Wenatchee Omnium - Road racing and a satisfying weekend

Yesterday was the final day of the Washington State Omnium Championships in Wenatchee. The day's event was the road race which takes place on a very challenging course. It features a very long (10 mile) climb. The first half of the climb is almost totally up with a frequently changing gradient and a couple short sections of up to 16%. The second half of the climb is more rolling in nature, but continues to gain significant elevation. As we all learned early in life, what goes up, must come down and this course is no different. It features an equally long descent on which riders' speeds approach 50mph. The final feature of the road course is a long mostly flat section back to the finish that usually features a strong tailwind.

Just as last year, I'm still not a climber so my plan was to limit my losses as much as possible on the climb and then hopefully hook up with some willing partners and chase like mad on the descent and flats back to the finish. The masters C race started with an out and back on saturday's TT course before heading to the climb and the rest of the road race course. These first nine miles on the TT course seemed more relaxed to me this year or at least the pace was more steady. There were a couple of short lived breakaways but not much other action. At the turnaround point it was annoying to find that the organizers had not placed a cone for us to mark the turnaround. There was a "turnaround 200m" sign, but the pack had to make a 180 on a two-lane road at what it collectively thought was the spot. All in all it went quite smooth, but a definite turning point would have helped.

As we started the climb, I tried to positition myself mid-pack. My expectation was to ease off the back on the early pitches of the climb and stay within myself. All went according to plan, the climb got steeper, I maintained the pace I could manage, and the pack left me behind. I was much more comfortable on the climb this year. I don't think I was much faster, if at all, but having done it once before definitely made the steeps less fearful.

Across the rollers on the top half of the climb I kept on the lookout for partners for the chase to come. I hooked up with a rider from Baddlands and started the trip down with him. On the steeper, upper part of the descent, he was unable to hang with my gravitationally enhanced physique and he lost contact. I had a tense moment at one point as I was approaching an object in the road on the descent at 40mph. At first I thought it was just a scrap of plastic wrap blowing across the lane, but as I got closer I saw that it was a water bottle that had been dropped by a rider and it was rolling down the hill in a somewhat weaving manner. I avoided it and also negotiated the one 180 degree switchback on the steepest section of the descent. Just after this turn, my Baddlands partner returned on the wheel of another rider and finally I had a group to work with. Our rotations were a little sloppy as we continued downhill, but they did begin to get a little better. Just as we seemed to get it all together and work well with each other, Mr. Baddlands was gone again.

My remaining partner and I finished the descent and turned onto the flat highway to the finish. Along the way, we picked up a couple more riders. Everyone worked well together and the finish approached rapidly. At this point, I was trying to figure out how to get the best placing out of this group of four that I was part of. I figured the rider I descended with was the strongest of the other three and that the other two that we caught up to were likely weaker than me. The Second Ascent rider who had been just in front of me in the rotation was pretty ragged in his pulls so I figured he had little or nothing left. At the 1k to go sign he went all in and attacked. He only got a gap of about 5om but it seemed to be holding and no one else reacted so I decided to go across to him. As I pulled up to him, I told him we had a little gap and asked him if he had anything left. His reply, "A little", didn't exactly fill me with confidence so I pulled, but definitely not all out. He faded and the other rider we caught on the highway pulled along side me at the 200m to go sign. The final 200m are uphill and after a day as challenging as this one, the shorter the sprint, the better. We continued up the hill and I watched and waited for him to jump for the line. At about 75m to go, I realized he was already giving it all he had. I lifted my pace and easily took the sprint in my group (okay, so it was only for 25th, but it felt good anyway).

My elapsed time for the road race was almost exactly the same as last year, but I felt much, much better this year. For the weekend, I ended up 16th in the omnium, basically the same placing as last year. Given the increased field size in my category this year though, I consider that an improvement and am very happy with my results from the weekend.

Next up is the Enumclaw omnium in two weeks.