Cascade Fritter 50 Through Wayne's Eyes

First 2 hours is basically gravel road climb with about 5,000 feet of climbing. Rode conservatively, felt good, and was riding with Tyler Miller who was on my wheel for 3rd place. Jerry came back on us just before single track and was only about 20 seconds down.

I followed Tyler down the single track and could tell I was faster. I was expecting Jerry to catch us any second. Thankfully Tyler missed a turn and I was able to let it go on the descent and never saw him again (kinda).

Back to gravel road climb and saw another rider coming up on me just before single track again and I thought for sure it was Jerry. It lit a fire under me and I gave it some extra effort hitting the dirt. BTW it was Tyler and not Jerry. This time I really never did see Tyler again.

Hit upper Alpine/Jedi and felt great on the descent. Held it steady heading up to Tire Mountain and then felt great on the descent. I just felt locked in. No mistakes.

Caught my Portland buddy, John Weathers, at the bottom of Tire Mountain/Clover Patch, just in time for the next and last gravel road climb. John is a big time stud, and between catching John and dropping Tyler, I knew I was having a great day. John put the hammer down on the last gravel climb and I rode my pace. John put about 20 seconds on me before hitting lower Alpine for the last descent to the finish. I quickly caught John and we just flew down Alpine. So much fun to follow the guy in front of you and read his lines. Oh my that was fun! I was happy to be on the podium and finish/ride with a good friend.

I felt strong at the finish and actually feel like I may have rode too conservatively. But we all know how that goes. When you are on those days feel easy. And once you go redline it is easy to go over the edge really quick.

I highly recommend the Oakridge CreamPuff/Fritter race. The trails are epic (long descents, flowy, exposure, beautiful with old growth, numerous switchbacks, it just keeps coming at you). Soo much fun!!



-Wayne Tonning

Pie Anyone?! How about some Cherry!!

After some great racing out at Echo on our Mountain Bikes, we had a couple weeks to keep building fitness before racing resumed, this time on the road!

Clear blue skies in the Valley, looking out at the fields (and graveyard)!

The first one, happened on March 23rd in the nice little town of Adair Village, just north of Corvallis in the Willamette Valley. Cory, Sam, Jon and myself (Shane) donning the brand new iteration of our checkered jerseys! The order in which the waves of races went off, allowed me to finally offer some support to my teammates as they prepped to take off on the fun course in the beautiful weather!



Jon and Cory lined up for the CAT 5 race, with this being Jon's very first road race! They were definitely on top of their game during the short, intense race! Jon put together a stellar effort up the final climb, snagging 5th place while Cory was right behind in 13th position! Both of them were stoked on their efforts, especially for such an early race! Heck yeah!

Jon and Cory looking sharp in the new kits on the starting line!

You couldn't tell it was Sam's
first Road Race....nerves of steel!

Sam raced in the Women's CAT 4/5 race, this being her first road race as well! She rode really strong as well, sticking it out with the peloton all the way to the final 200m where an extremely unfortunate mis-shift took her out of a minimum Top 10 finish! ARGHHH! She took it right in stride, immediately looking towards redeeming herself at the next road race opportunity! With my teammates all wrapped up, I continued getting my legs warmed up for my afternoon race departure. I still couldn't believe the epic weather we were enjoying, clear skies and beautiful sunshine!!

Before I knew it, I was cruising out of the staging area in the peloton for my first road race of the 2014 season! I was really excited to test out if my training had been prepping me properly for the coming efforts! The first of our two lap race was pretty mellow, and surprisingly slow, with nobody really making any solid moves or efforts. (This is due to the course being quite open and flat, making it hard to try and escape away from the main group.)  It wasn't until about halfway into the second lap that some action finally began to happen! One of my good friends, Adam DeMarzo from the Bike Newport Team, was tired of sitting around, so he launched a quick attack. I immediately matched it, to try and go away with him or at least keep him close. The latter happened as I drug the rest of the peloton right up to him. A few minutes later, a more solid solo attack took place. There were a few of us that bridged up to the solo rider, but we weren't able to coordinate a proper paceline in time to get away and were quickly swallowed up. That was about it for the day, until about 2 miles left when a single rider took off after a sharp corner. I foolishly followed suit, caught him and busted my butt to stay away as we approached the final climb. The reason I say foolish, is that I blew up my legs for this effort, to only be caught at the last hill with legs screaming in pain. Dang! I grimaced as I was overtaken with less than 1K to go, but I re-focused to try and salvage as much as possible out of my silly error. When we hit the very last grade, my legs were coming back and I punished myself as I powered up the climb, out of the saddle, trying to catch and pass anyone I possibly could. I was very happy to at least get a couple passes, breaking into the Top 20, stealing 16th place from Adam right at the line!

Shane cruising along in the peloton.
PHOTO - KENJI SUGAHARA

This counts as recovery
food right?!

It's always a trip to race for two and half hours to only have it come down to 6 or so minutes of racing! Although a bit saddened by my result, it felt good to really put out some heavy efforts on the bike. The real thing that kept me going though, was the thought of the cherry pie that my stepdad had picked up the evening before in celebration of the race! I said my 'Hi's' and 'Good-Byes' around the finish line and took off on my cool-down back to the house. I invited Adam over as I felt it only fair to share the sugary goodness after our little battle!

With the first road race in the books, it was back to the High Desert for us as we began looking forward to next weekend's battle.....the Gorge Roubaix!!





-Shane Johnson

Echo Red to Red - 2014 Edition!

It's March and we've already begun the 2014 mountain bike season, holy mackerel!

The weekend before last, the Team's season opened with the always fun XC mountain bike race - Echo Red to Red. This event has it all, a tough, yet epic course, great organization, delicious racer perks (you'll read about that later) and most of all, community support! The folks from the little (pop. 715) town of Echo, which is stocked full of incredible history, come out in full force to help support the race - helping with traffic control, registration, on-course aid and more! It's wonderful to see!

Blue sky in Biggs!

Our (Shane & Sam's) trip began Friday morning as we headed out for the 3.5 hour drive up north from Redmond. The sun was shining and we were looking forward to a beautiful drive.......but when we hit Terrebonne (5 minutes north of home) we hit fog that got more and more dense as we drove! It was pretty nuts to drive in it, visibility was about 1-2 car lengths making for some very concentrated driving. You wouldn't see other cars lights, just suddenly a shadow in the fog and then BAM a car! Whew! Thankfully, the drive was uneventful and very minimal sightseeing, other than the yellow line and fog line. Haha. When we began to descend into the Columbia River Gorge, the fog dissipated into blue sky by the time we go to Biggs! Hooray!!!!

The last hour and a half of driving couldn't go by fast enough as we were ready to enjoy the nice weather on our bikes! When we finally pulled into the trailhead/camping area, we hopped out of the car and hastily laid out some of our camp gear to reserve space for our other checker clad teammates - Bob, Kodi, Jon & our awesome team support Natalie!

Cold toes LOVED the heater

Sam and I pulled on our kits, a bit nervous about only needing thin layers to ride in, after all the severe weather we had endured over the last few weeks at home! Nonetheless, we got decked out and rolled away onto singletrack heaven with some other Redmondites, Tyler and his dad Jerry Fox! The first place we checked out was the always dynamic river section that is a new trail every year, due to annual flooding. We then proceeded to recon the starter loop, which was going to be a crucial point early in the race. After getting some good insight, Sam pulled off to keep her legs fresh and began camp setup as I headed out to ride more trail! I am still in my Base phase for training so I needed some hours on the bike AND the conditions were impeccable!! I ended up riding every last mile of trail that we would be racing the next day and man I couldn't stop smiling!! By the time I got back, Sam had the entire camp all setup! I was super thankful, as the sun had dropped below the horizon and temperatures were quickly following suit! I hovered over the heater, as I ate some yummy food and changed into comfy and warm clothes before we headed into town with our new friends/campmates Starr and Matt.

Sam & Starr enjoying
the Koontz Building!

The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement as we picked up our packets and checked out the newly renovated Koontz building. This historic building was built in 1904-1905 and has been a renovation project of the Sno Road Winery. Over the last three years, we've seen the progression and it's pretty impressive to finally see the finished product in all it's glory! After some gawking, we headed back to camp to sit around the fire and fine tune the bikes before heading to bed for a nice and solid rest!

We awoke to another beautiful day Saturday, although a few degrees cooler, it was nothing like the gross weather the forecast had predicted. With the cooler temperatures, our heater was struggling to raise the temperature in the Team Tent, so we turned to the BBQ, that Bob had brought along, for some supplemental heat. The warmth felt wonderful while we changed and ate a solid breakfast before all the pre-race jitters and nerves descended upon our bellies!

Thank goodness for the BBQ!

I took a nice ride out towards the trailhead for my warm-up thinking that the gun would go off at 11:15am. I began heading back to the car to replace the bottle I had been using for the warm-up and make sure everything was situated before heading down to the Start Line. You can imagine my surprise, when about 1/4 mile from the Start, I see the lead car driving down the road with my Start Group rolling along in the neutral start. OH CRAP!!! I quickly flipped a u-ey and joined the peloton as it meandered along the paved road. I made a concentrated effort to move up to the front of the pack all while calming my freaked out nerves and brain before we had to turn on the jets and begin racing (about 1 minute). I was super stoked to have gotten to the front 15ish when we turned onto the gravel road where the race begins. As we rocketed up the gradual climb, I continued to push towards the front to make sure I was in the first group to hit the singletrack. Due to the technical nature of the Echo trails, it is tough to pass on the trails, so being in the front is crucial for a solid result. I had played my cards perfectly, as I was about the 4th rider to barrel down the short singletrack collector before a sharp hairpin turn into a steep, punchy climb that separates riders due to a slight bottleneck that forms on the climb. Immediately, I found myself in a front group that began to separate ourselves from the remainder of the field. My good buddy and training partner, Tyler, made an effortless pass around me as he chased after the two leaders that had formed a gap on our front group through the start loop (I would catch glimpses of him, but that was about it!). For the first half of the race, I was feeling super strong, duking it out with riders that I've never been able to battle with before. This made me feel really good for such an early race, but my legs weren't quite so excited about the effort needed to make these battles happen. They began crying about 1:15 hours into the race, forcing me to taper off a bit, and lose the chase group. As I plugged along, my early effort had put a solid gap on the rest of the field, making the loss of leg power a bit more bearable as I only gave up about 5 more spots through the rest of the race. As always, I got to post some big grins on my face as I pushed along the sweet, rolling, singletrack! As I cruised along the last segment of trail, the sight of the trailhead was bittersweet, it meant I was close to finishing, but also meant it was time for the last climb and long grade out of the 'valley' before cruising into town for the Finish. The hill was painful, as expected, but after digging deep, I rolled over the top and pushed all the way to the line where I was able to take a very welcome 4th place finish!!

Photographer = Wheelie Time!
PHOTO: KENJI SUGAHARA

Natalie provided much
needed moral and sugar
support!!

With some big time hunger pangs beginning to hit me hard, I needed some sustenance ASAP!! I quickly remembered Natalie and Jon had been prepared by bringing along some homemade brownies and M&M cookies. My tracking skills immediately surfaced and I quickly located Natalie, who had been heartily cheering me along as I rode the finishing stretch, as I knew she could lead me to the delicious, sugary treats! I don't know if anything could've hit the spot as well as that gooey, chocolatey brownie. AHHHH!

With a fresh sugar rush, I grabbed some warm clothes and proceeded to spin out my legs along the course so I could cheer on my awesome teammates! Although the course had been nice to me, the trails of Echo had some devious plans for my checkered mates. Poor Jon got his flats out of the way for the whole season with 4! He had to hike out and grab a ride back into town. UGH! The rough trails and cold weather took their toll on Bob, Kodi and Sam as they all battled hard to finish the brutal race!

Bob pushing hard for the
Finish Line!

We all were able to re-group over some tasty post-race food though! Homemade macaroni & cheese and pulled pork sandwiches was the food served and they helped bring spirits right back up! With full stomachs, we packed into the Koontz building for the awards ceremony and raffle and then headed back to camp where we gathered around the fire to stay warm as the temperatures began to drop and snow began to fall! That BBQ that Bob and Kodi brought came into play again as they grilled up some awesome steak that we shared with the few hardy souls that braved the evening's cold weather! After some hard racing, eyelids got heavy fast and we all retired to the warmth and comfort of our dry tents!

Enjoying the warm fire!

The night's weather had stopped by to deliver a nice coating of freezing rain, which was quite fun to knock off the tents in solid sheets! We made some breakfast and got changed to go and get a ride in on the trails. I also decided halfway through breakfast, to take part in the Poker Ride, er, Walk. The weather was getting super nasty so cards were handed out to see who could get the best hand to get their hand into the money pot! I got lucky and had the 4th best, getting me $17.00!! Sweet!!

Nice coating of ice from
the freezing rain.

While the rest of our crew smartly headed home, Sam, myself and Tyler headed out onto the trails to try and ride. We were bummed when we realized that the snow, covered in freezing rain was now melted from the drizzle that began to fall, causing the dirt of the trail to become the thickest, stickiest peanut butter EVER! The rear tire would hardly spin, thanks to the insane mud build-up. We quickly called it a day, and tore down camp in the just above freezing conditions. Our fingers were COLD, but the nice warm car helped to thaw them out!!

We caravanned with Tyler back to Central Oregon, but not before a quick stop at C & D Burgersfor our traditional burger and milkshake treat!

Back on the road, the drive was uneventful, aside from seeing the aftermath of a couple semi-trucks that had unfortunate encounters with black ice and slid off the road earlier in the morning.

Our first weekend of racing is in the books! It had highs and lows, but, as always, it was a wicked fun time for the Trinity Bikes Cycling Team athletes!! Next on the docket for a few of the riders will be their first road race of the season: Cherry Pie in Adair Village! Until next time!!




-Shane Johnson

On a Crusade for Cyclocross!

Boy, time sure has flown by since the last blog post, it's been a whole month, can you believe it?!

After a two weekend break from racing, Sam and I (Shane) got back into the cross race scene we dearly missed! Our first weekend back was the Cross Crusade that took place in Bend at the Deschutes Brewery. Being a local race, we had six other Trinity athletes join us in the battle: Patti, Marny, Dale, Mike, Gary and Steven! The checkers were flying over the two days of racing.

Saturday began with a 'normal' day of racing, where Sam, Marny, Patti, Dale and myself put together a solid day of results, against some great racers!

Sam nearing the top of the long stair run-up.
PHOTO: DAVE ADAMS

The short sleeve jerseys were pulled out to stay cool in the beautiful sunshine, as we raced around the fun course!

Shane riding over the 'fly-over'.
PHOTO: DAVE ADAMS

Sunday was the day costumes came out, in celebration of the upcoming Halloween! Marny, Patti and Gary busted out some great ones, but the highlight of the day was when Steven, who has been a huge behind-the-scenes team supporter got a chance to fly the checkers as he rode a 16" wheeled bike in his first Cross race ever!! Mike G also enjoyed his first cross race as he and Steven completed the fun course.

Steven and Mike battling it out on the run-up.
PHOTO: 541 IMAGES

Yes, those are 16" wheels! Steven doesn't need big wheels to crush it!
PHOTO: 541 IMAGES

After an epic and fun Cross Crusade: Deschutes Brewery weekend, it was only five days later and we were in the car, headed to the valley to race again!

Next on the table was Cross Crusade #6, which is hosted at Washington County Fairgrounds in Hillsboro, OR. Sam and I crossed over the mountains to meet up with teammate, Brian Buskirk, and duke it out against other racers in the mud. The rainy weather had briefly lifted, but the prior days of rain left it's mark on the course in the form of some sluggish and heavy mud. Sam was the first of us to step up to the challenge and race in the peanut buttery conditions.

Sam making the goop look easy!
PHOTO: KENJI SUGAHARA

As Sam pushed herself to the limit, Brian and I sat on our Blackburn trainers, getting the legs warmed up in preparation for our race, which took place immediately following Sam's.

Brian firing up his engines.

The WA guy tried to cheat, but OR had won!!
PHOTO: LASALA IMAGES

Thanks to some epic cheering from Brian and I upon our trainer perches, alongside the course, Sam was able to take 21st out of 43, improving by 10 spots in only a week!! Sam quickly switched hats from racer to heckler as Brian and I got over to the start line. Our start time consists of two categories, the B's (our category) and Singlespeed (SS). To determine who goes first, representatives from each group volunteer to compete in strange competitions to get the start. This day was very unique, as the SS'ers had been infiltrated by racers from a rival Cross series based in Seattle, that were there to create some havoc. The competition involved taking a shirt that had been frozen solid in water, breaking it apart and putting it on. During the breaking process, a wrestling match started up as the Washington folks were losing and had to try and cheat to beat us Oregonians. Thankfully Oregon is also better at wrestling and were able to win the shirt competition allowing the B category to start first!!

With a mid-pack start, I was able to work my way in to the Top 10 with the lead group just slightly out of my reach. It was tough to be so close, but it was fun battling back and forth in the chase group on the testing course. 

Shane working his way through traffic.
PHOTO: KENJI SUGAHARA

The course had a lot of variation, especially with it's offerings of mud: sticky/gummy, sloppy chocolate shake and very greasy. I had an unfortunate slide out in the greasy section onto pavement, but thankfully it was a super quick slide and damage both physically and in the race was minimal! I was able to hold onto 9th position for the day!

Some proper refueling was in order after our hard racing, so Sam and I snagged some pizza with Brian and his wonderful lady, Becki, before heading back to the High Desert!

After a nice and quick week of work, we were back in the Subie for some more racing! This round was a doubleheader for Sam and I, as we raced the OBRA CX (cyclocross) Championships at Edgefield on Saturday and Cross Crusade: Portland International Raceway Infield on Sunday.

With afternoon start times, we headed over Saturday morning to arrive at the sloppy, slippery grass parking area for the day's race. The race, aka - Pedalers at the Poor Farm, was being held on the beautiful grounds of McMenamin's - Edgefield. While walking the course to preview what we'd be tackling for the day, our legs hurt just looking at it, but the masochist inside us was all kinds of giddy!! Although brutally tough, the course was SO epic! It had fast grass, mucky mud, sketchy off-camber sections, painful climbs and plenty of other great features!

Sam getting excited during the Course Preview

We got checked-in and began the setup of our brand spanking new tent that Trinity Bikes supplied us to create team HQ at our races! I got it all put together, right as some light rain began to fall, allowing Sam to hop on the trainer and stay nice and dry as she prepped for her race.

The framework for the new Team Tent!

When the gun went off, Sam nailed her pre-race game plan of getting to the front of the pack, working her way into the front group heading into the narrow singletrack.

I warmed up under the new tent, as Sam's race strung out along the long course. Having a new tent, we had setup a bit back from the course, but it was OK, because I worked on my dismounts to run over and cheer Sam everytime she passed during my trainer warm-up. She rode solid for the day, taking home 7th place out of 16 very strong racers!!

Sam pushing a furious pace.
PHOTO: TIM SCHALLBERGER

Next up, it was my turn to enter the pain cave. I had a decent spot in the starting grid, but when it was go time, I was frustratingly boxed in...UGH!!! Thankfully, it opened up before any bad damage hit and I was able to move into the top 5. I kept a steady pace throughout the race, trying to win each little duel I encountered. I wasn't able to hang with the top 2 on the climbs (gotta train more!) but I was able to move into a solid 4th, or so I thought, during and after the race. More on that later. The race hurt, but was so fun! There was a brutal climb, that took all of my guts to keep the pedals turning and not get off and run, then a long flat section which was my strong point, followed by some tight chicanes, then a decent that included a transition from pavement to muddy grass where you could easily get some good air with a tiny bunny hop. It was scary each time I jumped, as you had a right hand corner just after the landing area, but I had to try and impress the fans. Sadly, no special cheers, but man was it fun to test my luck like that! With 2 laps to go, I was beginning to catch glimpses of the two racers ahead of me, but I had a guy right on my wheel, which needed to be dealt with. So, I dug deep and was able to build a slight gap on him with about a half lap to go, allowing me to taper off the gas to try and ride as smooth and mistake free as possible to the finish line for 4th place.......or was it 3rd?! 

Shane on one of the painfully steep run-ups!

After some discussion with the two in front of me, we verified that they were 2nd, 3rd and I was 4th, just off the podium. I was very wrong though: When the race began, a solo rider went off the front and after a lap or two we never saw him again. The two riders in front of me, along with myself, assumed he was just that fast, but in reality he had flatted on the last lap and DNF'd (DNF - Did Not Finish). We all finished, thinking we were 1 spot back from where we actually were. Embarrassingly, I learned my lesson; always wait for the official results to come out. I ended up missing out on one of the best steps a racer can take, onto the podium. DANG! 3rd is super cool though, and I'm very happy to have raced a solid race with some tough competitors, both the course and fellow racers!

We wrapped up the evening with some super delicious BBQ'd food from Famous Dave's near the Portland Airport. Oh man, was it good!!! The other big plus was that they had some Crater Lake Root Beer on tap for me to enjoy, MMMMMM!!!

The PIR: Infield party central!!

When Sunday arrived, we headed west from Estacada, where we stayed the night at Sam's parent's house, towards Portland International Raceway for the 7th race of the Cross Crusade Series, 'PIR Infield'. The atmosphere at this event was insanely awesome! The way the course is laid out, it compresses all the fans, tents and vendors into a small area, creating a real festival/party feeling along the course, SO awesome!

After checking in, we cruised along Tent Row and were able to lay claim to a prime spot right at a switchback turn, which slowed riders down so they could be more easily heckled! Sam got situated on the trainer to get her legs rolling as I finished setting up camp and doing a quick check-up on the bikes to make sure they were in tip top running shape! Before we knew it, Sam was on-course racing away and I was on the trainer warming up for my upcoming race! Being on course was much more optimal than the arrangement I had setup at Edgefield the day before, as it allowed me to get some high quality heckling in while Sam crushed the course taking her highest Cross Crusade finish yet, 17th out of 42 riders.

Sam burning her way through the tight turns.
PHOTO: KENJI SUGAHARA

Next, it was my turn to try and enter the pain cave, and this course made it quite easy to suffer! A fast, pavement start emptied you onto a sticky and slow backstretch that made your legs want to cry. Further into the grassy infield, the riding surface was a bit faster, but the tight/weaving course forced you into a lot of brake/accelerate/brake situations.....classic cyclocross! I was able to pick my way through the field a bit to somewhere near the top 10, but I just wasn't able to hang with that upper group as they were able to put a gap on me. I pushed hard, hoping to catch any stragglers, but by halfway through, I had pretty well locked down 10th position......until the very very end. After some twisty sections through the trees, there was a barrier followed by a sharp right hand turn into the 150 meter finish stretch. I came into the barrier with a much smaller gap on 11th place than I realized, as he passed me with some smooth running through over the barrier. I wasn't super worried as I felt I had a solid sprint in my legs. I was so bummed though, because in my haste to get back on the bike and pedaling, I missed clipping into my pedal and mis-shifted, completely botching the finish. ARGHHHH!! Such a frustrating way to end a decently contested race, but I still had so much fun on this tough test of a course, especially thanks to the loud cheering of the crowd and fantastic heckles that I endured all along the course!!

We packed up and began the trek back home, over the mountains, in the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways......OOOOPS, wrong story! Haha. Overall, a very fun and successful trip, gaining some good fitness and experience with a two-race weekend! Next on the calendar is Barton Park, which is supposed to be a brutal one!!!





-Shane Johnson

Cross at the Clock & Cross Crusade: Alpenrose

Man, talk about packing in a fun week of cyclocross!!

Early last week, the team helped Trinity Bikes host a special edition of their weekly CX Clinic, called Cross at the Clock. For this special round, we setup new training grounds, utilizing portions of the infamous Trinity Bikes Fat Tire Criterium course.

Steven helping mark the CX Clinic Course

Then, after putting the great lessons from our clinic leader, Brian Nelson, into action, we ate delicious Cibelli's pizza and Phat Matt's Beer as we all got a lesson in cyclocross from Jeremy Powers' Cross Camp video.

Everyone enjoying the post clinic food and movie.

A quick break to stretch the legs along Hwy 22.

Later in the week, on Sunday, I (Shane) headed over to the valley with my good buddy Billy Bergen, who unfortunately rides for Sunnyside Sports....BOO!!! Haha. It's OK though, cause he let me rock the checkers in the car, as he drove the three plus hours to Portland.

We arrived at Alpenrose Dairy, for the first day of the 2014 Crusade. This of course is the incredible Cross Crusade, the largest (participants) cyclocross race in the world!! It is quite an amazing sight, to see the vast parking lot teeming with cars and team tents lining the course as far as you can see! When we arrived, we met up with another East Coaster (Billy is from MA), Jon Conway, and we quickly changed into our stretchy spandex, to take advantage of the open course and ride a lap to know what kind of conditions we would be encountering during our race. 

Jon finishing up his pre-race meal.
Check out the massive parking lot!!!

The course had been muddy from the previous week's rains (see Patti's epic Battle at Barlow), but with temperate conditions and sunshine, the course was quickly drying up. We came across some mud, but it was a lot like peanut butter, thick and sticky. With mental notes taken, we headed back to the cars to begin our pre-race rituals. I took down a bottle of HoneyMaxx, to make sure I was hydrated and had the necessary calories and electrolytes for the upcoming effort and we took off to the hilly neighborhood streets surrounding the beautiful venue to rid our legs of the sleepiness induced from the long drive. After a nice 45 minute ride, we got last sips of hydration and headed to the start line. Due to the vast number of racers at Cross Crusade, the starting order is randomly selected based on the last number of your three digit race number. I got an epic 2nd row start, wait, I mean, 2nd from the back! Haha.

Due to being so far back for the start, I formulated a plan.....MUAH HAHAHA......when the gun went off, I followed my plan/escape route up the left side of the start chute, along the curb. This worked well, as it quickly opened and I was able to make a pretty solid move into the top 30ish right off the bat. The race course is a fantastic mix of everything possible on a Cross Bike: Fast and furious pavement, rutted corners, fast descents:

Fast, bumpy descent.

PHOTO: NATE WYETH

Tight trees, slippery mud, time trial style (flat and open) grass/dirt, steep run-ups:

Painful uphill run.

PHOTO: NATALIE CONWAY

And nasty off camber sections. Due to this combination, you have to be on it at all times, making it a completely exhilarating experience!! Thanks to some consistent riding, I was able to slowly win little battles with other riders as I moved up each lap to finish in 20th place in a field of 70 racers.

Good food makes for big smiles!

With the race wrapped up and the legs cooled down, we loaded into the car for our trip home. Being cyclists that just burned off a decent chunk of calories, we made sure to stop at a local eatery to refuel. The choice of the day was Sasquatch Brewery in the Hillsdale neighborhood of Portland. They had quite the selection of delicious food and we all waddled away with a smile and belly full of food!

The drive home was nice and mellow and before we knew it, we were back in our beautiful homeland of Central Oregon, after a successful outing on the other side of the mountains!

This was the first of many (nine) long and arduous Crusades. I am definitely looking forward to slinging some mud in the name of Trinity Bikes! Keep an eye out for more great stories! Until next time.....

-Shane Johnson

Eugene Celebration Stage Race

Wow, what a whirlwind to the end of road season and start of the fall!

Thanks to a brief respite, I’ve finally had time to write about my (Mike Grindstaff) adventures from the Eugene Celebration Stage Race that took place at the end of August. 

So with 4 hours of sleep and a day’s worth of work in the books, I headed to Eugene Friday afternoon. The race started with a prologue and what a stage it is, 5k with 770ft of climbing. Making sure I was plenty warmed up, I spent almost an hour on the trainer. The first 2k of the course is fairly flat but the final 3k is all uphill. I struggled up the hill to say the least.

Start of the Briggs Hill Road Race.
Photo: Trevor Broderick

Stage 1 was the Briggs Hill RR on Saturday morning. Having never seen the road we were going to travel, I was a bit nervous. Things were not helped when I pulled the bike out of the car and the back tire was flat. I quickly changed tubes and did my best 10 minute warm up. As I lined up with group, the nerves were in full force. After a few last instructions from the race official we were off. I started out in the front part of the group and after a few miles and with legs feeling pretty good, I felt like I could pull the group for a bit. Well, with not knowing the road and knowing that I was not the strongest rider in the group, this turned out to be a mistake. After a few minutes of pulling the group I noticed the first climb ahead. I quickly moved myself to the left and fell back in the group. By the top of climb I found myself at the back with the group pulling away. Thankfully I was able to pull back to the main group. I tried to rest a bit in the peleton, not knowing when the next climb would arrive. When the big climb of day, up Briggs Hill Rd came, I was not prepared for the pace up and by the time I reached the top, I was about 20 yards behind the group. As I tried to regain the group, the distance just increased. I eventually caught up with some other riders that had been dropped as well. Working together we kept up a pretty good pace but could never catch the peloton.

Sunday morning I woke up to rain. Awesome, nothing like a wet TT! After getting confused where the start line was, I started 40 seconds late, which I thankfully made up and then some. After the TT, it was time to get the clothes dried off and get ready for the Crit. Using the heater from car I was able to get the clothes pretty well dried.

Proper bib drying technique.

The legs were pretty tired after a long, frustrating, weekend of racing, but I figured the Crit was my best chance for a podium finish in a stage.

Attempting the break!
Photo: Trevor Broderick

So, throughout the race I hung around the back trying to save the legs the best I could and with 3 ½ laps to go I made a break off the front. Unfortunately there was just not enough left in the legs to hold on and was eventually caught!

Although beat down from this tough stage race, I finished my first road season having learned a ton and meeting a lot of great people! 

Tired, but happy to have completed my first Stage Race!
Photo: Trevor Broderick

I am already looking forward to next season, I can’t wait!!!!

-Mike Grindstaff

Return on the Jedi

The Return on the Jedi is definitely in the top 3 of our favorite races list, and we got to partake in the awesomeness the weekend before last!

We ran a skeleton crew this time around, with Sam, Kai and myself (Shane) making the long, 4.5 hour drive to Southern Oregon to Sam Brown Campground, which is located between Grants Pass and Merlin, OR. The drive went very smoothly with minimal traffic and beautiful views galore!

Our spot for the weekend.

When we arrived, it was getting dark, so we hastily put the tent up and got the beds made so we could get a good nights rest before the next day's adventures. After the long drive, I wanted to spin my legs out, so Kai and I let Sam go to bed and we took off with a headlamp for a ride on the infamous Jedi trail. This ride also had another objective, to see if I was ready to race. Some insight - I had gotten sick right after Sister's, was able to seemingly fend it off, but then the bug, coupled with some allergies came back and decided to hole up in my upper chest, giving me two very tough options:

1. Race - Everything would blow out and I'd be fine -OR- I'd suffer and make myself much sicker.
2. Rest - Suffer all weekend having to watch Sam and all my friends have a blast racing on a course that absolutely love.

Compounding this decision was the fact that I had two weeks of rest, with no racing the next weekend AND Jedi was a good opportunity to add some series points for the Oregon XC Series. GRRRR!!!

Thankfully, the ride helped me decide, as we easily pedaled up the trail I was fine, but any slight effort and I could feel my chest and lungs wanting to tighten up. Frustratingly, I made the call to not ride for the weekend, well at least Saturday....maybe I'd feel better on Sunday?! Haha.

Saturday morning we awoke to another gorgeous, sunshiney day and I found myself in an odd position, running support and nothing else. The tough part is trying to fill the huge shoes that Sam made last year helping me out so much, but I tried my darndest! We cooked up a nice breakfast of poached eggs and toast, I did a quick once-over on Sam's bike and she was off warming up for the morning's short track race. With Jedi, the fields tend to be a bit small on Saturday, but thankfully for Sam, some solid competition showed up in the form of our friend Annie. This created a battle royale throughout the whole weekend, pushing Sam past her previous limits, it was awesome to watch! The STXC race was intense and Sam put together a solid race, finishing right behind Annie for 2nd place.

Sam preparing for the Super D.

Afterwards, we snagged a quick nap in the warm sunshine before we were on the bikes again, this time riding up to the start of the time trial formatted Super D, taking place on the Jedi Trail. A Super D is a cross country style trail where the finish is lower than the start, but there are uphills within the section of trail. The Time Trail format meant that racers would go off one at a time every 2 minutes. Sam felt this would be a fun opportunity to gain some coaching/insight on riding so I came along to guide her through this particular race. She said no holds barred, so you can imagine how brutal I was....haha...yeah right! I sat on her wheel and bombarded her with a constant stream of instructions - "STAND UP!, SHIFT DOWN!, SIT!, PEDAL PEDAL!, etc". It was awesome cause I've never seen her shred a trail that hard, she rocked it! I was so proud!

We got back to camp, ate some pasta and then took a 'nap' which ended up being about 4 hours, so we woke up for a quick snack, a fire, and then hit the hay again for some much needed rest.

Hooray for the warm glow of a campfire!

Sunday morning came, a bit brisker than the previous day, but still a good one. I stuck with my difficult decision to not race the XC, in hopes of letting my body get some faster recovery. I helped Sam get all ready and then went down to the start line to cheer her on as she rode away onto the epic Jedi XC course. She put in a solid effort, finishing in 2nd place, once again, beating a good chunk of the CAT 3 Men in the process!

Sam rocking the hardware!

Tired from a long weekend of racing (Sam) and recovering (Shane), we headed home to the high country with a quick stop at Phil's Frosty in Shady Cove for some superb milkshakes and good, greasy food!

Last weekend was our infamous Trinity Bikes Fat Tire Criterium, we'll be posting some photos and a quick little write-up later this week! We're super excited for next weekend's race, Alsea Falls XC, which doubles as the OBRA State Championships!





-Shane Johnson