Willamette Capitol Crit and PSU Road Race

An hour before we left Eugene...

                            

(Pre-race dinner at David Khuns' house)

Saturday morning I raced at 8:30am in very cold and wet conditions around the Oregon State Capitol Building in Salem. Despite a good warm up on the trainer I was shivering on the line. 

Fasting BG: 192

Post breakfast: 220

Middle of warm up: 227

Pre race: 202 (Took 0.3 units)

I did a lot of work out in front again, but I felt like I needed to. Entering every corner, girls pulling in front would yell “Slowing!” When you’re in front you don’t need to slow down into turns like that. I was second in the prime lap. I didn't try too hard for the top point because I didn't want to go anaerobic at that point. The race went by really quickly. I locked handle bars with a girl, but we were both calm and it wasn't a big deal.

With one lap to go I decided to take a risk. I thought my best chance to win was to be out in front so that I could take the turns alone, hoping it would be faster than the group could take the turns. To make it happen I had to convince myself - if only momentarily - to be confident in my fitness. Ty screaming at me when I entered the first turn of the last lap definitely helped! The finishing straight was a gradual uphill and it was very close, but I was able to hold everyone off to the line.

The fact that Ty was so excited about my finish made me enjoy it so much more.

Post race, I sat with Niles in the truck with the heat on, violently shivering and trying to regain feeling in the nubs on the end of my legs. I couldn't feel my feet for a long time. It was not fun.

When the men's A crit race was done we relocated to the course for the TTT - about 20 miles from the Capitol. It was cold and windy. My kit was soaking wet and I had to put it on again. It was just Rachelle and I for the A TTT...not exactly ideal. My housemate Sarah and Daniel were both there to watch!

Six minutes before the start Rachelle got a flat. I rode back to the truck, got a spare wheel. We missed our start time...

It hailed during our race, there was a nasty little hill I couldn't recover from. Rachelle could have ridden the race faster without me. We didn't know that we were coming up to the finish line when we passed it and I felt pretty crappy all around.
                            

Pre TTT warm up: 333  (took 1.5 unit correction)
Pre TTT: 149
Post race: 119

I had to say goodbye to Daniel and Sarah too soon to head up to Portland for the night. We stayed at Will's family's house where we had an wonderful dinner, hot shower and Will let me wash my kit and a few other pieces of gear.

SUNDAY:

I’d won the crit, but it was flat. Throw a hill in and it’s a very different situation for me. I didn’t really know what to expect for the RR. I just didn’t want to get dropped on the hills so that I could be in position to finish with the top few. Daniel drove out to watch and had my camera for the race.

BG before bed: 80

I was low and sweaty in the middle of the night and had to eat some fruit snacks. Sorry if I woke you up Graham!
Fasting: 90
Post breakfast: 226
Pre warm up: 313 (1.5 unit correction)
Pre race: 193 (made sure I had food on me and kept two bottles, one of Accelerade and one water.)

On the line, a girl asked me if I was wearing an insulin pump. I was impressed she recognized what it was. She applauded me for cycling ‘at this level’ and asked about counting calories. We chatted a bit. I told her that carbohydrates are the important things to calculate, etc. 

When the race started, it was clear I was kind of a marked rider thanks to the crit win the day before. No one else would lead for a while, so I just cruised, warming up, making sure I was staying very aerobic. My pseudo-teammate, Elizabeth Stegner from Willamette, and I had worked together a lot in Washington. She came up to me in front at the 5th mile or so and said hi. I really hoped it would be the two of us at the finish and decided I was going to try to make that happen. We crossed the dam the first time and there was a strip of mud on the right. I was pushed off into it and couldn’t get back over because my tires were slipping and I could only ride straight. I was shot completely out the back. Girls on my left were swearing that they were having to slow down, one girl even said angrily, “get up in the front!” as if I was moving myself to the very back of the pack voluntarily…thanks dude. Other girls were complaining about the pace and slowing, yet no one wanted to ride in front. Some people in front would actually stop pedaling. Up the hill I worked my way back to Elizabeth, who was leading the group up. At the top I led us down and thought it looked like we could take control of the race. 

I made sure to drink most of the half-bottle of Accelerade, because I was afraid the 1.5 units would still be on board working.

I led the downhills and flats and Elizabeth led almost every uphill - she was awesome. Some other girls were really nice calling me by name, "Hey, Blair" and leaving me a gap in front of them saying, "Blair, go ahead." This did mean they weren't intending to pull, but I still appreciated the help staying in decent position. Inge from the University of Idaho rode up next to me and asked me how I was feeling. “Alright,” I said. She asked me if I wanted to attack on the next lap. I said, okay, after the hill. We continued, Elizabeth and I. Inge wouldn’t ride in front, and when she did she wouldn’t pedal hard. I was getting annoyed because I wanted to drop as many girls as we could so that we would have fewer to deal with at the finish. I was trying to get people to legitimately rotate. I yelled at girls who weren’t pulling and weren’t letting Elizabeth back into the line after her long pulls. "Let her in, she just did a ton of work." People listened. One girl even thanked me for communicating. Conveniently, Inge kept herself off the front. We climbed the hill a second time and there was a group of 8 or so. After sitting back for the flat and downhill Inge attacked, “Seriously?” I said outloud. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Elizabeth said, tired after her pull. I followed and Elizabeth dug down and hung on. We caught her pretty quickly. A girl from Gonzaga U had come with us and after the next roller I looked back and we had a gap. I yelled up to Inge and Elizabeth that it was our chance to go. Everyone responded. “Let’s go, let’s rotate, we need each other, no dropping until we get closer,” I said. We continued with a poorly organized pace line, but it did the trick. The gap grew.  Inge sat on the front on descents and stopped pedaling. “If you’re in front you pedal hard,” I ended up saying when she did that. Elizabeth was a stud muffin. The girl from GU wasn’t able to pull as much, but I was happy to have her there, she pushed really hard.

There was a short climb and then a down hill finish. I knew the driveway to the parking lot was 800 meters before the finish line. 

At the top of the hill Elizabeth was in front and Inge was behind me. I rode up on Elizabeth's right and  we both said, "Let's go." I think I led for a bit before Inge went by on our left. I latched on. It was perfect.

This photo is 200 m from the finish. (The Whitman girl in white on the right isn't in our race.) Rachelle was cheering about 300 meters before this when I was on Inga's wheel. She told me to stay there until the very end. Inga wasn't riding that hard, I sat there. It didn't know the GU girl wasn't there, but didn't think she was a factor. I hoped Elizabeth could hang on my wheel and we could both be led out by Inge. With 200 to go I went.

"I really wanted to beat you," Inge said after we finished.

I was bummed that Elizabeth finished third after doing so much work...but I've found bike racing is far from fair.

It was fun to have a good race when Daniel was there to see, especially after the crappy TTT the day before. Thanks for braving the rain to watch and take these photos! When I was telling him a few things about the race, Elizabeth came up. We talked with her and a couple of her teammates. I asked her if she wanted to upgrade with me. We decided we needed a C+ or a B- category. (My petition for upgrade was granted this morning. I'll really miss her if she doesn't upgrade too.)

That was the most fun I have had racing since high school.

Post race BG: 114

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Thanks to Peter and Insulindependence for your post-race support! 

post photos by Blair Ryan, Amara Boursaw, Tyler Magnum and Daniel Green

More photos HERE