Frozen Flatlands 2008

This year's edition of the Tour of Frozen Flatlands lived up to its foreboding name. The two day omnium consisted of a 60 minute Circuit Race on Saturday, followed by a 50 mile Road Race on Sunday. Our team has sent riders over to Spokane for several years with varying degrees of success. Last year was my first year and I loved the course (and the sun) so much that we made a point of racing for both days again this year.

Spring racing in the Pacific Northwest can be wet, cold, windy and just downright miserable. And after checking the weather forecast on Friday night, I was expecting the worst. The forecast was for rain and snow overnight, clearing in the pm and then more rain and wind on Sunday...joy. But we packed up the team van and Jeff's car for our early departure. Spokane or Bust! Along the way I was phoned by Nadia White from NRO saying that the race was iffy at best, due to an inch+ of snow on the ground. She'd keep me posted. Turned out they got a snow plow for the road and postponed the races all by two hours. So finally after our 9:30 am arrival, the Cat 3's were racing by 12:30 pm. 5VV wasn't represented in the 3's (not yet anyway), so we had to wait another 3 hours for our race to go off.

Our Team is currently composed of Cat 4's and 5's and we are now getting quite a team. I'm ready to upgrade to Cat 3 and I hope my teamies Elliot Bassett and Brendan Halpin will do so as well. Grant Kier, Alex Gallego and Matt Seeley are our Cat 1/2 men.

Okay, so back to the racing! The Circuit Race is like a giant Criterium, run on a winding, 2.3 mile course. There were a couple of hairpin turns to keep us on our toes and a BIG headwind coming into the final stretch. Put all these ingredients together in a Cat 4/5 race and what do you have? A totally sketchy, dangerous and ugly race that will make most any spectator cringe. Yep, that's what it was! Casualty number one was our newest member, Rob Gillespie. Welcome to the team Rob! Rob went down in a pile up on lap 3 or so. I didn't even know what had happened, but I was told that it sounded and looked really bad. Rob survived without too much road rash and a bike good enough to keep riding, so he trailed for the rest of the race.

The race was run hot. The Cat 4/5's rode the fastest lap at ~5:30 and our overall average was 24.3 mph. After getting home I downloaded my HR info and had a 161 average HR. I maxed out at 173. Ouch. I wasn't feeling that good at first, but got into a rhythm and did okay. Everyone else looked great. Elliot was pushing the pace with Jason Ames and several times I saw Willy riding IN FRONT OF ME. Good job Willy, you're doing great. So of course, like any 4/5 race, every breakaway was almost immediately chased down, that was until 2 riders got of the front with 4 laps or so to go. Five Valley Velo came up front and we reeled them in, but then another solo rider took off and Jason reeled him in. Last lap and all of the main group (~45 riders) were together. We came around the last corner and into the straight away for the sprint. Jeff Twohig and I were caught in the middle and had to wait to get free. Elliot's line was better. Elliot takes 6th, I get 9th and Twohig about 15th. Only the top ten got points and were officially scored. Our adopted son, Jason Ames took it after a MONSTER sprint. And he says he can't sprint.

Sunday's race started on time despite the wind and the rain. It was about 40 degrees, raining and windy when the Men's 1/2 pack rolled out. We were warming up on the trainers, under the tent and were the last to go at 11 am. Our Sunday Squad was 11 riders strong. Elliot and I were the de facto leaders after the prior day's results, but we were getting the fresh legs of Dean McGovern, John Melvin, Greg Larsen and Dave Cook. Ely Wilkerson, Kyle Shannon, Jeff Twohig, Rob Gillespie and Willy Zellmer were ready to put the hammer down and get some nice results for the team. Let's go boys.

Fast forward to the 15 mile marker and the driving hail storm into our faces as we headed into the wind. Can anyone say "Tour of Flanders?" We turn the corner at ~18.5 mile and now have a strong side wind.

At mile 20 there begins a set of rolling hills that will take us to "the Wall" at mile 40. Hill number one, I test the field by going off the front and upping the tempo a little. Will anyone follow? Then Jeff rushes up to me and says, "Let's do this" and the race was on. Next came two Spokane boys and then Elliot and Rob. We had a break on this first, long and gradual climb, in the middle of a sleet and hail storm!

There were 8 or 9 of us in all, 4 5VV, 2 Spokane Rocket Velo, 2 Emde riders and one other. Word has it that Dean and John Melvin did a good job disrupting the flow back in the peloton and slowed them enough for us to get away. Thanks guys.

We raced over each of the next several hills and I thought that we'd be caught. Another 2 or 3 riders bridged us, but not Jason (the Omnium Leader). We worked the best we could in the wind until we hit the wall. I charged up it with Elliot on my wheel and he got away with three other riders. I was next with two others and the rest were scattered down the hill. The chase was on with 8 miles to go to the line.

So it was beginning to look like 4 guys in the top 10 and maybe Elliot would win this bastard. I was going for fourth and not chasing him down. He was ~10 to 15 seconds ahead and 4 miles from the finish when he flatted, so as I passed him I yelled to get a wheel and began the chase for the leaders. Michael Sirott and I reeled the two ahead of us in with ~3 to go and the five of us raced to the 3k sign. At ~1.5km I was in front and no one would come around. I began to spin and my mph began to slow. I was hoping for an early jump and just inside 1k, two guys went and I was now 5th wheel. Perfect! At 200 mtrs they began to fade and the real sprint was on. I came from third to take the sprint! But I had 2nd overall as one of the three Elliott was with had ridden off the front and we couldn't get him. Racing just behind me were my teammates Jeff Twohig and Rob Gillespie, finishing a respectable 7th and 8th. Awesome work in the 30 mile breakaway, boys!

The rest of the peloton had shattered after chasing us and riders were coming in for a while. Talk about an epic race!

Thanks again team for a great showing and some nice results to boot. If you click the title of this blog you will get the website for results and pictures. I'll put up an album in a day, too.

Check out our new team banner. This baby caught a lot of stares and even more comments. It also doubled as shelter from the elements. The guys thought it was great and really made us look like a team.


Be sure to do business with all of our AWESOME sponsors! And be sure to thank them for supporting our team. We couldn't do this without them.