6/25/00
I've done quite a bit of racing recently, with varying levels of success. Two weeks ago (I think) was the Leavenworth RR / Wenatchee Criterium weekend. It was fun because Derrick rented a house in Leavenworth where a bunch of the team members stayed. It was not fun because I got dropped from the pack before the pack even reached the first big hill. I was waaay out of shape. And I didn't do all that well at the criterium, either...
I just got back from another weekend of racing. Saturday was the State Criterium Championship. Instead of having it at Olympia like they did last year, this time it was at Pasco, in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. Basically, it's about halfway to the eastern edge of Washington, and right on the southern edge, on the Columbia river. The Criterium was a lot of fun. It wasn't nearly as hot as it was predicted to be, and the course was not as nearly as dangerous as we thought it would be. The course was more or less a triangle shape. From the start line, there was a straight, followed by a hairpin right that basically went 180-degrees. Then there was a long straight, a 90-degree right, a short straight, and another 90-degree right. There was a short bit, a slight bend to the right, and the sprint to the finish. The road surface was very, very smooth (except for a bit near the hairpin turn...). I felt a lot better than at the Wenatchee Criterium, and I was able to stay with the pack almost the whole race. With three laps to go, I made an attack off the front, which I know would tire me out, but I was hoping that John Maestas would be able to capitalize off of the people trying to chase me down. I think I should have tried a bit harder, because I didn't feel too tired after the race. The team results were a bit disappointing, with the only medal, I think, going to Karlee, one of our women racers.
The time trial was interesting. It was held on some roads on the Hanford Reservation. This is where they process and store nuclear waste. There was some paperwork we had to sign to absolve the Department of Energy of anything that might happen during the race, and they warned people to keep their pets on a leash - if they strayed more than 10 feet off the roads, they would be confiscated and destroyed! Anyways, I put on my old Cosmic Equipe wheels, and borrowed Don's aerobars to get in a tuck position. I think I didn't adjust my seat well enough, because it caused some pain during the 25 miles of the time trial. As it turned out, it was closer to 24 miles. I felt pretty good on the first half, but being in a strange position I'm not used to made it a bit uncomfortable. I managed to finish in 1 hour and about 5 minutes. Much better than I thought I would do. With a little practice, I bet I could go under 1 hour.
All in all, a good weekend of racing.