Eugene Roubaix

      A lot has been happening with the team these past few weeks so I'm just now getting a chance to tell you about my debut road race with Mr. Sean Lewis a couple of weeks ago. Early on a Saturday morning not two weeks ago Sean and I woke up earlier than I knew existed and headed for greener pastures. At 5:45 am Sean rolled up to my house, we loaded up my bike and gear and somewhat reluctantly drove ourselves in the direction of Eugene, where we would soon be participating in the Eugene Roubaix. It's called the "Eugene Roubaix" because much like the famous "Paris Roubaix" it is really scary and hard. Each lap of the course has a 1.5 mile section of gravel road that was to be navigated on a road bike, in close quarters (my front tire was generally 6-12 inches behind the rear tire of the person in front of me) at around 20 mph.
     Don't let me forget, on the way over the pass we got a flat tire. Luckily Sean is extremely prepared at all times and had a full size spare tire waiting eagerly to be put to use. After a quick change over we were back on our way, hoping that the day only held one flat tire for us.
     Upon arrival we suited up (changed in the front seat), signed in and started our warm-up. The weather was warming up, the sun was out and the months of rain in the valley had actually paid off and left only beautiful green plants and bright flowers in it's wake.
     The first lap of the race was at an easy pace and Sean and I were working to find our place in the peloton and learn a little bit about road racing while we went. The group stuck together for the first lap and a half until we hit the gravel a second time. At the gravel the group would spread out into a long single file line of 20-30 riders trying to stay in the narrow hard packed section. About halfway through the gravel one rider cramped up and slowed dramatically, causing the last 8 or so riders to get dropped from the main group. Unfortunately Sean and I were in this back group and were dropped by the leaders. After about half a lap of trying to catch up I sat in and pedalled by myself until I was able to pair up with another rider. For the remainder of the race (1.5 laps or so) he and I exchanged pulls in an attempt to keep our pride. We were able to finish 14th and 15th place, Sean had made a pit stop at the finish line with one lap to go and came in a few minutes behind us in 17th.
     At the end of the day we were happy with the results. A lot of learning took place and it was a great day of training for our upcoming mountain bike races! Thanks for reading and check back next week to read about the Cascade Chainbreaker!


-Cory Tanler