First with your head, and then with your heart.: Whitman Omnium

Our sixth weekend of collegiate racing was in Walla Walla, Washington, another long drive. My selfish plan - racing bikes to give my parent's an excuse to come up to visit me up here in the Pacific Northwest- worked. My Dad flew up to watch me race in my first omnium in the B category. It was SO wonderful to have him there.

Friday travel day:

photo by Ted Sweeney

Alpenrose Velodrome stop to pick up some OBRA stuff for Whitman

Saturday (Road Race and Team Time Trial):

Fasting: 155
Pre Warm Up: 183 (drank 4 oz Gatorade)
Pre Race: 259

The race organizers combined the Bs and Cs, so we had a nice big field of 52 riders. I planned to ride defensively, stay off the front and see if I could be in a good position near the finish. There were plenty of people who seemed happy to do work at the front. They'd pull off and expect to be let back in. I happily let them while keeping an eye up. I used corners to move up through the field on the outside. There were two single person crashes - not sure what happened there.

With a couple miles to go I worked my way up. The last 1000m was a mess, with people falling off the front trickling back through the middle as the rest of us were moving up. About 300m out there was a slight parting of the Whitman/Washington sea and I was able to squeeze through and accelerate to the finish line.

photos by Dean Ryan

My heart rate was never high until the finish and I wasn't on the front for even a second before the finishing sprint. Like I said, there were plenty of people eager to work upfront, and I didn't have any teammates.

I didn't get off that easily on Sunday...

photo by Ted Sweeney

Road Race Results

Post Road Race: 317
Between races pre lunch: 375
Between races post lunch: 168
Pre Warm Up: 68 (ate 60grams of crap (snickers, fruit snacks) and suspended pump)
Post 28 min TTT Race: 230

teammate Galen Mittermann winning the Men's A Road Race

photo by Blair Ryan

photo by Dean Ryan

Sunday (Circuit Race):

Bedtime: 119
Fasting: 114
Pre Warm Up:159 (drank 8oz Gatorade on the trainer)
Pre Race: 149 (Drank 4oz Gatorade)
Post Race: 277

There was a ton of climbing and I wasn't looking forward to it. I'd never done a race like this and didn't really know what to expect. Prime laps of 3 miles? But, I was surprised when my body cooperated. I was able to accelerate over the top of the hill and pass people for prime points. My regrets were mental decisions and not because of physical restrictions.

The girls made me work. Payback for sitting back and winning the day before maybe?

photos by Ted Sweeney

I had to say goodbye to my Dad an hour after my race. He had a 3 hour drive to the airport in Spokane ahead of him. Will won the A's circuit race in a sprint finish up the hill to edge out his breakaway partner, then we packed up the vans and headed back home.