After taking last weekend off after a solid ride at Het Meer I was ready to check out some of the local series that I’d heard about. Tuesday night was the Portland Trophy Cup at Portland International Raceway. It had been on for a few weeks but with my work schedule it had been hard to make it up to North Portland after work. This week the stars aligned and I was able to switch shifts with a co worker to make the ride over.
The fun thing about weeknight races is there is no time for a pre ride. A lot of the other guys in my field were in the same boat as me, ride to work, ride to the race, pin your number and go! So that’s how it went. With the exception of a couple of spots I had seen during the early races, I had no idea where I was going or what to expect. Turns out none of the other guys did either. The first couple of laps we were getting a hang of the course, the turns, the holes, the loose gravel and the barriers. I lined up on the third row and was got behind a handlebar tangle the row in front. After that all got sorted we hit it. A paved section led into a series of grass corners where I was able to make decent line choices and sneak around some folks. After a rooty area by the second set of barriers I was able to move a up few spots and head to the back side of the course. There was only really one line on the gravel road so passing wasn’t an option but gaps were still made. After a lap I had made my way into the front 10 and was closing on the small group ahead. My lines were pretty quick through the corners and I felt good. Maybe a little too good because as a group caught me I washed my front tire and got swarmed. We hit one to go in a group of 7 or 8 and when I checked my Garmin we were only at 22 minutes. It was a 35 minute race and were pulling 7 minute laps. We should have had 2 more but it is what it is and I started to think about where to make a move. Everyone was pretty well matched on the straights but I had been pretty clean in the corners and on the barriers. After the first half of the lap the doors were getting closed. Spots that I had a different line and was able to pass earlier were not there anymore. I was able to finish 15th on the night after not being able to move up but I had kept it upright in the last couple of laps and counted that as a positive.
The following evening was Blind Date at the Dairy at Alpenrose Dairy. Nestled right in between my office at Yakima and home it is the ideal mid week training race. Oh yeah and they make badass promotional videos. I cruised over to the dairy after work with Dianne, our creative director in the office and a badass cross racer in her own right, and met up with my boss Dave who was kind enough to carry my race wheels over in his car. Sticking with the midweek race tradition there was no time to pre ride so I just cruised around a peeked at what I could see. From what I could see everything looked rideable and pretty fast. It would be my first time on a velodrome which I was pretty psyched on. I had another third row start and when the gun went I made sure to move up as much as I could in the first lap. There weren’t a ton of places to pass but I made up some ground.
A couple of laps in it started to get dark. I wasn’t that worried as I was kind of good with the lines I had ridden but it would have been cool to be able to see in some of the sections that weren’t lit. I had moved into the top 10 and opposed to the night before this was a 50 minute race. I started to get a feel for my lines and where I could rail. As time passed I moved through the fields in front, first single speeders then the women’s A field. Now this is going to be hard to comprehend for my buddies back down south but in just my heat there were a hundred and twelve starters. ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT. There was constantly someone in front of you or behind you. It was incredible. When you would see someone up the road you would chase only to find that they weren’t in your race. It was nuts.
With two to go I was lapped by the Men’s A leader who was on a mission. I tried to hang on but that was going to happen. Committing to another guys line in the dark was not something I was ready for. I tried to keep an eye on him but it was over as fast as it came. After another half lap second, third and fourth passed me. I was ok with it. It was getting late. By the end of the race I had 5th place in my sights but ran out of space. 6th place on the evening and not being able to see was pretty dope.
Alright, finally, race number 3 of the week was up at the Washougal MX park in WA for Ninkrassi of the GPRM series. First of all the drive up was gorgeous. Following a river road for 7 or so miles up to the venue that was in a meadow over looking the ridge of the opposite side of the river. We couldn’t have asked for a better spot to spend a Saturday. The track was pretty heavy. All of the downhills were fast and bumpy with 2 pretty long climbs, 1 that was smooth and steep the other that was loose dirt with bumps. No time to rest unless you were getting dropped.
The iconic feature of the course was the Ninkassi N that designed into the side of the hill. Fucking brilliant on the promoters part. How many times can a promoter say to a sponsor, ‘If you decide to become the title sponsor we will design your logo into the track and make sure that it appears on everyone’s Strava file for eternity. (For real, at the bottom of the file, zoom in and rotate it. Dope!)
I got a call up to the second row(!) and when the whistle blew I was able to make my way to 5th wheel over the top of the climb. I felt really good and decided that I needed to go for it. the first and second place guys had a better start and were already moving away when I attacked the downhill through the ruts and got a gap from the group into 3rd. I attacked again up the loose sandy climb and was a lone. I rode consistently and conservatively while still making sure to attack the uphills and not brake in the descents. After two laps I started to see 4th place gaining. I wasn’t going to freak out. I was riding my race and sticking to the plan and if I got caught while still riding clean then screw it, he’s a better rider than me. That’s exactly what happened. At the end of third lap he came past me on the climb and started to gap me. I tried to hang on but his pace was really high and we still had a ways to go.
After another lap Kyle who was 5th started to bridge up. He had stormed past me at Blind Date to the take the win on Wednesday and I knew he was a strong rider. I kept it in check and let him do his thing. After he bridged I punched it over the barriers, got a gap and headed down the descent. We were starting to get into lapped traffic but everyone was pretty cool with a pass if you let them know where you were headed. By the end I was able to hang on to 4th for my best result to date considering the field and I’m fucking stoked about it. Next week is another Blind Date and the finale to GPRM.
