker decided to attack at this point. I've never chased downhill at 40+ mph, but darn that was fun!

The long, gradual ascent to the finish wasn't too steep, but folks were attacking, jockeying for position, and generally being kind of annoying. A few sketchy moments, a near crash, bad cross/head wind, more attacks. I was trying to stay on the wheels of the strongest sprinters (there were several in that bunch). I had hoped to feel better at this point in the race, but just plain didn't. They jumped with about 1/4 mi to go and there was a little mess as one rider didn't go too hard and we had to swerve to get around her. I lost my wheel at that point, was cursing, but I stayed upright, grabbed another wheel, and passed that gal before the line to finish 6th. Not bad, but I had hoped for a better sprint..still working on that :)

Sprint for the finish (courtesy of Oregon Cycling Action).

Awesome to have Lindsay at the finish, and we cheered on the A's (Amanda, Anna, and Alice), as they came through. Alice and I rolled around for a while to cool down, then Alice's Bill (and Lucy), and Sara Fletcher joined us for fun times in White Salmon drinking, eating, and making snide remarks about our bitchy and rather
unpleasant waitress.

All in all, a great day!

OBRA Road Race Championships - Amanda's Report

noreply@blogger.com (Wombat) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:36:00 +0000

Whoa, that was a really tough race. Women’s racing normally has some reprieves where your HR drops down to a casual number. I was pinned the entire time. My average was 186 just so you have an idea. We started out and already people were attacking as we left the parking lot. 5-6 miles in there was a really steep hill that I thought was going to be just a mile but it was for sure longer. Mindy stuck with the lead group and Anna charged up it strongly too. I did about all I could and had a thought that I would just get off my bike and quit. Crested the hill and caught up with 6 other women and we started a paceline that was insanely fast. I saw Anna in front of me and let her know by yelling “Anna, I’m coming on you” so she would know. The pace was really, really fast and Anna hung on for a while before she blew…I was crying I was in so much pain!! We rolled that way for the majority of the race with some women attacking our paceline a couple of times. The final 10 miles are a gradual 2, 3, 4 % uphill into a headwind and I cracked probably 5 miles to the finish. Just had nothing left. A Sorella woman caught up to me with a mile to go and I sat on her wheel and then outsprinted her at the end (I felt badly about that…should I?).

Sprinting past the Sorella racer (courtesy of Oregon Cycling Action).

Overall, it was the hardest race I’ve ever done, not really the course, but the pace was really fast. It left me an emotional, snotty wreck. But I was so thankful for Lindsay and Alice and Anna and Mindy to all be there afterwards for hugs and beers.

Rough to say the least, especially at the end of the season.

New Year: Time to Train!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:10:00 +0000

November & December '09 saw witness to the longest break I have taken off the bike since... well, I started racing and riding back in 2006. While the rest was primarily due to old injuries popping up to remind me of their ever-present existence, I finally got time to mentally recoup from a particularly strange year and start out in 2010 with a fresh head and fresh legs.

My first real year of racing I was on the top page of the Iron Man Competition; I probably raced at least once if not twice a week for months. It was insane (and insanely expensive!). Last year didn't go that way, mostly for other reasons, but I look forward to a year where I can focus on racing with team mates and having fun.

I have been slow to return to group riding, due to some insane idea I harbor that not riding much for two months will cause me to revert to having absolutely no bike fitness whatsoever.

I think my saving grace has been the morning Solid Core Training classes with Jeff; I have been taking them since August, and the difference they make in over all strength is just amazing. I finally went on a whopping two long rides last weekend, both about 2.5 hours, and nothing was sore. Not my back, not my shoulders, none of those places that usually scream at you when you haven't been doing those longer rides (or any rides for that matter). I actually did a lot of climbing in the West Hills and felt great the whole time. Guess I don't have any more excuses.

Right now my focus is simply on getting fit enough for our team's Santa Barbara training camp that is coming up way too soon!

Hillsboro Cross Crusade race report.. The Rematch, or 'I beat 'em...but I didn't WIN..'

noreply@blogger.com (Cigo) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Get yer Creed on! If Hillsboro was an sixth grade drop out, muscle head for a South Philly loan shark, and I was this guy, in a red, white and blue satin tuxedo jacket with matching top hat, we'd be in Rocky Eye-Eye...Only THIS time, the BROTHER wins! (Read up, sippy)

Washington County Fairgrounds

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:57:00 +0000

I'm still not sure exactly sure where I placed, but in the meantime, here's my race report.

I Never Did Like Horses

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay R. Kandra, Esquire.) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:29:00 +0000

My Sherwood Horse-poop-fest report can be enjoyed here.

Glad we got all warmed up for the cow poop fest at Hillsboro. Ugh.

Race Report - Rainier

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:18:00 +0000

Hey all, HV newbie here! My race report can be read on my blog.

Can't wait until I can remember everyone's name so I can yell at you while racing :)

Kandra's Alpenrose Race Report

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay R. Kandra, Esquire.) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:34:00 +0000

Can be found here.

Good racing, folks! Although I am disappointed that Dave didn't crash Ryan Trebon out of the SS race. Dude, you gotta use that starting position to get your 15 minutes of fame!