Cascade Cycling Survival Classic

Race Update - Fun times as pack fodder. 

Prologue - A great way to lose 6 secs per kilometer to Tom Zirbel.

Wasn't Me...

Stage 1 -  I Was an amateur as opposed to ELITE amateur.  Ran out of water and lost 11 minutes.

Picture of me. Night of stage 1. 

Stage 2 - Usual time trial. That is, rolling to the start in a goofy ass time trial helmet, skin suit, and weird ass bike then questioning myself "where did it all go wrong"?

Time trials = Question of reality itself.

Stage 3 - Cheese and Rice fast climb in the beginning. Cheese and Rice fast climb at the end. I drank water this time.

Beginning - Middle - End

Stage Race Themes -  What I learned during the past year/week.

Stage Race Time 
 - Every stage race I look forward to the down time between races. I eagerly await time away from work where I can read, relax, and watch movies. This never happens. Rather, the passage of time is masked by a mental and physical state of fatigue. Even worse, nothing gets done. Every action is prolonged with the phrase, "I'll do it tomorrow".
 - If the race ends at 1:30p.m. you will not arrive home until 6:30p.m. Even if it is a thirty minute drive/ride home.
 - If you have dinner in town at 5:30p.m. you will not be in bed until 10:00 p.m.
 - Not cool.

Time wasted, spent, used, missed, etc. 

Lose Everything -  Shit I have lost and found this week. Cascade has been especially bad for me.

Iphone - Left it on top of the team car before stage 3. Somebody told me during the race that they had picked it up. My response, "what dumbass left their iphone on top of a car"?
Garmin - Couldn't find it. It was in my pillowcase. I don't know how it got there. Tooth fairy. I don't know.
Wallet - Left it on top of the team car. Somehow still has money in it.
Compression socks - Only missing one. Please return to me if found.
I need a chaperone.

I really do need help. 

Wake Up Bonked 

 - The cavernous feeling cannot be filled by safeway brand raisin brand. Ever. Try some oatmeal with half a jar of peanut butter. Or maybe all the eggs you can find in the fridge.

 Teammates and I

Grand Tour Impossibility

 - If this is what six days (really five) of racing feels like, I don't want to know what twenty-one is like.

Every Grand Tour Rider

Host Dogs 

 - Daily boosts in moral

Last but not least.

Shawn Milne/Alex Raicer getting riders ready for the race. 

End

Elite Nationals + Cascade Cycling Classic

Amateur Nationals - Actually ELITE Amateur Nationals

 - Some good stuff. Mostly bad. Pictures Below.

What's Going On - Pre Cascade 

 - House has a dog.

 - House has four ways of making coffee. 

 - House has a Grill and outdoor seating. 

 - Sleeping in a bunk bed. 

 - Nice

Cascade - http://www.cascade-classic.org/pro-race/ 

- Six day stage race starting with a prologue tomorrow. I should have time to post after most of the stages. I may even include maps + power data. Exciting stuff. 

- I assume I'll be too knackered after the road races to type any words at all. 

Reading

- Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

Could not have asked for a better book this week. In addition to seventeen hours of driving to and from Bend I'll have all week to finish the book. It's one of the classics that somehow never was placed on my school reading list. I assume by the end of the week my vocabulary will have incorporated the words parasol, bulwark, wheedle, and "Gods nightgown!". 

                                                                 Nationals in  Pictures 

Madison Farm Country

Cave of the Mounds Visit

Ride with Ma + Pa near the Capitol Building

Cascade Classic 

Rio arriving to the host house a.k.a. going door to door caroling.

I went to College in the wrong town...

Pre PRO as shit Prologue ride around town. 

Camilo on the left. Alex the mechanic in the center. Jim on the right.

Getting aero in the Cascade Farm Region. Beautiful riding to be had just out of town. 

Jim eats pounds of grits. 

Finished the daily crossword puzzle AND the sudoku today. Very Pro. Very hard life. 

Race Food: Buck's Berry Bars

Ingredients:

Lots of Granola

Lots of Butter

Lots of Marshmallows

Lots of Sunflower Seeds

Lots of Dried Cranberries

Nice

(I'll most likely eat all of them before stage 1)

Thanks For Readin'