CWU

Before I launch in CWU, a quick WWU/UW recap: WWU was cold. I got dropped on lap 3. I rode a lap by myself, then I dropped out with one to go because I was slow, cold, wet, and really cold (ie I’m a wimp). The UW crit at Seward Park was fun. I rode pretty smart, staying in the top 10 for almost all the race. When everybody went on the last time up the hill, I went about 30% slower than them and slid from 4th wheel to last. Ouch. The helmet cam video is hilarious. I have yet to edit it down.

CWU! Ellensburg, Washington. Good times. The drive was alright (~6 hrs). We checked into our four rooms at Super 8 around 6:30. As nice as it is to get host housing (ie free housing), staying in a hotel is pretty sweet. Some number pinning and blogging (new big photo blog: http://www.ivarvong.com/blog/2009/04/drive-up-to-cwu/), it was sleepy time. I don’t think anyone cares about my logistical adventures, so I will omit them. But they occurred. Hard and in full force. Anyway.

Central Washington Road Race. The winds goin’ pretty good. I was nervous.

I think this is funny: when we’re staging, if I squeeze into a spot at the front I don’t really deserve, the guys will move to let me in. I don’t know exactly why I get this respect (though I suspect it’s the helmet cam), but it’s pretty rad.

Rollout. Slow. Hill 1, kinda hard. A little move went off. Everyone jumped on it right away. I’ve gotten much better at reading this kind of thing in the past year, which makes life exponentially easier. The pace goes up as we get onto the flatish roads. Everyone’s spread out across the road, but I knew exactly who I wanted to be next to: Matt from UI, or Scott from Willamette. They’re both big, and they nearly always make the lead group. I fight for their wheels. Most of the guys are not so fortunate.

There were a couple short steepish climbs in the next half an hour. We made a right turn and instantly confronted one of the meanest winds… ever. Seriously. Everyone was thinking the same thing, and the pack slowed to a crawl. I again fought like crazy to get on Matt or Scott’s wheel and crumpled myself into a ball. Someone whined from further back about how much sitting in I was doing, so I kindly put everyone in the gutter for five minutes. The group was down to 10 from 30 at this point. We FINALLY turn off the killer headwind and cruise with the tailwind to the beginning of lap 2. After some strong moves, it’s down to 8 guys: 3 UI, 2 Whitman, 2 Willamette, and me. Bad news. They’re working me over really bad, and I know that I am going to get the crap kicked out of me if this keeps on. So I attack out of a corner at 80%, sit a few second off the front for a mile or two, then start to sit up as they catch me. As I’m about to get caught, a fast Whitman guy jumps across the 20m gap and I jump really, really, really hard. We got a huge gap right away and I’m pretty convinced everyone’s going to give up and I’m going to go to the line with Whitman guy. We made a huge effort. It felt like 15 minutes, but it might’ve been a lot less. We finally got pulled back, but by that point it was 3 UI, 2 Whitman, Scott (Willamette) and I. Seven guys.

We went slow. Sometimes really slow. Then really insanely gut wrenchingly hard. Then slow. Over and over. OWW.

I made a few moves (attacking out of corners, up the little hills), but no one would go with me and I knew I didn’t have the pop for 15 miles of stiff crosswind/headwind, especially considering the horsepower left in the group.

With ~1.5k to go, UI was sitting on the front, three wide and the rest of us were hanging out in the back. Brian, UI, made a HUGE attack. I couldn’t get through, so I prepped for the reaction. There was no reaction. I waited a little longer, but it was way too late. He was gone. Oops. Really gutsy move, perfect timing, and that kid’s got the legs to do it. Huge props.

Matt went at 250m (won the crit last week, also UI), so I went for it. Surprisingly (to me), I started catching him… then I caught him around 150m. Whitman guy almost on my wheel. I dropped down one more cog and did it. Second. Yeah!

Courtesy Amelia Martin (Willamette)

PSU

I was hired as a Staff Photographer to the Daily Emerald last week. Needless to say, it’s amazing. I love the people I work with. The time commitment isn’t too big either, and they’re willing to work around my schedule (ie collegiate bike racing).

Let’s take the time machine backwards: Friday, April 3rd.

Paperwork, phone calls, logistical puzzles, and navigating the other little things that are oh-so-critical to a successful trip. We make it on I-5 around 4pm and head up to Will’s house for dinner. Will’s house is superior to all host housing ever for the following reasons:
1) his dad, Mark, is hilarious
2) Mark makes
good food and lots of it
3) BLUEBERRY PANCAKES on Sunday morning!!!!

Okay, so maybe I’m a little food-centric, but can you blame me? Anyway, we got up 5:45am on Saturday morning to head out to Hagg Lake for the PSU Road Race (aka Banana Belt 4). Our caravan-ing wasn’t so great, but hey, we got there.

The first lap was slow. I made a couple moves in the second lap, then I started coughing up stuff. (I was sick all week, but was getting a little better). I sat up and rolled back. Galen and I rode two more laps a couple hours later- average power 110W. We got back to Will’s house and BBQ’d it up. Party! Bed time.

Sunday morning was fantastic- late wakeup (7am), short drive, sunny, flat crit. My plan was to sit in real good and try not to cough too much. Galen let me borrow his fancy deep section carbon wheels. After freezing the previous in Bellingham, riding in summer gear was weird and very much appreciated.

I sneak up to the front. Three other riders were in the B’s with me- David Montes (newly upgraded), Ty Mangum (also newly upgraded) and Azul Eckman. Andrew Neill had to stay home and take care of some work. We’ll have a five-man team this weekend! We’re lectured about racing, and we’re off. I heard we did 30-32mph for the first few laps. It was fast, but not too bad. I stayed neatly in the pack and avoided all possible work. The prime laps were faster, and WSU guy got a bunch of them (sandbagger).

I attacked after a prime with six laps to go. They watched me go, and after the initial pop I dialed it into ~370W. On a good day, I can do that for 4-5min. With a small gap on a windy course and not a lot of training, I didn’t want to get dropped in the near-certainty I got caught, but on the other hand, breaks have been sticking in the B’s, so I didn’t know. I passed the line and Bill held out the lap card. Being alone, off the front for the next five laps sounded really hard, but I put faith in the 404’s and the pack’s laziness.

I got caught half a lap later and rejoined the disorganization. Someone made a really strong move as soon as I got back in, and covering it hurt a lot, but I was hanging on. Whitman guy snuck off after that. Two to go, and I got up to fourth wheel or so. At ~500m to go, I’m on super-strong WSU guy’s wheel and Whitman guy is dangling off the front. WSU pulls off to get in a better spot the sprint.

Shoot. I’m at the front of the race way too early, and there’s a guy OTF. I figure I have two options:

1) Pull off and try to get back into front of the pack. This is super risky and sketchy, and it nearly guanrentees Whitman’s gutsy move will get him the W. That’s no fun.
2) Gun it, catch Whitman, and hold off the entire field by sprinting off the front. Seemed doubtful.

I went for number two. I jumped super hard (albeit it off the front of the field, with ~400m to go) and strung the crap out of everyone. Whitman guy OTF was coming back pretty fast. We scream through the corner, and I realize I can probably catch him. With ~100m to go, I get him. I’m thinking,

“Oh my god. I’m going to win this race. COME ON LEGS!”

And I look to the left. Matt from UI comes screaming past me with what felt like 10m to the line. He got his wheels clean of mine. I hung on to 2nd by a wheel to strong WSU guy (take that!). Second! Sweet!