The crit was our best performance because our mission was to win primes. I took the first, Spencer got the second one and then we alternated from there trying to get the bigger ones… We ended up with our names on the loudspeaker throughout the race and had enough certificates and cash to buy the whole team and support crew dinner and still had lots of prizes and some cash left over. Erik Bergstrom was tangled up in a 6 man crash but he hopped the curb to avoid going down. Nice work!

Going into the final stage, Sean was 6th and I was 14th GC. Dooley Mountain was really enjoyable this year because it was so cool — we were actually a bit cold on the descents. A large break formed rather early and the peloton was doing an alright job of chasing under the lead of the Davis Bike Club guys but they eventually faded on some of the climbs and their solid team effort dissipated. Spencer and I couldn’t hang with another group that broke away because we thought they were going too hard to maintain a gap. They surprised us though by sticking it. So we tried to organize the remaining peloton and it was not easy. Lots of people didn’t know how or were too tired to pull through. There was Mark Vergari from Hutch’s Bend and about 3 other riders that helped me and Spencer maintain a good solid pace for the last 30 miles until the base of Dooley. We were trying to work to bring Sean up as close as possible behind that break so he could tear it up on the climb and stay within the top 10 GC but we had no way of knowing if that would work. So we hammered anyway, protecting Sean and Erik. Erik seemed to be climbing really well at the base of the climb and Sean said he “was picking people off one by one” but we don’t really have results yet to know how everything worked out on the GC past 3rd place.

I thought it was interesting that my time from this stage this year was only 20 seconds different from my time there in 2005 but it felt much easier… That was the year that our field was 10 minutes faster than the Pros!

Thanks to Dick and Siobhan Knowles for letting the crew crash at their place!

We rode really well together until Jason broke a spoke at mile 25 or so. Now there were 3 TAI riders off the front. Could we do it? Our gap was 1:40. We rode pretty hard, with me suffering a bit on the bigger hills but having no problem taking my pulls on the flats. But then I started to feel pretty crappy around mile 40 and our gap had shrunken to less than a minute despite the best efforts of Scott Gray and Erik Bergstrom to cover all the moves back in the chase peloton. We were all caught on the 3rd lap at about mile 47. Soon, in the tailwind section, Mark Hibbard (unattached) attacked so Tim Jones and another rider went after him. 1.5 laps to go it looked great to have Tim off the front with 2 others. They could stick it and Tim can sprint like no other… Unfortunately, Mark gapped Tim on the feed zone climb on the last lap and didn’t look back. He soloed to the finish, and Tim, Sean and Spencer all finished behind the main group. I dropped out. Erik and Scott finished in the sprint. We took some really big risks and rode like a team. I was impressed with the strength and tactics of our riders even though things didn’t quite work out as we had hoped. But, really, how many times can you get 3 teammates off the front for the majority of the race and have one of the best workouts of the year with 45 guys chasing you down? It was kind of fun!

Nice job to Brant Buchholz in the 1/2 race — he’s riding really strong right now.

Also, David Oliphant, Jeff Standish, Jon Pearson all did well in their categories, and Duncan Oliphant took 3rd in the 30-39 masters race!

And TJ needs to get over his viral bronchitis before he starts racing again!

Well, I didn’t make up all of the time I lost on the TT (about 2 minutes!)
but I did get back 42 seconds today, coming in 2nd. I attacked out of the
lead group (about 20 riders at that point) with 10K to do, and was able to
get about 1 minute before the final grind up to Meadows. I lost a bit on
that really steep section, but managed to hold onto the 42 seconds over what
was left of the front group.. One guy was off the front all day and
finished almost 4 minutes up on us (an amazing ride, but he barely made it.
He said that he zig-zagged up the final climb.) I passed the other rider
off the front, who had attacked at 15K to go, with about 500m left. Ryan
had a good race and looked strong all day, getting dropped only with 5K to
go when the pace heated up, and probably finished about 22nd or so. Sean
unfortunately had a bad day on and lost minutes.

I moved up to 4th today (that TT really cost me) and Ryan also moved up,
probably into the top 25. Not pre-riding the TT course cost us a good 30
seconds, as it was hard to pace ourselves without knowing where and how the
climbs and descents were to be ridden. That was a super-technical,
undulating TT, and a great course. Sean killed it out there though, but I
think most of us rode very conservatively, not knowing the course as well as
being very apprehensive about the distance.

Good luck in the crit!

We did well yesterday! It was a big, fast field, with a couple of pro mountain bikers in there sandbagging. It definitely felt harder than last year, and the time gaps between 1 and 20 were substantial. We were doing a solid 17-20mph on the highway, and 14-16mph on the Cooper Spur road climb. I almost was dropped on the second ascent, and was suffering pretty badly.

Coming up Hwy 35 for the last ascent, the pace was a solid 18mph, with 20mph in spots. It was single file for quite a ways, then it slowed up just a bit with 5K to go. Ryan wanted to do something and went to the front, acclerating for about 200 meters. Unfortunately, he didn’t get far, and the guys setting the pace pulled him back real quick. It was all together turning onto the Cooper Spur road the last time (4th trip up the climb) and Spencer went to the front and attacked from a solid pace of 15mph. He didn’t get far and blew shortly after that hard, sustained effort.. Shortly afterward, at the 1K mark, the guy from Capitol who was a pro mountain biker and had been pulling strong all day, attacked. Ian Boswell accelerated and tried to bridge up, but couldn’t quite make it. I moved up from 10th to get Sean on my wheel and pull him to the front, but he didn’t come with me, so I bridged up to the Capitol rider without pulling Ian and the others up. I took my pull and after about 15 seconds, he told me he couldn’t come through, so just kept riding as hard a I could. I hit the 200m to go mark with about a 20m gap over the Capitol rider, and was starting to fade, but so was everyone else, and I managed to hang on for the win. The Capitol rider was 2nd at 2 seconds back, Ian was 3rd at 6 seconds, Carson Miller was 5th and Sean was 6th at 17 seconds, and Spencer was 20th at 43 seconds. Mike and Erik both suffered from cramping (it was really hot out there, easily the warmest day this season (mid 80s), and a bunch of riders were suffering in the heat). Ryan blew up a bit after his hard effort, but still came in with Mike. The super-strong riders who were pulling all day faded toward the end, but I think they were just out there for a workout.

I guess I didn’t need the skinsuit after all, as I have to wear the yellow jersey for the TT this afternoon. I am sure I will lose some time, but a stage victory pretty much made my race, no matter what happens from here on out.

I hope you are having a good weekend!

Scott