Neil Shirley Mt. Hood Classic Diary – Stage 1
5/14/08 - Well, I know that you have been on the edge of your seat eagerly anticipating the Stage 1 journal. I really hope I don’t disappoint any of you, but honestly there isn’t much to say about a sub-3 minute stage. I’ll try to make the stage as exciting as possible then I will fill you in with the rest of the details of my trip up to Oregon.
I started the morning with a two-hour ride in the outskirts of Portland with Evan Elken, Ben Kneller, and Matt Shriver. The four of us are the Jittery Joe’s contingent for the week. With this not being a team race, we all decided to do this one on our own since it is known to be an incredible race. It should provide a good buildup for Philly week and then Tour De Beauce.
The Stage 1 Prologue was held in downtown Portland right on the riverfront. It was a 1.7-mile pan flat time trial, not exactly my cup of tea. You always want to start a stage race out on a high note, but realistically the time gaps will be so minimal from the prologue compared to the big climbing days later in the week. I didn’t get the best warm up in but I think the two-hour ride this morning probably helped out a bit. I went as hard as I could and just broke the three-minute mark. I’m not sure who won or what the fastest time was but I can tell you that I’m 100% sure it was not me! I was joking with someone when I said my goal was a top-100 but when I heard that there were 190 riders in the race I guess maybe that wouldn’t be so bad after all! So that’s about it with the race, now on to the fun stuff.
Neil Shirley's sweet new Vanagon Westfalia Camper provides the comforts of home.
photo © neilshirley.com
Since this was not a team race I was able to make my own travel plans and schedule. This included being able to drive up to Oregon from San Diego with my wife Cindy and our 6-month-old daughter Charlotte. We left on Friday at noon and headed up to Laguna Beach and had lunch with my teammate Jonathan and his wife Alana. From there we went to my hometown of San Luis Obispo for the night. The next morning I did a 4-hour ride with my best friend Dillon Clapp of Lezyne and a few other old buddies. Later, we had dinner with my dad and crashed out in my old bed for the night.
We left SLO at 6 AM Sunday morning and started the long haul up to Ashland, OR. It was a 12-hour drive through the center of CA and into Southern Oregon. We arrived in Ashland at 6 PM, just in time for me to get in an hour spin. My legs felt like a bucket of poo! After my 1-hour torture spin I took Cindy out for her first Mother’s Day dinner ever. I found a cool little pasta place that had fresh, homemade organic pasta. It was a great dinner; we even celebrated by sharing some berry pie a la mode. With full bellies we headed off to our KOA campground next to Neil’s Creek, so I guess it was meant to be! It would be our first night spent in our new Vanagon Westfalia Camper. I am even more stoked on my camper after spending the night in it, what a blast.
The next morning we headed out early for our ultimate destination, Portland. It was another 5 hours of van time but we arrived in time for me to get in 2 hours on the bike. We are staying in the van parked out in front of my brother’s house for the next two days until we head to our campsite in Hood River.
It’s like a family reunion right now, seeing my brother, sister in law, niece and my mom. We are having a wonderful family trip so far and I’m sure it will only get better.
I’m sure after tomorrow’s 90-minute criterium I will have a lot more racing to report on. I hear that this will not be your typical crit. It has a lot of climbing and is quite technical so it should be exciting!
Neil Shirley
