Everything and nothing new to update on.  Life is work, play, and bike racing.  Most of the play is, not surprisingly, bike racing.  I’ve raced a ton this year.  I go into every weekend thinking “oh, I’ll just take this weekend off from racing” only to find myself halfway across the state flying down the road chasing an attack.  I’ve raced enough that the pre-race nerves are gone.

This weekend it was the High Desert Omnium in Bend.  I went partly just to relax and have a quick weekend getaway, but that can only be achieved to a certain extent when you’re packing three races into two days.

First up was a criterium on Saturday early afternoon.  I attacked a few times, bridged up to a rider off the front and then got caught, missed the winning move (which countered an attack that I had been a part of) and threw caution to the wind and jumped off the front of the pack with a lap and a half to go.  I got caught with about half a lap left, and was gassed for the sprint.

My time trial was pretty decent.  Up a hill for 4 miles, then right back down it.  My time would have been good enough for 3rd in the Cat 4s, but I can’t think that way anymore.  I took 12th of 21 in the 3s.  Not bad, but very average.  I feel the need to get faster.

The road race was great.  Everything I had hoped the 3s would be that the 4s weren’t has been realized.  The 3s race.  Like, actually race.  Not just a hard group ride and a sprint at the end.  We spent the first 20 miles attacking each other at the front trying to shake something out and get a group up the road.  The attackers then got tired, and we had a nice little casual group ride for about 5 miles.  Then it was back to attacking and chasing some more.  We drilled it pretty hard up the second climb.  The pack nearly split several times into a strong headwind headed for the finish.  I played my cards wrong at the finish and chased an attack that I shouldn’t have.  I burned my last good match that I should have saved for the sprint in that chase, and came in 15th.  Overall a very solid three races, but just out of the points each time.

One of the other racers dubbed me most aggressive rider, which was a nice compliment.  What I need to do now is set my next goal to work towards.  Otherwise I’ll just keep dinking around in races without something to work towards.  Granted, attacking, causing chaos, and putting the hurt on other riders is great fun – it just usually won’t produce results in the end.  I think my remaining goal for the season is centered on Eugene Celebration Stage Race in late August.  The goal: top 10 GC.  We will see.

The last Tabor race is this Wednesday.  I’ve got something interesting up my sleeve.  We’ll see if I can pull it off.  And yes, it’s a stupid idea.  It’s more fun that way.