Piece of Cake RR

This past weekend, I (Shane) along with team supporter extraordinaire Sam, headed over to the valley for the Piece of Cake RR in Perrydale which is just south of Amity, OR. With the nice weather that showed up near the end of the week, the pass was fantastic and clear for the super early drive (left at 6:00am) to the race.

Sunshine was out at the Perrydale School, where the race started.

Although a super early departure was utilized, it probably should have been a bit earlier to get a proper warm-up in, but I figured since it was a road race, I'd be able to get away with hopping on the bike and sitting in for a bit before things got crazy. I must note that the weather was absolutely gorgeous, super minimal winds and the sun was out, soo awesome! After a little straightening up with the race organizer about my correct bib number, thank goodness she caught the error that I totally overlooked, I started the race preparation phase - put on the beautiful checkers, pin the numbers on, fill up the bottles with Nuun and Max Muscle products, helmet on, etc. After the prep, it was just about time to race, so I met up with the team's good buddy/arch enemy Ryan Garner with Tensegrity PT Cycling and we warmed up at staging by joking around with a couple of the other racers. After listening to a run-down of the rules of the course, we were off!

Ryan and I at staging 'warming-up'!

Ryan and I were both utilizing the first portion of the race to warm up the legs so we started near the back and had a chuckle after realizing we were 55th and 56th of 56 man peleton. After a little hill and descent, the peleton began to string out a bit in the middle which meant it was time to turn the legs on the and power up and move up to the front quarter of the group. We made this move right before a very interesting part of the race.


The Piece of Cake course is very unique for a road race as it has about 2-3 miles of gravel road per loop. Riding on gravel isn't much of a problem for me with a cross and mountain bike background, but the super increased likelihood of a flat definitely put me on edge. On our first lap through it was funny a bit disheartening at the same time, as within the first 100 meters of gravel, there were about 3 or 4 guys that had to pull out with flat tires. You're probably nervous now, and wondering how my Continental GP4000 S tires with about 1500 miles on them did, right? Well........they did awesome! I felt super strong and the bike just killed it through the gravel section and I came out of the gravel in the top 5-10 spots. Unfortunately, right before the gravel, four guys had gotten off the front, they were semi reachable coming off the gravel but I was a bit nervous to close the gap solo and figured that the peleton would be able to work together to pull them back. It's always a gamble with breakaways in road racing as you never know which one will stay away and which ones will be pulled back. That early in the race is usually pretty hard to stick and finish ahead of the main group, but this happened to be one that did and ended up being the one tactical error I made on the day.

Riding the tire eating gravel.

The rest of the race consisted of a lot of work on the front, trying to organize a solid chase of the guys out front. Eventually, one and then two of the four guys dropped off the breakaway and re-joined the peleton, but due to a lack of organization and a frustrating lack of work in the peleton, the two man breakaway was able to hold about a solid 25-35 second gap for the remainder of the race. Although it was tough on the emotional side to have to watch them stay away, it was good for my fitness (which was the goal of the day anyhow) as I was able to take some super solid pulls all day at the front of the peleton.

Working with the front group.

With about 3-5K to go, I did decide to play it more tactfully and settled in about 5 wheels deep from the front and let my legs recover from the harder efforts of the day. At 1K to go, things began to get awkward in the peleton, as it always does for a group sprint. Being limited to one lane, the front of the group suddenly was crammed into that single lane 4 riders wide. I happened to be in the second line so I immediately began watching for openings or gaps to prevent myself from being boxed in for the sprint. With about 500 meters to go, one of the guys on the front took off opening a gap for another in my line to go through. I followed suit with a strong effort through the hole. My legs had fully recovered with the short respite and allowed me to power by both of the guys who had initiated the sprint and with about 400 meters to go, I was out front and able to settle into a nice and smooth sprint to the finish line on the wide open road. Although I knew I was fighting for third as the two from the breakaway had already taken first and second, the feeling of being in the lead of a huge group feels absolutely fantastic! I was able to hold consistent power and put a three bike length gap on fourth place to earn a spot on the podium!!

Sprinting for the finish!

This was definitely one of my favorite top finishes as I had really played my cards right the entire race, aside from my one error in the beginning with letting the breakaway get away.


-Shane Johnson