Portland USGP's

This weekend we headed back down to Portland for the final two U.S. Gran Prix races at Portland's International Raceway. The venue was the same as the SSCXWCs, but was in a completely different part of the park. The races were back-to back Saturday and Sunday on similar courses.

SATURDAY: We woke up to beautiful sunny skies and headed down to the venue to pre-ride the course and check out the early morning races. The course was 2/3 on grassy/leafy parkland and 1/3 through a motocross track that was muddy despite the beautiful weather. The grassy section had some tricky corners, dips, and short climbs pitted against fast all-out straight aways. The motocross section took a tour of a "rhythm" course, up and around what looked like a starting ramp, and into a muddy straightaway that sucked momentum and plunged you into a huge puddle right at the end. The mud was drying out and was thick making ruts that would grab your wheel. The muddy sections were unreliable and a bit tricky.

At the race start I was close to last called up, since this was only my second UCI race of the year (Jim Horner being the first). Off the line I had a slow start and watched the girls in front jockey for position. The women broke up pretty quickly and, besides the women in the top 10, most girls were off on their own after the first lap. I rode a really clean race and felt pretty good in the beginning sitting around 18th, but faded in the end to come in 22nd. I felt ok about the race, but it wasn't my strongest race of the year by any means--I definitely need a bit more aggressiveness on the line and around corners.

SUNDAY: Sunday we woke up to cloudy, rain-threatening skies. I had mixed feelings about this. I hate doing muddy laundry...but I love muddy races. The muddier the race the more technical and challenging it is. Based on the course from the day before, I knew any rain would loosen up the course and actually make it more predictable and faster. Come on rain! We headed down to the track to check out the course changes. The changes were minimal, but looked great: instead of a straightaway on pavement in the first section of the lap, there was a short pavement section that went into boggy mud and then up a very short, very steep run-up; through the mud the line was changed in a couple sections so that, if you rode it right, you were able to maintain momentum throughout the mud. The grassy section had no changes in it.

The rain started just as I was getting dressed, and it poured. I shortened my warm-up so that I didn't end up to wet and cold. At the start of the race I was pretty excited--it was the last race of the year, and I still felt fit--off the line I had a bit better start and moved up through the girls into around 15th, higher than I was at any time the day before. I kept my position and gapped a few girls through the run up and the muddy sections and headed into the grassy section in a pretty happy place, riding well and feeling pretty strong. Halfway through the grassy section I went through a dip, around a tree and into the left-hand line from the day before and lost traction in both wheels through a rutted mud puddle that hadn't been there the day before. I slid down the hill and into the tape hitting my helmet on one of the 2x4 wood pieces that made up the fencing support, I got back up and onto my bike after losing about 4 spots and tried to catch back on. The pace was pretty established, however, and I ended up riding by myself for the remainder of the race to finish up in 19th, better than the day before, but with a massive lump on my forehead and another broken helmet.

This weekend I learned a lot about my equipment: I need to be less scared of running low pressure...Jamie Emery and Brad Collins convinced me to lower pressure and my Dura Ace wheels and Tufo Cubus tires performed flawlessly. I always scoffed at 2nd bikes, but in muddy races like Sunday's, my drivetrain was screaming for a pressure washer for the last 3 laps (out of the 5 that we did). And, finally, whoever started spreading the rumour that Shimano pedals get clogged with mud must have been crazy (or didn't Pam his shoes), I didn't have a problem all weekend clipping into my XTR pedals, and I know they are durable enough to withstand the pressure washing!

The unfortunate thing about these races is that I didn't get to see what happened in the front of the race, or watch the top women go through technical sections, but for full results, report from the front of the field, and photos check out Canadian Cyclist, Velonews, and CX Magazine.

The weekend was a good weekend, racing these two races were great experience that left me with a lot of enthusiasm and momentum to train and prepare for next year! The perfect way to finish up the race season! I was also happy to finish the season off feeling tired from all the racing, but still fit and ready to race...rather than spent and ready for time off.