North River had a small showing for the ITT.  Allen, Larry, Steve, Joe Cipale, and myself all showed up for the event.  Weather was very nice in the high 60’s, sunny, and wind North at 9-12mph.  The outleg going south was very nice, the headwind after the turnaround wasn’t. 

Allen (58:35)was the medal bearer with a Silver in the 45-49 age group.  Likewise, Steve (59:42)was the silver winner in the 55-59 group.       

Larry (1:03:12)was trying out his new (to him) Cervelo P3C.  Not having much time to ride it, we were still changing his fit right before he started.  Though usually known as a bad idea, Larry said it did help some.   

Joe Cipale (1:08:42) rounded out the results.

I had hopes of breaking an hour but despite feeling good, the headwind really made me pay at the end.  1:02:49 isn’t terrible for a near-senior citizen but “it is what it is”. 

 Official results are here:

 http://list.obra.org/events/15764/results

North River Racing again had a team participating in the TTT. The team consisted of strong man Allen Kraft, Gary Watts, Ronny Brigham and myself, Jon Kraft. The forecast had called for dry weather, but that was not to be. Gary remained optimistic until the very end when a deluge of rain darn near collapsed our canopy that we were warming up under. To make matters worse, my cat had pissed on my skinsuit and I was not happy about the odor. Nobody complained. I think they were just keeping me from blowing my cork. As we sat there warming up the blue skies appeared and the roads started to dry up. Could the cycling Gods be on our side? No! Just 20 minutes before our start the skies opened up and let loose. The hardest downpour of the entire day. The call went out to skip the event as we huddled. We were there, we trained for this event, and we were not going to let the weather dictate our participation. Okay truth be told it stopped raining just minutes before our start otherwise we would all have been drinking coffee and eating lunch earlier than planned. After an hour’s warm up on the trainers we rolled out to the start line. By the time we reached the start our shoes were soaked and our core temperatures had dropped. Allen and I sat there shaking and shivering as they counted down to our start. We went with our practice line up which was Gary, Ronny, myself and Allen. I think I drew the short straw as Ronny doesn’t give much of a draft, then again neither does Allen so I will stop complaining. We took each corner as if it were ice. This didn’t help our time at all but we all stayed upright! On the first of 4 laps we reached the backside of the course and the roads were completely dry as we cruised at 27mph. Maybe we can do this we thought. Lap 2 was much the same but a bit slower as the wind started to increase. Lap 3, well that just sucked, as another front moved in and the temperature dropped and then the hail started. Yeah hail! Then rain and wind all the way to the finish. I couldn’t see anything but the road. We gave it the final heave-ho to the line and crossed the finish line at 34mph. We had hoped to average 26mph but again the weather was miserable and we averaged 25.4. Good enough for 3rd place. So again NRR brought home a medal in the TTT. It’s tradition!!! Special thanks to Gary’s wife, Carol who pinned us, shot photos and cheered us on.

Seems all the TTT folks are too shy to post.  NRR did indeed have a very solid Sunday at the Team Time Trial with both teams placing 3rd in their categories and also Joe Cipale getting a bronze with some other Team Rose City men. 

The weather was certainly nice but on the hot side for sustained hard efforts.  Our team, NRR 2, was composed of Justin Griffith (a recent member), Colby, Dave Lofstead and myself.  Dave is a regular at the Mari Saturday rides and was on NRR 2 last year with me, Scott Goodrich and Cal Stone.  We only had one practice as a complete team but we worked very well together. 

 I had looked at last years times in Cat 4 and figured that we should be able to get 3rd if all went well.  There were less teams overall, but especially in Cat 3 and Cat 4.  8 teams this year, 15 last year.  I devised a plan to ride at 25mph on the first lap and each take 30 second pulls.  Ramp to 26mph on the second lap with the same pull time.  After that, it was more flexible based on how everyone was doing. 

 Colby was his usual strong self and Justin and Dave did well too.  By the 4th lap, my butt was really uncomfortable and my hamstrings were sore in a way I have never experienced.  Coming out of the corners, getting back up to speed wasn’t much fun:-).  We did all stick together for the finish which was a good sign.  We had passed at least 5 other groups in front of us and no one passed us so it looked good for a strong placing.

 The official times were certainly not right in our category but the relative placings seemed correct based on the groups we’d passed.  I’ll take it either way. 

It’s surprising how much the little things can add up in this event.  The cornering and getting back together are always areas to pick up time if you’re super smooth.  There’s also a bit of pushing your comfort on cornering speed.  Those small differences really add up by the end of the race, both in time and extra energy expenditure. 

 My wife Carol took a bunch of pictures, some good, some not as good.  I emailed the link to most of those interested as well:

 http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/garywatts/TTT2009/

Gary Watts

North River Racing was well represnted this year at the State Championship Hillclimb on Mt Hood. I’ve never understood why someone would want to race uphill for around 30 minutes, but hey we all know that cyclist are masochists. Representing NRR for the Juniors was our multiple state champion Colby. Colby has won every state championship he has entered this year and after checking the results…CONGRATULATIONS TO COLBY FOR SWEEPING THEM ALL! Watch for this kid as he grows in this sport. At only 14 he has a bright future. Cat 3 David Monnig rocketed to 2nd place. I knew this guy could climb when I first rode with him up Kalama River! He continues to place high in anything he enters. Stephen Fitzgerald wrapped up the 3s with a strong 11th Place. Watch for Stephen in his favorite cycling event…cyclocross! Allen Kraft placed 6th in Master’s 40-44. Allen is a veteran on NRR. Steve Long finished up the racers with an excellent 4th place in Masters 55-59. All these guys have raced all season long.

Congratulations to all of you who blew a lung on Mt Hood. Great effort and fantastic job!

Another set of big congratulations go out to Colby Wait-Molyneux and Jeff Harwood for winning the Salem Fairview Circuit Race 12-14 and Cat 4/5 races. Nice job guys!

Jeff and Colby were the only NRR guys who made it down there this weekend, so I guess that means we won 100% of the races we entered this weekend. Statistics don’t lie!

I’m on the hunt for some pictures of the race to post. Ironclad has one of Jeff right at the moment of victory, and if anyone finds any others feel free to shoot ‘em over to me.

cheers.

Here are some quick results of NRR racing so far this week. If I’ve missed anything, gimme a holler.

Cheers!

PIR Monday 6-23

Master 1/2/3 - 22 707 Long Steve

Master 4/5 - 18 1027 Anderson Dean

PIR Tuesday 6-24

Men’s 4/5 - 9 2050 Harwood Jeff

Men’s 4/5 - 13 955 Wait-Molyneux Colby

Men’s 3/4 - 30 345 Cipale Joseph

Tabor 6-25

Cat 5 - 12 955 Wait-Molyneux Colby

Cat 4: - 33 1027 Anderson Dean

Cat 3 - 9 579 Fitzgerald Stephen

The big news this weekend was the Elkhorn Classic Stage Race. If you are a dedicated racer, you were probably there. I was not. Many of the NRR crew did the Tour De Blast ride up to Mt. St. Helens, and I eagerly await some pictures to post here (hint).

I wasn’t in the mood for an epic road tour, and there were no local road races this weekend, but I went to OBRA and saw something called “Picketts Charge” on the calendar. Apparently it was a cross-country mountain bike race.

The last mountain bike race I did was when I was fifteen. It was at Mt. Hood Skibowl. My training consisted of my paper route and trips to Seven-Eleven on my bike. That race didn’t turn out so well: I bonked, collapsed, had an asthma episode, and wretched. That was the end of me and XC MTB. I did race a good number of downhill mountain bike races after that, because of the mistaken notion that I could just coast down the hill without exertion. I hung up that sport after the dropoffs on the course got larger than 4′ and the bikes climbed past $4k.

Like a lot of roadies I do have a nice shiny mountain bike languishing in my garage, and I feel guilt every time I go in and look at it. Picketts Charge was an opportunity to shake that guilt and reclaim my cross country racing dignity, so I went for it. My buddy Drew and I packed up the car and headed for the race, which was being held in paradise… which we all know is Bend, OR.

this post is a bit long, so if you want to keep reading it, click below
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A good handfull of NRR guys showed up for Mt. Tabor race #1. Dean Anderson, Jeff Harwood, Scott Goodrich and myself all attended. Allen Kraft also helped run the finish line, but we promise he didn’t skew any results our way.

When I got there I saw Dean and Jeff in the 4/5 race and the field of 90 was completely shattered. Jeff was looking strong lap after lap up towards what I think was the front, and Dean held solid mid-pack. Nice job guys! The first night out is always brutal, but going into week 2 the resolve always hardens. If Tabor doesn’t kill you, it’ll make you stronger.

In the 3 race Scott and myself had a bit of a baptism by fire since doing it in the 4/5 last year. The pace was noticeably faster, and actually a bit brutal. In the 4/5 I remember deciding which laps I wanted to attack, but in the 3s I never had a moment I wasn’t hanging on for dear life, let alone attacking. Still, the race was a blast, and we’ll be back for more. Scott hung on until a few laps to go when the pack surged on the uphill, if it weren’t for his nagging cold he’d have survived the carnage. I fared slightly better, I almost got dropped on that lap also but found a wheel and got back on. I struggled up the final hill sprint with the pack but couldn’t turn on any afterburners in the final 400m sprint. I ended up in 21st out of I don’t know how many. I’m pretty resolved to improve on that next week.

If you check the few pictures below, you will notice a strange contraption strapped to my helmet. No, its not a mini jet engine, its a helmet camera.

Mt. Tabor Race #1 Category 3 from Stephen Fitzgerald on Vimeo.

.Here are a few pics taken by the Mrs.

See you all next week!

Dean, Joe, and myself made it out to Tuesday PIR this week, and we had a good ‘ol time mixing it up. Dean rode strong and consistent near the front and provided some strategic pulls and windbreaks from which to launch attacks. The peleton wasn’t having any breakaways this week, so none of my attempts to go off the front were successful, but at least they were fun. On the first sprint lap I managed to snag 3rd and get a point or two, and on the second Dean and I both put in good efforts, but didn’t come away with any points. In the final sprint I was right up there with all the dudes going all out, but just when I thought it couldn’t get any faster, two or three guys took it up and notch and rocketed away from the rest of us. I need to work on my sprinting. All in all I finished the sprint somewhere around 8th or 9th, but with my sprint points from earlier eeked out an 8th on the night. Dean also put in a strong showing in 21st, which is double-strong considering he’s a 4 racing against a bunch of 3s. Go Dean!

Here’s a picture taken by those sharp-shooters over at Ironclad Cycling, who put in a great 5th place on the night also. Thanks for letting us borrow your picture!… and video…:)

heres a vid of the finish from Ironclad also:

  8   579    Fitzgerald           Stephen        North River Racing

 21   1027   Anderson             Dean           North River Racing

The Mt. Doom… er… Mt. Tabor series starts next week, which was the highlight of my year last year in terms of fun. Be sure to check that series out and bring family and friends because it is by far the the most exciting and spectator race series on the calendar.

cheers!

Stephen here with a mini Cat 3 race report from the OBRA Rehersal Race.

Rain was forecast but the sun broke through for a spectacular and beautiful day of racing. Of the NRR crew Cat. 3 Allen Kraft, John O’Brien, Steve Long, Dave Monning, and Me Fitzgerald showed up. Our strategy was “so how do you feel today?”, and we stuck to it pretty well the entire race. Dave and I hadn’t done a Cat 3 road race yet, so we were nervous, while the others were ready to rumble. The course was a series of nice short climbs with some rollers here and there. There wasn’t anything intense enough to decimate the pack, and there weren’t a huge number of serious breakaway attempts. All in all the race stayed pretty mellow with all our guys looking strong and trading pulls and sessions at the front. Nothing very interesting happened until lap 3 when 3-4 guys escaped from the front. New to the category, I didn’t know what to think, but the peleton didn’t seem too concerned, so nobody chased them down. They slowly gained distance for half a lap, and then it sped up a little. I moved up towards the middle of the lap to help a little, and they were eventually reeled into to about 150 feet up the road. Satisfied that we’d caught them, the pack sat up. The guys in front hadn’t gotten the memo that their breakaway was doomed, so two of them soldiered on ahead. Strangely, their gap grew again…. and grew… and grew. The pack sped up quite a bit in the final miles, and the break was always just up the road a little. Towards the last two miles I spent a lot of effort trying to stay up front, and Dave was up there also in the top 10. About a mile out it was clear that the break had played their cards well, and weren’t coming back. Another guy launched into oblivion within the last mile and I thought it was a stupid move… but he was never seen again either. Ha! shows you what I know. Going into the last 1k climb I didn’t know where John, Allen, and Steve were, but was worried that they may have been caught up in an earlier crash. It turns out Allen had a bit of bad luck but Steve and John were right there too on the climb. Dave was 5-10 riders up on me, so I was happy that he had a good position. I kicked all I could up the final climb, but my legs declared independence and ignored my suggestions to move faster. I sputtered up the hill with a 72/30 split of willpower and fumes. When we crossed the line I thought we’d squeaked into the top 20, and Dave did, but I missed it a little. Regardless, I think we had a good race as a team; we showed up in good numbers, we stayed active in most breaks except of course the one that mattered, and we put in a decent showing. Here are the team results in the 3s. We’ll be back for more!:

 20   1321   Monnig               David          North River Racing

 23   579    Fitzgerald           Stephen        North River Racing

 35   707    Long                 Steve          North River Racing

 37   601    O’Brien              John           North River Racing

Flat Tire Of Doom:   466    Kraft                Allen          North River Racing

 .

 .

D Boswell Photography  was kind enough to take some great pictures of the race, and

has let us post a few here. Thanks Dina! Be sure to check her site out.

Click the pictures below and they will pop up large.

Here is The Blue Tide hanging out to the right of The Red Tide (theraputic).

Moi and David leading the peleton into Lap 2. Maybe we should have sat in instead of posing?