I went into this race pretty much completely toast. I went out with Portland Velo on Saturday where we climbed Dorland (happens to be my favorite route!), but it was 40 miles on already tired legs. So I didn’t expect much for Sunday. I figured since the last one was so slow I could at least hang on.
Which is pretty much exactly what happened. We were going something like 19mph on what flats there were (!?), and I had no trouble climbing. I did the same thing as last week and rocked it up Long hill, but it didn’t work as well, as when I reached the top in front, I looked back and there everyone was right on my tail. So I led everyone to the finish line; right before the last little climb I saw 5 wheels coming around me, and at that point I had nothing left. So the sprint started and I did what I could to hold it, but they quickly went right around me like I was standing still. Thankfully it turns out it was just our little group out in front, so I easily held my 6th place. It was another beautiful day, the skies were crystal blue in the afternoon. What a crazy spring, it’s awesome!
At this point, I have a whopping 2 upgrade points. I need 20 points to upgrade to 3, 30 and its mandatory. Unfortunately TTs don’t count toward upgrade. So, I have one more BB to go, and after that, since I’m skipping Willamette Stage race, the only other options for upgrade points are:
Before Elkhorn
- Banana Belt #3 March 16
- Piece of Cake Road Race March 30
- Kings Valley Road Race April 12
- Twickenham Road Race May10th
- Silverton Road Race June 1
- Mt Tabor Series #1 June 4th
- Rose Cup Criterium June 7th
- Swan Island Criterium June 8th
- Mt Tabor Series #2 June 11th
- Mt Tabor Series #3 June 18th
Elkhorn June 20th-22nd
Post-Elkhorn:
- Mt Tabor #4 June 25th
- Mt Tabor #5 July 2nd
- Firecracker Criterium July 5th
- Mt Tabor #6 July 9th
There are a number of other races after Elkhorn, but I will likely be sick of road racing by then. The plan is for July and August to be 100% beer + mtb. Also starting up CX training. This schedule also does not include TTs and MTB races. (!!) So this is keeping in mind that I will not be doing all of these races, these are just possible places to earn points if I want to be a cat 3 by the end of the season, possible for Elkhorn. I will definitely need some top 3 finishes asap. I’m also upset the only 2 possibilities to practice Crits before Elkhorn are on the same weekend–I’ve never even done one. This has me a little worried. Perhaps I can get the team together for crit practice; there is a crit series throughout the summer, but its in Eugene so there’s no way I could get there. There’s also a Women’s Crit Series but that’s also in Eugene. Dammit.
My first crit was at Elkhorn. It’s a pretty wide open set of streets assuming they still run it in the same place. Only a couple of manhole and pot holes to avoid so it wasn’t bad. Props to you for leading out the BB#2 sprint!
Good to know…we shall see.
And thanks! Hopefully next time I’ll have a bit of energy left to carry that through to the finish line.