CCC - Day 5 - Stage 4 Awbrey Butte Circuit Race - This was the last stage of the race taking us on a punchy circuit, 4 times around the outskirts of Bend. The classic 17 mile course started at the local city college this year, quickly making it’s way out of town and into the rolling hills. With some short climbs leading from the The Deschutes River and a new finish on the steep 500 meter up hill drag at the base of summit rd, this was going to be a fun race.
This course seemed to be perfect for a breakaway and as we got ready that morning, Jaffa, Mesa, and I set some plans for making an early move. We took a nice spin to the sign in, checked out the finishing climb, and then waited around in the shade for the start. The one thing we really underestimated was the dealing with the size of the field on such small roads. It almost seemed like the opposite situation of the road race on Friday, but with the same difficulties of moving through the field. So once again, positioning seemed to be the most important thing in order to catch the breakaway. As we rolled out on the neutral start, I made my way right to the front and waited for the green light. Unfortunately Mesa and Jaffa got bottlenecked towards the middle of the field and it would be a little bit until they made it closer to the front. As soon as we got the green, attacks started to go. One by one, people went off the front only to be reeled back in by the field. It was about waiting for the right numbers and the right guys, just when the field seemed to be a little tired, and then BAM, go 100% into a breakaway move. But to my frustration, no one seemed ready to fully commit, and the few moves I did get into, were squashed out by some bigger teams that were really trying to keep it together.
Eventually I met up with Mesa and on the second lap he made a move off the front, but to my disappointment no one went with. I came to the front and started to set a slower pace, trying to give him some time to build a gap and hope some others would bridge, but soon enough some other teams just came to the front and set tempo to real him back in. So as Mesa was coming back into the field I went to the front, railed one of the turns, got a slight gap, and punched it. But again no one wanted to commit and I was brought back by the efforts of the bigger teams. If anything was going to stick, it needed at least 4 riders, but no one wanted to go for it. Everyone was content to just sit in and wait.
So we waited and frustratingly dealt with the state of racing being forced by the field. The consistent surging, the sketchy bike handling just to make up a space even when there was no room, and the chaos of the feed zones. On the third lap Jaffa fell victim to the the feed zone chaos and was off the back. Then as we crested the final summit of the course, I was cut off and pinned between the guard rail and a rider who jammed his chain, which left me off the back and chasing for the last lap. I buried myself and took every advantage I could to get back on. For 2/3s of a lap I was going all out, catching riders and working to close the gap, the whole time knowing that I was burning my matches for the finish, but I didn’t care, I just wanted to get back and help Mesa if I could. I finally got back on right at the base of the climb leading to the feed zone and sadly was dropped from the leaders after some attacks. Mesa stayed up in the front, but was screwed out of positioning on the final climb and had to settle for a finish in the top 1/3. I settled into my rhythm and then started to plug away at catching as many people as possible. I did a good job of really emptying myself and left nothing behind while catching riders even with 100 meters to go. Too bad I had to waist a lot of effort earlier in that fourth lap.
So once again things didn’t work out as planned, but that’s racing, and specifically that’s stage racing. Things get pretty complicated and tactics can get pretty frustrating at times. Overall we learned a lot and really got some excellent training in the legs. Now with some proper recovery we are going to ready for some great racing in the following weeks.
After the race we relaxed a bit, ate lunch, packed up the car, and headed to the river once more. Mesa creeped under the bridge and did a flying squirrel attack on some river folk while Jaffa found a fellow Irishman from space. It has been a great trip and we are so incredibly grateful to Joe for housing us and all the support from our friends at illest!!! We are a tight team of working class athletes and the support we have received this trip has made it so much easier for us to focus on the races and leave it all in the road. Thanks again to all out supporters in our lives and thanks to all our sponsorship support on the road. We are already looking forward to our next race.
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