Elkhorn Stage Race-Day 1

6th Place Oregon Trail Road Race Elite 3

The race did not begin until 1:40 for our group and we (Ethan, Troy and Connie) arrived the day before and got a chance to pre-ride the TT course and the finish of the final stage. It seemed like forever waiting until it was finally time to get ready. We went down to the Baker City High School where the race began and signed in. The race started out easy and Ethan, Troy and I sat up in the top 10 taking it easy. The race was out and back and from the course profile it looked to be a steady descent out and then a steady climb back to the finish. After the neutral roll out of town we got a steady pace going and guys started trying to make some breaks happen. I just sat in watching them waste their energy. My legs did not feel that good, but as we were heading out I was happy with the climb to the finish that I was seeing. It was not my favorite as the climb was dead straight, but it looked just good enough that it would be able to split the field up some. We got to some little hills and I tested my legs out hoping they would come around. Otherwise on the way out I took it super easy in the pack trying to find that sweet spot. We got into Richland (the town that we would turn around at) and rolled through the town and started on back. I went to the front and my legs felt good now and I started up a decent tempo. We still had 40 miles to go though so I took it easy and made it through the feedzone with two full bottles. It was a super hot and dry day and water became essential. We got to about mile 65 when the decent size climbs began and it was super windy. I took a hard pull thinking to myself “rip their legs off” but it was too windy and I didn’t want to waste it now. I went with the attacks up the climb and sat on. I began to hurt and as the group got down to about 6 with about 20 guys 5 seconds back and I began to wonder what I should do. Then two guys attacked and I thought about going with them but I thought that there was still 10 miles at that point into a gnarly wind and I figured that that they would not stay. Well the group of 20 caught us and we started rolling. I sat in and then when I saw the 1k sign I tried to get in good position but we were all in the gutter trying to stay out of the wind and moving up was not easy. I was able to sprint into 4th in the field with the two guys that had attacked hanging 6 seconds ahead of us. The race wound up being only 75 miles when I had thought that it would be 81 so the break was able to stay. I was pretty happy with my result though and glad that I had gotten a bit of a later time for the Time Trial the next morning due to my good finish.