2010 Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race

Seeing how it has been 6 weeks since I raced it, I should probably write a post on my experience at this year's Mutual of Enumclaw State Race.  This race weekend is probably my favorite of the year.  The race is really well run, the courses are interesting, and the fields are usually large and competetive.  Last year was my first crack at this race and I competed in the master c/d field.  This year, I opted to race category 4 instead.
Another change is that last year's race was based on points awarded by finishing positions in the stages and this year was a true time-based stage race.

Like nearly all weekend omniums or stage races, the Enumclaw race consists of  a time-trial, criterium, and road race.  Typically, in an omnium, I hope for a strong TT result to gain enough points for a decent foundation for the weekend's competition and try to defy the odds and gain a few more points in the crit or road race.  Because this was going to be time based, however, a strong TT would only need to be followed with staying in contact with the bunch in the crit and road race to garner a strong result.

The weather forecast for the weekend was for cool and damp conditions and the TT conditions didn't miss the mark.  A light drizzle and temps in the low 40s greeted me as I arrived at the race site.  Being unenthused because of the weather, I was a little slower than usual getting my bike on the trainer and starting my warm-up, and ended up with a little shorter warm-up than I probably should have.  I rolled to the start line hoping that wouldn't come back to haunt me.  As in Wenatchee the week before, I rode the TT without a heartrate monitor or a computer, just my body's sensations to guide me.  The course is a nearly dead flat, 6.5 mile u-shaped course around Mt. Peak.  There is not a lot of time to spare settling in to a rhythm.  The clock counts down, you hit the gas, and you've either got it right for the day or you don't.  Luckily for me, I was on a good day.  I quickly caught the two riders that started ahead of me, kept my pace high, and took all 3 technical corners on the course at top speed.  In fact, I slid sideways a bit through the final corner.  Immediately after the finish I was not all that thrilled as my time of 15 minutes even was around  20 seconds slower than the previous year.  Once the results were posted, however, my mood improved as my time was good enough for 7th out of 76 starters in my category.

With a solid position now established in the overall, I set my sights on the afternoon's criterium and not losing any time in it.  It had been many, many years since I had finished a criterium in contact with the main bunch so I certainly would not be taking it easy.  The weather gods smiled on us and we had dry, sunny weather for our race.  Criteriums frequently start off blindingly fast for the first several laps and starting position can make a big difference on how easy it is to hang in there during this initial intensity.  Another benefit of my strong TT in the morning was a front row start for the criterium as the top 10 TT finishers were called to start line ahead of the field.  The race started very fast as usual, but instead of struggling to maintain contact with the tail end of the field, I was able to gradually drift back through the pack over several laps.  By then, the pace had eased some and maintaining contact was easier.  Then the crashes started.  Our race was only 30 minutes long, but there were at least four different crashes.  The first took place in the middle of a straight away, right near the front of the pack involving quite a lot of riders and took a little faith on my part to keep my pace up while shooting through gaps between fallen riders.  I managed to stay out of trouble and in contact with the second group to the finish, losing only about 19 seconds to the leaders.  In the overall, I still maintained a top 10 position with only the next day's road race remaining.

Sunday's road race would be 44 miles in length and feature three trips up the Mud Mountain Road climb.  The conditions that greeted us at the start line could not have been bleaker, steady rain and low 40s, this was late May right?  It felt like March.  We rolled out and were soon soaked through by the rain from above and the water off the wheels from below.  The first trip up the climb soon arrived and unfortunately, just like last year, I came up about 200 meters short of cresting it with the pack.  As the field disappeared up the road, I was soon caught up by a group of other dropped riders and we began the effort of chasing.  Unlike a similar effort last year, however, we were able to regain contact and get back into the field a couple of miles before the second time up the climb.  This time I was only able to hang on until about halfway up the climb.  I resigned myself to the fact that they were gone for good.  I was able to hook up with a couple of other riders as we began the final lap.  We worked well together, but certainly without the urgency of the previous chase.  As we approached the last intersection before the base of the climb, the corner marshal asked us which group we were with.  We answered 4s and she said, "keep it up, they're neutralised".  I thought to myself, "Sure, but they're ten minutes or more up the road".  We came around the corner, and there they were only a few hundred meters ahead just starting the climb.  It might as well have been 10 minutes, though, I was pretty cooked  from the chases and the weather and we never caught on.  At the finish, I was about 4 1/2 minutes behind the field.  As you might expect, this doomed my overall result, but I still ended up 35th out of the 76 cat 4s that started the weekend.

Other than the weather, it was another great weekend of racing in Enumclaw and with a little more climbing training before next year's edition, I may just get this race figured out. 

Masters Omnium Criterium - 7 seconds can be an eternity

Sunday evening was the final event in the Washington state masters omnium championship. Shortly before 7pm, the masters C field rolled off the start line for a 30 minute long criterium. I managed to have probably the worst start of my career. As can happen occasionally, I had difficulty getting my foot clipped into my pedal quickly. No big deal. I figured I'd pedal a few strokes unclipped to stay near the pack and try again. In the process of doing that, my chain dropped off. With my speed dropping, I urgently tried to shift my chain back on and get my foot in my pedal. Just as I was about to hop off and put the chain back on by hand, it finally shifted on and my foot clipped in and I was off in pursuit of the pack. It seemed at the time like this crisis had taken forever, but in watching video today that my wife shot, I saw that the whole mess transpired in seven seconds. Still, I was left with a pretty good gap to close to the pack. It took half a lap but I managed to rejoin the group and try to settle in for the race. Fortunately, masters tend to ease into their races. If that had been a category 4-5 pack, which usually start full gas, I'm not sure I would have gotten back. As I caught the pack, I took a deep breath and told myself that must have been my bad luck for the race.

The course was basically flat and sort of triangular in shape. Each lap was about a kilometer in length and enclosed a few blocks around city hall. The pace was fairly quick but steady. Only a few attacks tried to get away during the race. Unlike most of my criterium experiences in recent years, I was quite comfortable and was able to focus on positioning and trying to get a result rather than just hanging on. As the race wore on, I tried different pack positions and lines through the last couple corners to see what might work. As the last lap began, the pace elevated as expected and I was only able to hold a mid-pack position. We all got through the last two corners safely and began the sprint down the finishing straight. Although, I didn't manage to move up more than a place after the last corner I also managed not to lose any spots. After crossing the line, I counted the riders in front of me and realized I had finished 13th. With points going 15 deep, I was in a points paying position.

I had been sitting 5th in the omnium standings after my strong time trial result earlier in the day and these few points from the criterium might help me keep a high omnium finish. They did. I slipped one spot, but finished the weekend in 6th place in the omnium standings for the masters C field. It was easily my best complete weekend of racing of my career. Its been a while coming, but it feels really good.

Enumclaw Omnium Day 1 - The satisfaction of zero

Having never competed in this race before, I really didn't know what to expect. The TT course seemed to be favorable for a big guy like me, nearly dead flat with good pavement and short in length. Coming into the weekend, I was hopeful I would break 15 minutes for the 6.4 mile course. I didn't know if that would be good enough for a top-10 and omnium points, but it seemed like it was doable and might be just good enough to eke out a point or two.

There seems to be a new trend among promoters putting together their TT start lists. Instead of being truly random, they are sorting them alphabetically. This is the third race this year where I have started first in my class and as there is usually a couple minute break between classes, it leaves me with no "rabbits" to chase. Today, the break ahead of me was three minutes long. I saw no one to chase until the last 200m.

The race itself went well, I started off quickly and settled into my rhythm quite well. The course has three narrow turns at intersections and I took them all pretty well, maybe not on the limit, but reasonably fast. The one "hill" on the course, it gains all of about 50 feet or so, went by smoothly without disturbing my pace too severely. At the end, I stopped the clock with a time of 14:42. It was good enough for 13th in a masters C/D field of 76 riders. I was stoked to have beaten my target time so handily and was happy with my placing as well even if it netted zero points.

The criterium in the afternoon turned out to be another pleasant surprise. My recent history in criteriums has been poor at best, usually being pulled by the officials to spare me the insult of being lapped. The Enumclaw course is dead flat, "8" shaped, and a fairly long lap so I figured I'd be able to make the necessary halfway point to stay in the omnium.

I was actually able to stay in contact with the pack until around the halfway mark, and after being dropped managed to avoid being lapped thus finishing my first criterium in a very long time.

Tomorrow's road race with its three trips up Mud Mountain Rd. ought to provide another stiff challenge for me. Although I probably won't increase my current point tally of zero, hopefully I'll have another satisfying day.