2008, Mt Hood Cycling Classic

Well then…

I’ve survived another week as a faux-pro bike racer.

This year’s Mt Hood Cycling Classic was bigger than ever. The field of 150 riders consisted of North America’s top professional teams as well as a handful of the country’s top amateur(Semi-Professional) teams. Then, there was a literal handful of underprivileged Cat 1 racers out there on their own. J I was one of those, and by the end of the week I think I was the only one of those. Only 86 of the race’s starters reached the finish line of the last stage. I ended up 76^th in the final GC and had some amazing races along the way.

The racing started Tuesday, May 13^th with a short prologue in downtown Portland Oregon. It was followed by 5 hard days of racing between Portland, The Columbia River Gorge and Mt Hood. Choosing my battles, I took it easy on the second and fourth days of racing(Weds & Fri) to save my energy for the harder days. With this strategy I lost time in the GC competition, but was still able to keep myself away from the time cut.

Thursday’s ‘all up’ and ‘all down’ circuit race was a good hard bike race with 8750 feet of climbing on the lower slopes of Mt Hood. Last year I came off the pace the 3^rd time up the 15 mile climb. This year I only lost 3 minutes to the race leaders when I managed not to come off the pace until I was most of the way up the 5^th and final circuit. I was pleased.

Saturday’s 101 mile road race climbed 11,200 feet and was the king stage of the event, It’s been going down as one of the hardest days in the saddle that the National Racing Calendar has ever seen. The first 30 miles were particularly hard as teams and riders attacked to establish a breakway group. Before the 30 miles were up, a third of the remaining peloton was shed from the race for good.

A 10-man breakaway group eventually rolled up the course and the attacking pace cooled off. Those were some of the hardest miles I’ve ever endured courtesy of the 100 degree heat in the dry east Oregon plains, and the fact that un-supported armatures like myself were not offered any relief in the first feed zone. I was literally out of water and dying within the first hour. I eventually resorted to stealing water out of the back window of the race official’s vehicle as well as off the bike of “B World Champion” Ivan Stevic of the Toyota United Pro Cycling Team. This act to spite his act of throwing a full bottle of water that he didn’t want to the dust as less talented others were sweltering around him. Yeah I did!!! J

In the miles that followed we gradually climbed into cooler air I got re hydrated and was able to achieve some of the finest riding of my career as a bike racer. To sum it up—I was “in the zone”. I’ve never put out so much consistent & hard power in my life. If ever I began to feel the effort, I was able to overcome it by telling myself to “stay on top of it” or I’d say “you’ve hurt before and you’ll live.” Each time I successfully coached myself, I felt shivers pass through my body and down my legs as my brain sent a message that said “pain wouldn’t be a factor today.” The legs just kept turning and I was amazed.

When we hit the 10k sign we turned onto a new highway and began gobbling up the last feet of climbing in the day’s long race. The finish was in the parking lot of the Mt Hood Meadows ski resort somewhere over 5000 feet up the side of Mt Hood. When the race leaders began their attacks I positioned myself as best I could and held on for dear life. The pain couldn’t be held back any longer. L As I fought to stick to the few wheels that weren’t going backwards, I was really ready to give up. But each time I was about to stop pedaling I’d see some famous pro stop pedaling first—so I had to keep pushing. J Unfortunately that only lasted a few cycles and I eventually found myself in no-man’s land somewhere between the leaders and those who had cracked under the pressure—I was cracking myself. But I kept pedaling. The road turned back down a bit and I almost caught back onto the leaders again before hitting the final 2.5 mile climb up to the ski resort. As it turned out, I’d be on my own the rest of the way to the finish line. Climbing at something like 3mph I limped my way in passing a couple more riders as I went--suffering like a dog the whole way. It was awesome!

The last day was the high energy criterium in downtown hood river. Surprisingly I was pretty well recovered from the prior days thrashing and was able to pop around the string of riders pretty much enjoying myself as I went. It was fun. At the end of the 75 minute race I rolled in 11^th among the field but missed out on the 10-man breakaway. Oh well! It was a nice way to end the week anyway.

Weird that that’s my idea of a good time—but there you have it.

Mitch Trux