The Roadie Win!

(Biggest race numbers ever!)

After about 20 races this year, I've finally got a road win. The final stage to Methow Valley stage race was 130km in the heat of Washington State, something us Canadian arnt accustomed to.

I was pretty bummed at the start of the stage and it took a good 40km to get into the race. The race was very rolling with a few steep pitches and longer gradual climbs. On the backstretch a headwind was very persistent as the road snaked up the side of a hill.

Half-way into the race I noticed a guy who seemed pretty strong go for a solo flyer off the front. Seeing as how I was about 5 back in the pack, I chased hard and when looking back on the crest of the climb I noticed we had a good 20 second break. It really surprised me as there were a lot of the powerhouse Carter team up front, who had been controlling the race and had about 10 guys in the pack.

So me and this guy took turns pulling for a lap. I noticed he was fading a little bit coming around on the second to last lap(about 40km to go) he said he couldn't go any further once we reached the steepest pitch of the loop, so on I went. I didn't think a solo break would hold off seeing as how the Carter and Hagaans-Burman team had so many guys, but anyway I thought I would give it a go.

The second last lap I drove it about 90% in a full aero position, mainly trying to stay consistently pedalling and working pretty hard. I drank a bottle of water a lap as it was crazy hot compared to what we've been riding in.

Before the final lap I came through the feed zone and found out I had actually GAINED time on the pack. Upping the gap to about 2minutes, 50 seconds. From here I ate as much as I could stomach and downed another bottle before digging deep and riding the last 20km.

The last lap I could feel the legs cramping and I knew if the pack wanted to chase, they would be coming on hard. So I didn't think about it and just pedaled. At this point I had a lead car in front of me, and another one following me about 20 meters. It felt so PRO. hah.

Anyway, I managed to hold on for the solo win. a couple groups chased hard and widdled my gap down to 45 seconds, but I still had time to savor crossing the line.

One of the real stories was the team who worked like dogs keeping any potential breaks from catching me. Anything that moved Sebastian, Julian, Chris, and Scott were on it and worked perfectly for me. It was more a team victory than anything else as I know how hard they must have worked all day.

Overall I came 5th in the GC, and Scott pulled out a 7th, so it was a good race for both of us.

The nice thing about a hot, hard ride is that it takes about half a beer to get ripped...and burgers never taste better!

In other news Sebastian and I are having a mustache growing competition. We'll see how that goes.

(Sebastian's first encounter with a dishwasher)

This weekend is the Banff stage race, but the team seems to have a rash of broken vehicles, so number one is finding something that will get us there.