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)
