Howdy.

Sorry it’s been awhile…..

I’m at the Cascade Classic in Bend, Oregon right now. It’s been a great race that’s been going fairly well for me with the exception of the visit from my Uncle Crampy in stage one…….I don’t really like that guy, and man was he in a sour mood.

All week I’ve been on early break patrol. I found it on stage two and rotated my little you know what off for the next hour and a half. Neil Lavernen Shirley, Aaron Olson and I pretty much kept that party alive with a 48 km/h average for about the first hour and a half……. Ouch.

Another highlight was the time trial……………….No TT bike, aerobars, aero wheels…..um, aero helmet…..oh, and yes, no skinsuit. Nothing. A water pistol at a gun fight, if you will. Merckx style. For the record, that style sucks. I rode it fairly hard due to fears of the Nathan O’Neil-Chris Baldwin time cut. 7 miles later, O’Neil put 2:12 into me. Ouch.

That night in the criterium I almost snagged myself a big “W”. Evan and I slipped into the break that went after about 20 minutes of racing. The break built up a decent lead, then stopped working together, then prematurelly started attacking each other and then got caught by the bunch with a lap to go. Right before getting caught with one to go, I hit out and took it all the way to the last corner. 200 meters from freedom……..damn.

In the final circuit race Big Neil “Lavernen” Shirley pulled of a win. Early in the race a break of 4 went with Neil in it. Fast forward a few laps and Neil took the win in a sprint. I was really happy to see Neil get such a nice result. He’s had a few big setbacks this season so it’s nice to see his form finally where it should be.

That’s about it for now. I fly home tomorrow morning. I’ll rest up for a few days and then fly back out east for the Tour de Toona.

Cheers.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.