oregon adventures

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

PIR Bike Race

After last weeks race where I feel off the group at the Portland Raceway bike race, I wanted to try again this Tuesday. Thanks to some amazing assistance, I have redemption! Each week they reverse the route, so this week we went counter-clockwise with the s-curves in the beginning. As I lined up at the start I noticed a girl on a pink Trek, so I went over and introduced myself- it was Eryn from NoPoGirl. She did a stage race this weekend, so I was surprised to see her. She pointed to a fast guy and said "stay on his wheel". The whistle blew and we started and all of a sudden I'm in the back and pedaling like crazy just to stay connected, but I stayed with them. Eryn stopped after one lap and yelled for me to stay with the group. At the end of lap 3 I heard her yell "grab a wheel", so I did. Then my naturally careful tendencies took over and I backed off to get a comfortable distance. But during the 4th lap I heard two guys behind me talking about doing full ironmans and they would periodically tell me to close it up and grab a wheel. I think they were cat 1/2/3 guys doing the cat 4/5 race as a warm-up. As lap 5 started they got more serious about guiding me and pushed me to close the gap and grab a wheel and when the wheel I grabbed started to fade they said "go around and catch the group", so I did. As the 6th lap started the group accelerated and I was fading, but I heard "push it- they'll slow down- you can catch them- give it all you have- it's the last lap give even if it kills you". So I pushed and I did catch the group and as I did I heard "get on the inside and pass people as you catch them- you have big legs, use them!". So I did and started moving up the group and at the last turn I went a little wide because at 26 MPH it seemed extremely sharp and I heard "get to the inside", so I started to move in and heard "don't worry about it- GO!" So I stomped on it and went all out and finished 15th out of 26 and in the front finishing group! After the finish line it took me about a half a mile of coasting and slow pedaling to go from heaving to gasping to panting to normal breathing. I had been so focused on racing and doing what they said that I had no idea what the guys looked like so I couldn't thank them. Some things to work on, riding inches away, high speed curves, and really pushing it when it counts. Afterwards I talked to Eryn awhile, she's doing a half ironman in Victoria in a couple weeks and she gave me some tips on riding close and leg recovery. While I was warming up before the race in the infield, there was a yellow DHL race car out of it's truck and the crew were doing something to it with a buffet table set up for them. As I rolled by I wondered how many millions that car cost. It was cool seeing it close up though.

4 Comments:

  • You are one trainng maniac...always riding, running or racing somewhere! Very inspiring, you keep me goin!

    By Blogger Deb, at 8:36 PM  

  • Wow. You have guts. Bike racing scares me. I like time trial style.

    By Blogger Rachel, at 1:11 PM  

  • i've very impressed. there is bravery involved for sure, bike races would scare me too but you're just gettin out there and doing it! KUDOS to you!

    By Blogger Neese, at 7:28 PM  

  • Jeff,

    Great Job on PIR. One day I will be riding PIR with you. Sounds like you had alot of encourgement out there. It's always better that way.

    Say...when are we going to ride again? And where are the posts lately. As if I didn't know :) See you for Pacific Crest. K

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:40 PM  

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