Elkhorn Classic Stage Race 2007 - Long! Long!
This is a major 4 stage, 3 day race in Oregon that attracts some pretty good women. All of the women race together, but the 3/4's and the 1/2's are scored separately (unlike WA, where we generally race either all combined or 4's and 1/2/3's) I won't keep you all in suspense, I am pleased to say that I finished 9th overall in the 3/4 field! whoo hoo, my goal was a top 10 finish and I achieved it! On to the details.
Stage 1- Oregon Trail Richland Out and Back Road Race - 76 miles (+5 if you had to ride back to the town...)
The traditional first stage of this race had to be re-routed due some road work closing down the normal road used. The circular route was replaced at the last minute with an out and back from Baker City to Richland. Now this race often is a race of attrition and this year was not to dissapoint from stage one. This race started later in the day for everyone and we women started last at 2:10 pm. It was hot! The weather service said 99 degrees, though some with fancier on bike computers said they measured temps of up to 106! The course was generally down for the out portion with one climb of any import, but windy. The pack generally stayed together for the first portion, with only a few falling off on the hill so badly they could not come back on - I made it over with the pack yeah! My goal was to be on the whole way out to at least the turn around since I knew that the 1/2's would likely wait until then to really turn on the gas and take the very strong 3's with them. We hit the turn around and headed back towards the feed zone, which everyone was looking forward to because of the heat. We were also looking forward to turning around out of the wind - HAH - just about the time we turned around so did the wind!! To cap it off, they'd run out of water bottles and were handing out regular bottled water!! So hard to get it to stay in your cage and it spills all over since they had regluar screw caps - fortunately the last guy in the feed zone had real bottles still! I dumped most of the first bottle I got over my head and back, tossed it and grabbed a real bottle. The pack had taken off up the hill by this time so I just worked hard to catch some of the folks falling off the back - really it looked like it really fractured so there was no longer a "pack", but a bunch of little groups. I caught up to two others and joined them. We passed one local Seattle gal that I know who looked like she was in trouble - a car was right behind us and stopped to help her (I talked to her later and she started to cramp so badly her legs were jerking!). One of the two that I was with couldn't hold the pace so then it was two. The woman I ended up with was a 1/2, but more of a sprinter than a hill climber and said she was used to chasing. She was totally my guardian angel for much of the weekend and I can't thank her enough... She pulled me along in the wind for a long way that first day - and it was horrendous wind! It was blowing me all over the road and so hard that sometimes it really felt like someone was putting their hands on your shoulders and pushing... backwards... and still hot and dry. Many people quit and I have to admit it crossed my mind several times - I started to feel sick and shake at one point too and I thought I might throw up, but I took some GU and some water and started feeling much better. I still am so glad that I was not alone - several times I really felt like it might be best to just pull over, throw up and sit down, but with someone else there you just feel as if you cannot give up. Fortunately for me I don't cramp - even if I get dehydrated, which it seemed like everyone was that day, so I never had to get off. A car came up beside us after a long while and asked if we were OK and did we need more water. I asked if we still had 7 miles to go (which we should have by my computer) but they had published the distance from the town, not the distance of the actual race course so we only had 3 miles left - Halleluja! and we had just done the last 5 mile climb too, which I thought we still had to go. This stage was just so hard - the heat and the wind - both ways! made me and many people, even very experienced riders, said this was probably the hardest day they've ever put on a bike. In practice what it meant was a very split up field time wise. I finished this stage 11th out of 22 starters, 3 from our field DNF'd. I was down on the leaders by 18 min, but up on the next person by 7 minutes and up to 1/2 hour on the last finisher. (oh and I just looked at our whole field and the only 4's there were our little band from Seattle - 5 of us I think - the rest were 3's)
Stage 2 - Pleasant Valley TT - 10 miles out and back - rolling
Ugh - up at 5 am to eat and get ready. The men 4/5's went first and they were all complaining that they couldn't get their heart rates up. Someone said that it was because of elevation, but I think that it was from the dehydration and exertion of the day before. I couldn't get my hr up as high as usual either, but I rode the best TT I could, keeping in mind that I'd have to do a crit in the afternoon and a 101 mile road race the next day! Lucky #13, and I didn't really lose any substantial time on anyone. And this year I did not drag my rear wheel the whole way.... (last year my rear skewer came open and I dragged my rear wheel on the brake for the whole TT - of course I was dead last... but as with this year the time spread from the first stage was so much that I think I lost only one place on the stage). This year I had my TT bike so it was a lot easier to get ready. I warmed up with the disc on to avoid having to put in on last minute and repeat my skewer experience. Off to eat and drink and nap for the crit in the afternoon.
Stage 3 - Gold Rush Criterium - 1 mile laps, 40 min + 4 laps
So keeping in mind that I'd have to do a 101 mile stage race the next day I decided to keep my goals for this stage moderate. It's a combined crit and a short course. I basically wanted to just stay in for as long as I could, stay safe, not burn too many matches, and not lose time to anyone behind me. It really is a nice course as crits go. The streets are wide, flat, clean and there are very few nasties - just one very sunken grating that they probably should have put a hay bale on. Last year I got dropped from this crit pretty quickly and lapped several times. This year I probably should have played it less conservatively, but I this is only the second combined crit I've done - the first being this same one last year! I did hang near the back and I hung on for quite some time. I fell off once and chased back on with two other riders once, then I stayed on until about 14 min to go. I dropped back a bit and continued to chase with a couple of other riders and we held off being lapped until almost the very end (after the clock was off and the 4 laps to go had started). They were not pulling lapped riders so I tagged back on to the end of the pack and stayed with them for the last 4 laps only falling back so that I would not be in the way of the riders sprinting for the finish. I have to admit even though I did get lapped I'm pretty happy with the race. I felt like I might have even stayed on much longer - maybe even the whole time if I'd been a little more courageous.... I'm not entirely sure what my placing was - I looked at the time, but I can't remember and its not up yet. I think it may have been 10? or 9? I know I gained a bit of time on the person who was up from me, so she must have been lapped more than once.
Stage 4 - Dooley Mt Road Race - 101 miles with nearly 7,500 ft of climbing!
Up at 5am again for another 8am start. Off we rolled, as with last year, the first 25 miles were a nice steady pace with a beautifully working paceline. No one really wants to push anything in the first miles since its a long way... The first of the 4 climbs comes at around 30 miles. I still couldn't keep with the leaders this year, but I wasn't too far behind. I caught up with one person near to the top and on the way down we were joined by two more - one being my 1/2 friend from the first day. We could see two other chasers and the pack just up ahead, so close, but so far away. They started up the second climb and we lost sight of the main field, but gathered in a few more stragglers too. We went through the feed zone (my husband had dropped out with very bad cramps after that brutal 1st stage so he was there with a bottle of Cytomax for me - I really though that it would do me some good, but it ended up just making me sick... more on that later) and started down from the second climb - near to the bottom, low and behold the pack! Yee haw, we were back on! Never fear there was another climb in between us and the final ascent up Dooley... the four of us dropped off again, we flew down the hill and around the end of the lake. Last year at around this point I began feeling pretty sick - I was hoping that having a bottle of food this year would help that, but nope. I really need to figure out a better nutrition strategy for very long races like this. Gu and Cytomax keep me moving, but they also upset my stomach... I feel like I need to find something that is not sweet, but I only have this race to figure it out since I don't start feeling bad until about 70 miles and even TST is not as hard as this one.... Not being able to drink the Cytomax hurt - definitely. As we neared the last feed zone, what did we spot - the pack again. Whoo hoo, it took some doing this time, but a little bit after the feed I managed to chase back on again. It took a little more out of me than I was prepared for though, so when we hit the base of Dooley I definitely needed to just take it at my own pace. I didn't even try to stay on the pack, even at the bottom where it is less steep. I chucked the nearly full bottle of Cytomax at the bottom (its OK - there was a water stop there so I knew someone was coming to pick stuff up). and started up the last 7 or so miles of the race. I was so happy when one of the master's guys passed by and gave me a water bottle - he had two full ones and we were nearly done. I certainly was feeling this climb more than last year. Last year it was hard, this year I was getting woozy... weaving around on the road...losing the feeling in my legs - ack! I've never been so glad to see a 3K sign - except maybe that 1st stage. I think that the first day took a lot more than I was prepared for, didn't leave much in reserve for this stage and that last chase back onto the pack took most of that! Again I don't remember exactly where I finished the stage. All I wanted was to get to the food and drinks they have at the finish... I was cognizant enough to look at my final placing 9th! whoo hoo top 10! That I won't forget easily. I know one or two people dropped out on the last day, but doing the whole thing is all part of the game. I was really happy that my husband was waiting at the top - even with some food in me I would not have wanted to have to descend Dooley to get to the shuttle. We took some of the other Seattle women back to town too.
Even though I make it sound bad - strangely enough I still really like this race! Glutton for punishment I guess. All in all I am quite happy with the results of this race. I hit the goals I wanted to and I finished in the top 10. Chasing back onto the pack in the 4th stage road race (twice!) was thrilling - and hey I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have even been last in the 1/2 field! I don't even feel bad today - I don't think I'd want to do another 100 mile hilly road race, but I don't hurt all over and I can walk down stairs like a normal person... I definitely want to go back next year - and I'd love to have some teammates along! (hint, hint, hint) I do hope they go back to the original 1st stage - apparently its not particularly unusual for the wind to turn and blow hard down that canyon at just about that time of day... Otherwise the courses are really great - nice roads, in good condition, clean (I don't think our field had a single flat for the entire race), wide, little traffic, no sketchy descents. Also several women owned businesses in Baker City have promised to make this race a premier women's race, with prizes that match the men's fields for all of the stages and the GC next year, so we should support them by showing up and giving them a great race!
Oh - and best of all - on our way home today, when we were at lunch, I got a call that there was a cancellation and I am on the list for a massage tomorrow!
