Tour of Walla Walla

ToWW

I love this race. Last year, this was my first stage race and I suffered. I admired the organization and the challenges presented by the three separate stages and I wanted to come back and finish in the top 20. We got off to a rocky start in Seattle with the snow and all. My wife and kids decided to stay home and Sarah thought that I was absolutely nuts for going. I'm glad I went. It was cold and windy - but dry.

Stage 1 TT

Again very windy and cold. I wrote off the TT about two months ago and decided to bring one bike. One of these days, I will get a time trial bike. I figured that the course was maybe 7 miles; 3.5 up and 3.5 down, why would I need to worry about aero for such a short distance. I stuck with my road bike and did not bother with clip-on bars. The course felt great! I caught my 30 second rider and felt like the way down was easy in the 53x11. I was shooting for 17:30, because that was a respectable time last year and I stayed right on schedule. I did not realize that the course was shorter - oops! I need to go faster on the downhill. I lost 2 minutes and 14 seconds over 7 miles.

Stage 2 RR

I knew right where I wanted to be at the start, so I left a big hole in front of me that the Jerky boys promptly filled. A couple of them can usually climb really well. I wanted to resist the temptation to blow out the front and take advantage of the 5 miles of downhill. I just wanted to keep contact with the front of the pack. The field seems a little twitchy and we used our brakes more than our legs. This surging motion usually causes my legs to cramp so I usually prefer to spend more time on the front pedalling - not today, the cramps did not set in until about mile 30 or so. My right hamstring cramped.

Basically, the tactics were pretty much the same as last year: lots of dickin' around for the short lap, followed by a surge down the decent into town and then a break from the main field up the 3k climb. After the climb: more excessive use of brakes - people would surge to go up front get hit in the face by the wind and slow down forcing those drafting to use brakes - we just don't trust each other to organize any kind of rotating pace line so we surge and brake.

At the southern most apex of the long loop a dog ran across the road and caused the pack the fan out like ants on fire, then the pace picked up with the wind to our backs (I think - it seemed like the wind was coming from all directions).

Someone lost a full water bottle. I nailed it with my front wheel and the lid popped off spraying the riders to my right. It worked just like Geoff said it would and I held my line.

We started to drop riders and a few Cucina guys tried to go off the front. They did not last that long.

Eventually, there was a break that looked to be working with two guys at about mile 40. I pulled to the front and shifted into the small ring to spin up the hill after them. We gained ground and reabsorbed one of them and then the next. My heart rate remained elevated 185-193 for about a mile and a half. About 15 guys went by me after that attack had been neutralized and I tried to tack on. I thought no problem, we will be going down hill soon. They got away and I was calculating how soon until the turns so I could make up some ground. Fortunately my teammate Duane came bombing down the hill and offered me a wheel until we caught back on - thanks Duane!

Only 12 miles to go with 15 or so riders in our lead group. 2-3 riders went off the front and gave us a run for our money up the back hill and we chased down into town. Starbucks had a rider in the break and the two Starbucks riders with us were not interested in organizing a chase. Fortunately no one told the Whitman kid not to chase down his rider in the break - he did most of the work. Everyone was already dead tired and holding back for the last climb to the finish.

I tried to carry some momentum into the last 3k and found myself without anyone to follow. I needed a wheel, I'm not in that good of shape, yet. the last 1k took forever and I maintained a HR around 190 during the entire 3k climb - no sprinting necessary. I came in 14th 59 seconds behind the winner Ryan from Chinook. I easily lost 30 sec on the last 3k.

Stage 3 Crit

Lucky number 13 for me. I knew that I would not win this stage, so I just stuck with the front of the pack and watched for gaps to open and bridged as necessary. Eric took off at about 10 laps to go, so I chased him and rode his wheel for a while. I was watching the lap board and could not believe that we were down to the last 5 laps. I rested and lost my position. With 2 laps to go I thought why not, so I blew it out to regain a good position and make all the other riders suffer. Who wants to risk a crash in the last lap with riders who cannot keep up after a little speed? I wanted to grab the Whitman rider's wheel as he went by me, but was too timid on the back of the last lap. I ended up 13th with the same time as everyone else in the lead group.

In summary, I placed 17th overall. Missed out on the 40 year plus GC - 2 guys from Cucina and Duane were ahead of me. I need to work on my TT - everything. I need to get faster on straight down hills. Bonus: I listened to Geoff and did not crash because of a water bottle. I got lucky and did not hit the dog or get into a crash. Now it is time to see Joe, do some testing and start training for real (within the limitations of job, family etc.).