Lake Washington Velo #3, Carnation

Thad put on a cow bell performance at the "Valley of the Cows". His udder-ly perfect lead out in the Masters race left a herd of carbon bulls standing ankle-deep in steamy manure.

With just over 1K to go I got on Thad's wheel as he hammered his way past 10+ guys on the right shoulder, putting me in about 8th position. With the perfect set up and a 400 meter open road "sprint" all I had to do was draft wheels and pass people as they popped. I ended up 4th in the sprint (8th overall thanks to a 4 person breakaway loaded with a regional and national champ!). After the Masters I did the 3's and felt good throughout but got pinched in the final 200 meters in the clusterf*^k of a sprint as our "closed road" became a "closed road with a Corvette driving towards us at 250 meters." I thought about biking over the hood, but having lasted a season with bones intact I decided to sit up and stay safe.

Thad raced GREAT staying out of trouble and getting to the front when it mattered. And he must be ready for cross season because he wanted to jump in the cat 3 race after the masters! Thanks for the perfect set-up Thad!

Ride On!!

A.

Meet Team Green!

We’re officially on the docket for the WSBA Meet the Team ride on Saturday, November 22nd. The purpose of these rides is to allow riders at all levels and abilities to get to know local teams seeking new members. Come out, meet the team, and see what we're all about!

Ride details remain the same as in previous years: riders meet at 9:15 at Pert's Deli in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood, with the rides departing at 9:30 and proceeding at a social, "no drop" pace around the south end of Lake Washington and returning across I-90 to Leschi.

North Shore Circuit Race

After making the initial attempted drive to B'ham earlier this season only to be snowed out, I was determined to get there this time. They promised it wouldn't snow, although there was thunder rumbling off and on. I briefly saw Putter who claims he was dropped from the combined masters race, although I saw him fly by at about 50 mph so he looked good to me.

I raced the 3's, and like the masters, had a small field. With just under 30 peeps there weren't many places to hide. A few kids from Canada took off in an early break never to be seen again (they must not feed them up there because they looked like they weighted about 100 pounds combined). I got into a later break which grew to 6 by the last of 7 laps. I managed 4th in the uphill sprint giving me 6th overall.

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Final Indie Series Race - The Revival

Yesterday was the last race in the Indie Series mountain bike race collective here in the Northwest. It was time for the White River Revival. The day's racing went off under angry skies near Greenwater, in the shadows of Mount Rainier. All through the day on Saturday, the pouring rain had to have soaked the course, I thought, but too my surprise, the trails were near perfect on Sunday. The moisture made the traction tacky on the climbs and the roots slick in the crazy, winding single track. That proved good for me since a few new riders showed up that tend to spend more time 700c tires measured in millimeters than fat nobbies measured in inches. They just didn't have the skills to descend nor tackle the roots, but the climb was their forte' and that's where they got me. The White River course meanders along the river, through the woods then ramps up for four miles of climbing on a pretty nice forest service road. It then descends back to the river bottom for another go at a shorter lap. This year, they threw in a start loop that had a gnarly, steep climb lasting for about a quarter mile that was upwards of 15% at times followed by a high-speed super rocky descent that had you throttled before hitting the windy section.

I managed to pop out on to the climb in second place to find the first place guy, Vince Haag of Team Sega, the guy I was chasing for the Series Lead just up ahead with a slow leak flat. Out of curiosity, I waited for him, but his CO2 cartridge was giving him fits. Then, two chasers came out of the woods after me, so it was time to quit being nice. I gassed it (or what I thought was gassing it) and started the climb. I got caught a mile up the road by the Scotsman. The two of us worked together for another two miles. Then, the Scotsman said bu-bye and I was behind. Vince rolled up to me and we hung together. An un-timely nature call just before the descent put me a bit further back. No worries, I figured I could make time on the descent. Well, no luck there either. One bad turn found me upside down and about 10' below the trail in a heap tangled in a tree. I was ok, I just had to get back on the trail.

The rest of the race was a chase. I managed to catch one guy (the roadie) and got close to Vince. I later found out he nearly tacoed his front wheel. With some banging on a tree, he got it straight enough to ride in ahead of me. The Scotsman won the race with Vince in second and me in third. If I had taken Vince for at least the second place, I could have had the overall win in the series. We were only separated by two points going into today's finale. So, I got on the podium twice today. I got there with the Third place win for the day's racing and back up for second for the overall win.

Today was also a winning day for my nephew. He just got his training wheels off last week and he pulled out a second place in a tough kids race. It was technical. It had one turn in the out and back, bumpy, and potholed riddled course. He made us proud. He'll turn 5 in a month.

Maybe some of you guys will join us next year for the great racing in the Indie Series. Lots of fun and a great way to lead into cross.

Kirkland Crit

It hurt. It hurt real bad.

Dan and I made it out to Kirkland despite being sore from the uphill TT the day before. After a hard warm up on the trainers we set in for 40 minutes of torture on a technical course, technical meaning several crashes. Dan managed to stay in the front from the get go while I was stuck mid-pack and behind a pile-up half way through the first lap. It took me 3 laps just to get back into the top 15. It was strung out the rest of the time. My computer read 27.5mph avg with an average hr of 177. I could hardly sleep last night because my back was killing me and my heart was still pounding. It was all worth it. We stayed upright, I managed 8th thanks to some well timed pulls from Dan-O.

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