Wenatchee Omnium Criterium - An unexpected development

This afternoon's crit was fast and furious and unfortunately ended with my typical crit result, being pulled by the officials after being dropped. There was a pleasant surprise this afternoon however.

They are requiring all the riders to sign in before each event to confirm their participation in order to be scored in the omnium standings. Unlike some omniums, they are also requiring that you finish each event to remain in the omnium competition. For the criterium, as long as you made half distance before being pulled, you were considered to have finished and were placed.

As I was waiting in line to sign in, I overheard the rider in front of me discussing with the official that he had been mistakenly scored in my category for the TT. The official said they'd check into it and correct it if necessary. Fast forward to this evening when I went back to make sure I was credited with a finish in the crit as I was pretty sure I made it past halfway. I checked the crit results and saw that I was credited with 32nd of 35 finishers. The bigger development though was that they had corrected the aforementioned misplacing of riders in my category and it turns out I got 9th in this morning's time trial and scored a couple of points in the omnium.

It was a great morale boost to make the top 10 in the TT and will make tomorrow's heinous climb on the road course a little easier to bear. The road race course is a beast, but I managed to come away with a couple points last year on it, so I'm hoping I can do it again tomorrow.

Wenatchee Omnium TT - Reading between the numbers

Today's time trial was a mixed bag for me. Conditions were good, not quite as windy as last year and temperatures in the low 60s. I was the first in my class to go off, starting after a couple minute gap to the class in front of me. This left me with no one in sight to chase. Having done this race last year and having been unpleasantly surprised by the severity of the headwind on the return leg, I tried to hold a little back on the way out for the return struggle. This plan worked well and I turned in a time that was about 10 seconds quicker than last year. Unfortunately, it was not quite good enough to equal my 10th place and single point from last year. I ended up 11th out of 38 riders. Last year's TT field was only 35 riders, so from my perspective, this years 11th is maybe an improvement of last year's 10th.

Next up is this afternoon's criterium downtown, never one of my strong suits.

The Night Before

Tomorrow is the first day of the Washington State Omnium Championships in Wenatchee. It will start with a TT in the morning, move on to a criterium in the afternoon, and finish up with a very difficult road race on Sunday. Last year was the first time I did this race and I entered it with few expectations. I managed to score a 10th place in the TT and got some points in the road race as well.

This year, in part due to my "success" last year and the fact that I've raced and trained a little more leading up to it, I'm hoping, and maybe even expecting, to do a little better. A local TT ridden earlier this week shows I am at least as ready as I was last year and probably even better. Its a little like waiting to open your Christmas present in the morning. I'm ready, excited, and hopeful. Lets tear in to it and see what we get!

The Power of New Routes

I'm pretty lucky. I live in an area with a pretty good diversity of training routes. There's some flat terrain, some good rolling terrain, and of course the Methow Valley is at one end of the spectacular North Cascades Highway and some serious climbs in the mountains. What we don't have here, is a great quantity of training routes. The riding we have is great. What's not to like about quiet country roads and cooperative (for the most part) drivers? It's just that, well, its easy to get that "been there, done that" feeling occasionally when you live here.

Last Wednesday was shaping up to be one of those "been there, done that" type of days. I figured I needed around a 50 mile training ride and with an iffy weather forecast and the thought of my regular routes not lighting a fire under my butt, motivation was lacking. I couldn't do anything about the weather but maybe some new roads would do the trick. I logged on to MapMyRide and searched for likely routes within an hour or so drive of home. Nothing really jumped out at me, so I decided to drive over to Okanogan and ride up towards Omak Lake and then back down to Omak and back to Okanogan on the roads on the west side of the Okanogan Valley. I'd never ridden any of these roads, but on the map, they looked like just the right mix of terrain and distance.

With the weather looking ever more favorable, I parked at the American Legion Park in Okanogan and headed east across Highway 97 and into the hills towards Omak Lake. Soon after, I made a serendipitous mistake. I missed the turn towards Omak Lake and continued up the Cameron Lake Road. This road is a really great climb to nowhere. About 10 miles from Okanogan, the pavement ends on a high plateau. Little traffic and some difficult pitches make it a great climb to file away for future training rides.

After failing to find Omak Lake at the end of Cameron Lake Road (imagine that), I came back down and took Cameron Lake-Omak Lake Rd. over to Omak Lake Road. A sign indicated that Omak Lake was only 4 miles up the road. At this point, Omak Lake Road looked like any other county road in Okanogan County. It was a somewhat narrow, chipsealed two-lane road. Just before reaching Omak Lake though, it changed dramatically, for the better. It became a wide, smooth two lane highway with 2 to 3 foot wide shoulders on both sides. Unlike most highways though, it had almost no traffic on it. The stretch along the lake featured a few short climbs and great views of the lake.

I had expected the pavement to end in the vicinity of the lake, but it just kept going, and I kept following it. I was blessed with almost no wind or traffic and plenty of smooth pavement. I just kept rolling along until I finally had to turn back to get back to Okanogan before dark. It turned out to be a little over 60 miles for the day and one of the most enjoyable rides I've done in a long time. Maybe this road is busier on the weekends or later in the summer, but on a midweek day in late April, it was a nearly perfect training ride. Given my earlier lack of motivation and enthusiasm for my usual routes, it was a day that demonstrated the power that a new training route can sometimes have.

A Grand Day Out

Today was a great day to get out on the mountain bike and take in one of the Methow Valley's classic mountain bike rides, the Buck Mountain loop. I had figured I'd end up only riding part of the loop, expecting some of it to still be snowbound, but was pleasantly surprised to find only a few very small patches of snow that were easily ridden through. This loop is also mostly in sparsely timbered terrain, so it doesn't suffer from a lot of blown down trees after the winter.

It was great to be out on the mountain bike for a couple hours. It provided a nice change of pace from my usual training on the road. The trail was in great shape and the it was a beautiful spring day in the Methow. It is still a little early for wildflowers with only a few Bluebells and Yellowbells in bloom, but in another month or so this route will be carpeted in the yellow of Balsam Root flowers. The snowcapped peaks in the distance were a nice touch, however.

I found a nice spot with a great view of the valley below to enjoy my lunch before beginning the final descent down to the trailhead. The very end of the ride features a high speed section on a fire road with some perfectly shaped waterbars.

I suppose you could stay on the ground if you tried, but that wouldn't be much fun. Its a great way to finish up a great ride. Today was truly a day that reminded me of how lucky I am to be able to live and ride in the Methow.

Frozen Flatlands Omnium Day 2 - Taking it easy

Today was the second day of the Frozen Flatlands omnium put on by Baddlands Cycling Club. It was the third and final event of the omnium, a circuit race on the car road racing track at Spokane Raceway Park. Unlike last year, when the race was postponed for two hours while the track was snowplowed, the weather was great. The course was a little different than last year though. Due to resurfacing on the track's main straightaway, which doubles as a dragstrip, the organizers were required to be a little creative in creating a circuit. The resulting course used nearly all of the track except for the dragstrip and utilized about a quarter mile of narrow, infield road with some bad pavement. Certain sections were delineated by numerous cones and a 180 degree turn on the main straight about 400m from the finish line was also a necessary feature. An additional highlight was the "fence" running along most of the straightaway, including the area where the 180 was, that consisted of rebar set up for the new concrete walls to line the dragstrip. Certainly not something you would want to fall on or into. The organizers did a good job making do with the situation on the dragstrip and I feel the course was reasonably safe, but it did provide for some additional stress in a large Cat 4/5 field.

I felt quite good, even after yesterday's sufferfest in the road race, but decided not to take any chances in a nervous pack on a slightly sketchy course. I spent the race just sitting in and finished near the back, but comfortably in the bunch. My single point from the TT did net me 27th out of 77 competitors in Cat 4/5 for the weekend and just like every Baddlands event I've attended, this weekend's racing was well run. They do a great job with their races.

Last year was my best season ever and I didn't see anything this weekend to concern me that I am off my pace of last year. This season is off to a great start for me. Next up is the Wenatchee Ominium in a little less than six weeks.

Frozen Flatlands Omnium Day 1 - a long, hard day

Today, I got my road racing season started for real. I am competing in Baddlands Cycling Club's Frozen Flatlands omnium this weekend in the Cat 4/5 field. When I raced in this omnium last year it had just two events, a circuit race at Spokane Raceway Park on saturday and a road race through the rolling hills south of Cheney on sunday. This year Baddlands decided to add a 12.5 mile time trial to the mix as well. Since both the time trial and the road race course start and end in Cheney, they moved the road race to saturday and the circuit race to sunday. Having both the TT and the road race on the same day makes for a very long and tiring day.

Last year, this race weekend had snow, hail, rain, and wind. The forecast for this year's race was much more favorable and I looked forward to competing on some great courses in decent weather. When I left my hotel in Spokane this morning to head for Cheney, it appeared like mother nature might still have a trick or two up her sleeve. While it was a beautiful sunny morning, the roads were coated in treacherous black ice. I passed several accidents on I-90, including a nasty looking roll-over, from drivers losing control on the ice. A time trial on ice didn't sound like a whole lot of fun. I got to the race site and went about my normal preparations, I went and drove the TT course and found several shady sections that were still icy. I hoped that they would thaw as the sun climbed higher in the sky. I saw one rider warming up crash on a shady patch of ice. Always good to bring a trainer to warm up on.

My time to start came and fortunately it had warmed to the point that not only had the ice thawed, but the roads had nearly completely dried. I started well and quickly settled into a good rhythm. On the way out I passed a rider who had crashed on his return trip and was being tended to by several people. The outbound trip loses a little elevation and had a slight tailwind, so it really made you feel heroic. I was riding around 28mph. Having had experiences like this before, I tried to keep a little in reserve for the return trip which was sure to be harder and slower. Sure enough, on the return trip, getting up to 22 mph was a challenge. I passed by the crashed rider who was still down and in the same position as when I passed by earlier. Later, I would learn he had been riding with his head down and crashed into the back of a parked car on the shoulder of the highway we were on. A lesson to all, keep your head up!

My return trip went as well as could be expected. I had been hoping to be around 30 minutes for the 12.5 miles but could only manage a 30:27. Still, that's 24.6 mph for an average and really quite good for me since I've only got a little over a month and a half of training in so far. Better yet, the time placed me 10th of 52 riders in my field and netted me one point in the omnium competition.

On the afternoon's agenda was a nearly 50 mile road race through windy, rolling terrain. I ate a bowl of my new recovery snack, grapenuts with chocolate milk (kind of looks like stucco, but it tastes pretty good), and rested up as much as I could before the start. The road race starts with about a 2 mile neutral section while we wind our way out of Cheney and get across two sets of very bad railroad crossings while leaving town. It didn't seem like a good omen when one of my two bottles bounced out while crossing the tracks leaving me with just one small bottle for 2+ hours of racing. Oh well.

It was clear pretty early that I didn't have a lot in the tank for this event. Unlike a lot of omniums, this one doesn't require riders to start each event, so although we had 52 riders for the TT, for the road race we added another 20+ sets of fresh legs to the field. This made the pace pretty high. I was solid for the first 20 miles or so then began to yo-yo off the back on the climbs a bit. At about the 30 mile mark it was all over. I came off the back and was left to ride in by myself the last 20 miles. Soon after being dropped, I began to bonk and the suffering really set in. I had plenty of gel with me and my one bottle of energy drink, but they just made the ride survivable. At least the weather was nice and I got some good training volume in.

Tomorrow is a 50 minute circuit race on the car road racing track at Spokane Raceway Park. After a large dinner this evening and a good night's sleep, I'll try to see if I can add to my single point in the omnium.