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So, while most of OBRA land is in Baker City racing Elkhorn, I find myself missing the faces of friends and the challenge of competition. Having been home for a few weeks now with good weather, I’ve actually been on my bike more than 45 min, 3 days a week. It’s been nice. I really wanted to be in Baker racing, and Brian even worked his butt off to get my road bike ready, but after some long rides it was obvious to me that I wasn’t in any shape to be racing a stage race. Oh well, there’s still some season left to show my face. Instead I’ve decided to lump my last few weeks of riding into my own stage race. Like to hear about it? Here it goes.

Stage 1: 4 Falls in 4 Days

Stage 1 actually lasted 4 days, possibly making it the longest stage in the history of stages. The route started with a nice 3.5 hour ride in Salem. I met up with my good buddy Hugh and we explored some roads around a part of the valley that I’ve never ridden in. It was a nice loop to Silver Falls and the weather held nicely. The second part of the stage took place on Sunday and involved one of my favorite loops that I’ve ever ridden. It’s the Alsea Falls loop outside of Corvallis and it was a beautiful day. Thinking it would be a leisurely stroll, I met up with a group just outside of Philomath. Unlucky for me, the group contained Zach Winter, Jim Fischer (mr. needs to upgrade), Luke (used to be super fast and has been riding 5-6 days a week), Becka and 2 juniors who can kill it. Lucky for me, Alex Newport-Berra was on the ride and although he was once feared on the climbs, he’s been MIA from the bike for over a year. This made me the person with the second least rides in, and therefore, the second slowest! The ride went pretty good with some groupo-compacto riding, and some harder pace up the hills. The roads were clear and the weather was great. We had planned all along to end the ride by going up Mary’s Peak, a 9 mile climb with snow at the top. We all rode our own pace and were rewarded with clear enough roads to get all the way to the top! Part 3 was actually held on dirt and looped me from Phil’s Trail to Dillon Falls on the River Trail. The stage ended with some hard efforts up Skyliner to Tumalo Falls. I feel pretty good about my first stage and found that keeping the theme going made it more fun. To my surprise, I found myself leading the GC after stage 1.

Stage 2: Fresh Air Sports Individual TT, 12 miles

This TT was 6 miles up Skyliner and back. The effort took me 32:10:61 and landed me in 7th place on the day. About 4 miles in, I dropped my chain and it got stuck between the rings and chain stays. I had to get off on a hill and pull it out. Maybe 15 seconds lost. Those 15 seconds would have put me in 5th, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Overall I felt good about the effort and actually improved my 20 min power threshold. That in itself is a small victory. Yeah watts!

Stage 3: I though I was cool until I read this stage, 115 miles

The beginning of this stage consisted of 8 hours over 2 days in Bend and ended with a hors category 7 hour stomp from Oakridge to Bend. My good buddy Jon provided the transfer for this stage. He just moved to Eugene to finish school and needed someone to drive his car over from Bend (He U-hauled it). I volunteered and got the bright idea to ride home from Eugene. After mapping the route, I decided that 150+ miles just wasn’t in the cards and hitched a ride to Oakride 40 miles in. The route took me over HWY 58, over the Crescent cutoff to Cascade Lakes Hwy, Hwy 42, up the Sunriver cutoff and home via Century Dr. 6 hours 52 minutes of moving time. 1 luna bar, 1 gel, 1 Snickers bar and 2 bottles of concentrated Hammer Sustained Energy. I dropped the winner of the TT on the final climb up from Edson snow park and reclaimed the GC lead after this stage. It was the longest that I’ve ever been on my bike in one day.

Stage 4: High Desert Crit, 40 min

This was the first hard and fast ride on my new road bike. The steel frame was stiff and responsive when I needed it to be and paired with an Edge 2.0 fork, provided great cornering stability. A small group drifted off the front and finished with a 30 second gap on the main pack. I put in some good solid efforts and tried to sneak off the front for 3rd with a lap to go. My feeble attempt was quickly swallowed up and I had to settle for 9th place and pack time. GC is protected going into stage 5 which is for the sprinters.

Stage 5: Lower Bridge, 4hrs

This stage was uneventful and won by Timmy Volcano of Rebound Physical Therapy in a sprint finish. Usually on some longer stages the pack will respect the GC leader and stop when he needs to pee. This time we took a cold water and fruit pie break. I thank the group for banding together and collectively stopping for drinks and pie.

The next day is a rest day and this very unique stage race will end on Sunday, the same day that Elkhorn ends, with the Pickett’s Charge! mountain bike race. Stage 4 winner, Carl Decker, will be out there, so it may be hard to maintain the GC lead. No matter the result, this stage race has been a welcome change from the foul weather inside workouts. Thanks for reading!

P.S All the photos are from the Oakride to Bend stage and this muffin was my reward at the end of the day. It's from Humble Bagel Co. and is made with sour cream, oil, butter, sugar and loads of other things that taste delicious.