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Photos Race report from my wife's point of
view
Day 6
Criterium
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The final
day's criterium went around the Full Sail Brewery (title sponsor)
facility. The weather continued to be unseasonably hot (90
degrees) and the course had absolutely zero shade. The course
featured two climbs per lap and multiple turns, including a 180.
Mike was well positioned in the general classification at 11th
place. He was 25 seconds outside of 9th place. An early
break got established. The entire Healthnet Team rode tempo at the
front to keep the break in check. During the final 20 minutes of
the race, Healthnet increased the pace and began to real the break back
in. Mike's plan was to attack as soon as the break was
caught. However, Healthnet was content to let the break stay
away. They just wanted to reduce the time gap to ensure their man
remained in first place. After the criterium, we all partied at
the Full Sale Brewery and racked up a nice sized bill. After all,
it was hot and tiring watching Mike race. The waitress was
fortunate enough to get Sam's phone number in addition to the 20%
gratuity.
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We are fortunate enough
to have many wonderful sponsors that allowed us to experience this
fantastic atmosphere in Oregon. Without our sponsors-Marx and
Bensdorf Realty, Tristar, Orbea, Alpha Q, Two Men and a Truck and
the many individual sponsors that have helped us, we wouldn't have had
the opportunity to attend this event and bring along our wive's,
girlfriends, and friends. Thank you for your support and thank
you for reading.
Day 5 Road
Race
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101
miles. Several long climbs.
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The lone standing rider on
the team is Michael Olheiser. Mike is the the top placed amateur
in the g.c. He is currently sitting in 14th place. When
we arrived at the staging area, it was blatantly obvious that Mike was
getting no respect from the race officials or the promoters. In
order to get into the caravan, you must have a caravan pass and a
number. The numbers are based on over all placings of your
riders. I went to get the caravan pass and the number and the
official said "I didn't know you guys had a rider in the race". My
reply was to check the top 15. Mike was surrounded by pro riders
and the officials didn't bother to notice. So, I had to make a
number because they didn't have one made up. Then, during the
race, when a rider wants a bottle he radios the team car that he wants
water. We call up to the head official for permission to move out
of caravan order and go to the back of the pack. Then, the rider
drops back 15-20 feet, gets the bottles and then easily rejoins the
pack. However, since Mike is amateur, we weren't getting that kind
of respect. Mike would radio back that he needed bottles.
I'd radio the head official to get permission to break caravan order and
we'd get radio silence. However, the Healthnet team car or the
Toyota United team car would radio up and the officials would instantly
reply for them to go ahead. Because of this, Mike was forced to
drop back 15 cars to get his bottles and then pedal like mad to get back
to the group before the hammer was dropped.
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The stage was hard, even
riding the course in the car. To put the stage into perspective,
I'll attempt to do it justice by comparing to local climbs at
home. The race started out at 40 mph with B.M.C. driving the
pace. The first climb was approximately 4 miles, which I'd compare
to climbing up 78 in Birmingham. A few miles later, the second
climb was another 4 miles or so, about the grade of Karl Daly.
There were several other climbs of this stature thrown in. The
"real" stuff happened at 55 miles and if you looked at the profile, the
road steadily went up for the remaining 45 miles. I'd basically
describe this as a continuous stream of 30 Karl Daly climbs and 10
Belmont climbs with a few descents.
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The final climb was
insane. The final climb went up to Mt. Hood. As little as
two weeks ago, the D.O.T. was still spreading sand and salt because of
the snow. The road was dirty. The final climb was about 10
miles and it was steep. Guys were coming off like crazy. The
pack was quickly reduced to about 30. I was driving the team car
and attmepting to get around all of the riders dropped on the
climb. This is basically what is was like. Climb, climb,
climb...Baldwin (Toyota) dropped, Freddy Rodriguez dropped, Ivan Stevic
(world champion) dropped, Bissell team all dropped, Successful Living
all dropped.... We looked up the road and tried to pick out
Mike. He wasn't in the main group! Where the heck was
he? Over race radio crackled, "Rider 191, Michael Olheiser has
gone off the front". The group exploded as what remained of the
pro teams set a hard tempo to real Mike back in. He was caught,
but the damage was done.
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Now, during this time,
we were trying to get up to Mike in the team car. The officials
let all the pro team cars go up to the main pack, but when we came
through, they yelled at us to stop. I argued with the officials
that our guy was in the main pack and we had to get up there in case
he flatted. They wouldn't let us go. I said to hell with
it and opted to risk a $100 fine and went around the official to get
behind the lead pack in case Mike had a
flat.
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At the end of the stage,
Mike finished 18th. There was a small break that stayed away the
entire day. However, Mike made his way up to 11th on G.C.
The ride was impressive and it makes one realize how Mike is on a
completely different level than any of us. If Mike had a team
worth a damn that could support him (I know I can't offer much help to
him), he would do so much better.
Day 4 Time
Trial
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18.5
miles. Two long climbs. Hot.
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Well, unfortunately, the
U.C.I. officials decided on a 15% time cut instead of the 20% time
cut. This means, I missed the time cut by 5 minutes. It
wouldn't have mattered if I'd known the time cut was 15% or 20%, I was
wrecked. Actually, I probably would have accepted
the "illegal" draft from the team car for the 8.5 mile climb, but I
wanted to suffer alone. In hindsight, I would of been
glad to pay the $100 fine and the 30 second time penalty.
But, I didn't know they would be so anal at this race. At the
Tour of the Gila in New Mexico, if you finished they let you race the
next day. Four other guys were eliminated by time as well,
including a pro from Succesful LIving. However, 13 people
completely dropped out-including several pro riders. The fact that
I've never suffered like that on the bike before and the fact that I
soldiered on and finished the race gave me a sense of
accomplishment. Today, several things ran through my mind as to
what went "wrong" yesterday. I guess the "what ifs". What if
I didn't wear my Coolmax under my helment to keep me from getting
burned? What if I carried bigger bottles? What if I didn't
try to storm down the mountain to get to the front of the pack?
What if I didn't block the wind for Mike and help shelter him? Oh,
well. I overheated, I cramped and I couldn't maintain
the tempo up the climb. As a result, I didn't make the time split
that is normally 20%, but reduced to 15% for this stage.
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Mike Olheiser
(Huntsville), rolled the time trial today. He finished about 20
seconds outside of the top 10. At the time of this writing, the
complete results were not posted. So, the 20 seconds could place
him in 11th for the day or 100th for the day. The guys in the top
10 are all professionals that eat, sleep and breathe bike racing.
Mike works 40 hours a week at Huntsville Hospital. Unfortunately,
none of the pro teams are interested in picking him up and giving him a
contract. Mike has been consistently getting top 15 placings for
the past 4 years at the biggest races in the country. Mike has
also won two master's time trial world championships, two master's
national road championships, 2nd place in the elite road championships,
stage winner of the Tour of Belize, finished 6 seconds behind Dave
Zabriskie in the Tour of the Bahamas time trial, yet no one is
interested.
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It was interesting
watching Mike warm up for the TT. He was set up on the trainer
and he was in the "zone". Ipod plugged in and warmup in
progress. A few minutes later, I smelled something funny.
I realized that he had so much resistance on the trainer and he was
pedaling so hard the tire was getting hot and letting off a subtle
burnt rubber smell. No wonder he is a two time world
champion.
Day 3 Road
Race
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87
miles. 5 times up an 8.5 mile climb. Strangely enough, the
weather is hot.
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The first two days of
racing were in Portland. The weather was pleasantly cool in
Portland. We've now changed venues and made our way to Mt.
Hood. This area is the craziest I've ever seen. There is
snow on the ground. The snow is piled around the cabin we are
staying in. There is snow on the mountain tops of Mt. Hood, Mt.
Ranier, etc. But, the temperature hit 90
degrees!
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The race started right on
the climb. So, the first 8.5 miles were up hill! Toyota
United, Bissell, Healthnet, Succesful Living, Jittery Joes, BMC and some
other pro teams were present and accounted for. They all brought
their "A" teams. The race started in a hurry, because the breaks
were trying to get established. I was comfortable on the climbs
until the 3rd lap. Going up the climb was like being in an
oven. It was friggin hot. Yeah, but it's a "dry" heat.
Well, so is an oven. Anyway, I helped Mike Olheiser stay near the
front. I was actually climbing well. Because we were doing 5
laps on the course (yes 42 miles of climbing) and my attempt to keep the
overall weight low, I went with some smaller bottles and relied on the
feed zone to get the bottles. The first time through, I was unable
to get my bottles. This was due to not knowing where the people
feeding me were located, the fact they were not wearing team clothing to
easily pick them out and the speed. Riding in the pack up the hill
really increased the temperature. There was no wind getting
through. I started to over heat a bit and because I didn't get a
bottle, my electrolyte source was gone. The 3rd time up the hill
was "curtains" for me. I've never had such severe cramping in my
life. I was reduced to clipping one leg out of the pedal and only
"half" pedaling, because if I mad a complete circle, I'd cramp.
What I mean by "half" pedaling is that I'd push down on the pedal and
when I reached the bottom of the stroke, I'd pull up. I was able
to get some bottles and I looked like a pack mule. I had two
bottles on the frame, two in my pocket and at Mountain Dew. I had
8.5 miles up hill to the finish. I had to make the "time cut" of
120% of the winner's time. I estimated the time to be 3:45.
This means, I had to finish within 4:30 to go onto the next day. I
occupied myself by doing the calculations while riding up the
hill. O.K., 8.5 miles to go. Approximately 45 minutes to get
there. Five minutes per mile. O.K., just ride over 10 mph
and I'm good. At the time of the writing, I made the time
cut.
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Mike Olheiser rolled the
road race. He finished 15th and he was the first amateur to
finish. He was comfortably riding in the pack and trading punches
with the "big dogs".
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Riding with the guys at
this level really put your fitness into perspective. One can
roll the Tuesday Ride and win a local race. But, you race these
N.R.C. events with the best guys in the country and guys who have
ridden the Tour and won stages in the Giro (Freddy Rodriguez), you are
quickly humbled.
Day 2
Criterium
- 90 minutes with 130 feet per
lap. The course was actually closer to 250 feet per lap, but the
race bible says 130. The locals say 250. Maybe it is
actually 230 feet per lap and the 130 was a typo. So, the people
that did the 90 minutes did close to 4,500 feet of climbing in a
crit.
- The "criterium" was more of a
circuit race. The course was .65 miles up and .65 miles
down. The course was more of a circuit rather than a true
criterium course. There was one turn that was about 120 degrees
and uphill. People not in the top 10 were forced to come to a stop
to make the turn. You'd think the decent would allow for some
recovery, but not so. Because of the turn, you had to bust tail to
catch back on. I haven't done a criterium of this caliber for
almost 10 years. So, I quickly learned that there is "fit",
"Tuesday World's Fit" and "Race Fit". Because of my trip to New
Mexico and getting sick and all the traveling I've been doing, I haven't
raced in a month. So, my fitness for this crit could be ranked
somewhere between "fit" and "Tuesday Worlds Fit". My "race
fitness" was definitely lacking. Plus, it's spring time in Oregon,
so the pollen is abundant and my allergies are kicking.
Nonetheless, I made it through a good portion of the race. To go
onto the next stage, I had to do at least 30 minutes of a 90 minute
race. I reached the 30 minute point and I think I let my guard
down. At this point, I was in survival mode and just tried to
conserve some energy.
- Mike Olheiser was rolling. He escaped and
quickly built a 30 second lead. He won a $200 prime. Since
Mike was only 15 seconds down on G.C., the Bissell Pro Team got on the
front and drove the pace to real Mike back in.
Day 1 Prologue Time
Trial
- 1.7 miles
- Mike, Sam and I went out for an early a.m. spin
for 2 hours. The rain was coming down and the temperature was
about 50 degrees. The ride was all fun and games until we took a
wrong turn and got turned around. We managed to make it home.
- The time trial was in the evening. We
parked in the team parking lot and set up the bikes.
Unfortunately, flying to races limits the amount of stuff you can
bring. The expendable gear was the trainer. The trainer
would have been useful to warmup on. I used my mad skills and
talked to one of the Vanderkitten girls and she let me borrow her
rollers. I'm embarassed to say that I haven't been on rollers in
three years. So, riding rollers on uneven ground was a little
unnerving at first. But, riding the rollers came back to me and I
managed to stay on.
- Since the race is U.C.I. sanctioned, I had to
get my bike measured and weighed. Since I didn't bring my TT bike,
the measurement wasn't an issue. The atmosphere was cool. I
haven't done a N.R.C. stage race in 10 years. There was an
estimated 6-7,000 people watching the TT. The effort was a fierce
3 minute effort. So, by the time the body got adjusted, the effort
was over. Needless to say, I didn't post a time to brag
about. I used my standard road bike and I was just happy to
start.
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