Eugene Roubaix

Daren you were definitely busy last week. Three races in one week is pretty extreme. But sounds like you fared really well. Sutt how did you do on Saturday? I ended up finishing around 13th (I haven't checked the final results yet). I decided to follow Daren's format of things I learned this week.

1. Positioning is everything! I felt much more confident in the group this week, which helped as the pace was a lot more intense. The course was a 13 mile loop, with the final 3 or 4 km's of dirt and gravel. After the dirt it took you right up a steep hill, which was pretty tiring. Coming into the last dirt and gravel section I was in a great position, about 7 or 8th place. We caught down three riders who had a break away with 300 m to go. One of the guys tried to move into our group as we passed, causing me to have to swerve around him and fish-tail in the loose gravel. I tried hard to catch back up, but that quick side-step caused enough of a gap that I couldn't catch back up. I finished right behind the first group. Like I said positioning is everything!

2. Eat after a race. I didn't get the chance to eat for a while after the race and am still paying for it. My stomach is still in knots as I write this on Monday morning.

3. Some people are genetically gifted. Some people just have a motor that allows them to accelerate a lot faster than I could ever dream of.

4. Cat 4/5 usually have a huge group with people who don't know what they are doing. Again our group was huge. It wasn't as big as the King's Valley, but we still had around 60 riders. Some guy started in front of me and was all over trying to get to the front, he even had a commuter light on his helmet. We had a few flats and crashes on the gravel section, but I was fortunate enough to stay at the front and avoid any of those incidents.

5. Uphill TT start this week and I hope to be able to do a few of them. It is 5 km of torture. I will let you know how it goes.