Neil Shirley Mt. Hood Classic Diary – Stage 6
5/19/08 - I really wish I could tell you that I won the final stage. But I can’t. Today I had the opportunity I have been waiting for all week. The chance to win a stage.
The final stage was a 75-minute crit in Downtown Hood River. The challenging 6 corner course was one mile around and had close to 100’ of climbing every lap. My motivation was waning a little this morning as I was disappointed with how the weeks racing has gone. But after a pep talk from Cindy and some liquid courage (triple shot of Jittery Joe’s espresso) I was good to go.
I knew that in a crit like this my only shot at a podium spot would have to come in the form of a breakaway. I have finally accepted the fact that my1,200 max wattage isn’t going to win me many bunch sprints. I’m OK with that, it just teaches me to look for other ways to try and win.
With my mom, brother, niece, sister in law, wife and daughter all on the sidelines rooting me on I wanted to make sure I at least gave them something to cheer about. I started the race at the back since I decided not to line up 10 minutes early just to bake in the sun. It took me about 5 laps of zigging and zagging to reach the front. Healthnet already had control of things and were setting a good tempo. I followed a few moves and then went for a prime. After I won the prime I looked back and saw that 10 of us had a gap on the field. It looked to be a good move as most teams in the race were represented. To my delight everyone worked well together without anyone trying to take a free ride on the back. Rock and Toyota both had two riders in the move with Stevic being the best sprinter on paper. We still had 20 seconds with 3 laps to go so I knew the winner would be coming from the break. I had my game plan set, I was going to jump 600 meters from the finish in a right hand corner. I knew a line I could take and potentially slingshot off the front and hopefully hold the gap to the line. Well, I wish I could have given it a shot but in the downhill chicane at the start of the last lap Doug “O Show” Ollerenshaw (Rock) put on a show alright. He decided to push it a bit to hard in the corner and his front wheel washed out. I happened to be right behind him, I locked it up and amazingly avoided going down. His teammate Clinger who was on my wheel wasn’t so lucky and he crashed into his teammate. After nearly coming to a stop I was able to catch back onto the back of the break before the finish line but not soon enough to get past anyone. So 7th out of 10 isn’t exactly what I was hoping for but hey at least I have all my skin. I am really happy about racing aggressively today and I did what I set out to do but when you are in a position to win and come up short it is always tough.
Pinfold of Symmetrics out sprinted Stevic to take the win. I like both of those guys a lot but it’s good to see Pinfold get the win, he has a few less opportunities than Stevic throughout the year. Bozzana of Successful Living took third. If I’m not mistaken Successful Living also won the Team Classification for the race. It is cool to see the level of that team continue to improve each year. Although, the team that impressed me the most was California Giant Strawberries. They are hands down the best amateur team in the country. They were in every break the entire stage race as well as a 2nd place for James Mattis on the hardest stage. They have an impressive amount of depth for being a NorCal only team. They could take the jump to the pro level with the roster they have right now. Look for them to continue crushing it this year.
Cindy, Charlotte, and I headed out immediately after the race. We stopped for the night in Lincoln City, which is on the Oregon coast. We will begin the trip back down south tomorrow via the coastal route to finish off our business/pleasure trip. Oh yeah, I made a new rule; no more RV Parks for me. I think in order for you to enjoy your stay in these places you have to be 65 or older, smoke, have a small yappy dog, and go bug your neighbors every waking moment! I’ll be the first to admit that I’m anti-social but give me a break, how many times can I talk about the weather in one day?
It will be nice getting back home and finding my routine again. I will have two weeks to get ready for the 3 race series of Philly Week and then immediately up to Quebec for Tour De Beauce. Then, Tour De Nez? We’ll see, sounds like a lot right now. I hope you enjoyed my journals this week and hopefully you will read them again during Philly week in early June.
