Stage 6 - Enter the Critasm!

Stage 6 - Location: Downtown Hood River in front of the Full Sail Brewery

Course: 6 Corner Technical Criterium

Race Time: 45 minutes of HE double Hockey Sticks

It was our last day in da Hood and everyone was looking forward to finishing up a very tough race. We had a great time suffering together over the past 3 days, building a bond between teammates that only a trip down to meet Lucifer himself can build but now was the time to finish strong. Criteriums are short races and that usually means going very fast from the starting gun and drilling it until the end. The courses are usually pretty flat so even the big guys can actually have some fun in these races. Our goal for the day, get as many Killer Tomatoes across the line as possible and try to get J-Dub in line to get a shot at the win. The morning started out as usual. We enjoyed our normal big country breakfast and coffee except for Patrick who continued with his traditional 40 lb sack of oatmeal and fresh fruit. After breakfast we began packing our bags, cleaning up the house and loading our cars. We finished around 10:30 and headed downtown to get a parking spot and to start our warmups. The weather forecast called for a cooler day but it was hard to tell from where we were. What we did notice was the wind was starting to pick up from the west which would make the sprint to the finish a climb into a headwind...hmmmm...yeah...sounds like a blast. Jeff Spaulding was the first of the tomatoes to go off as our lone representive in the masters race. He looked pretty strong, hanging in a tough race before getting gapped within the last few laps. Determined to hang in there, he kept going only to be pulled by the officials on the last lap (why we have no clue). Meanwhile, the remainder of the 2/3 squad that included J-dub, Travis, Derek and Michael were out getting warmed up. After the masters race, the 2/3's headed out onto the course to get a couple of laps in before the race. While the course is closed to traffic and is very nice in regards to pavement quality, the technical aspects of this course are pretty tough. Corner 2 is a down hill, off camber, 180 degree hairpin that almost always sees people crash and today would prove that things wouldn't change. Back to the start. The officials decided that since there was a gap in the abilities between the 2's and 3's, they decided they would line up the 2's in front of the 3's in order to avoid any early pileups as the stronger riders moved forward. This also gave the 2's an incentive to drill it from the very beginning in order to drop the weaker riders and have them pulled. This left the tomatoes split up, with J and Travis up front and Michael and Derek in the back. As soon as the starting gun went off, it was apparent that the officials plan to thin the pack was working. Within 5 laps, close to half of the pack was getting pulled from the course. J-dub was in good position toward the front and Travis in the middle and Michael and Derek were bringing up the back. Around 30 minutes into the race, Travis started to move forward in the pack, determined to give take his one shot for J on the back stretch of the last couple laps. Michael and Derek got gapped and were soon pulled. Inside of 10 laps, Travis was about mid-pack when the big crash happened in turn 2 taking him out before he could make it up to J. All those in the crash were pulled from the course which left a pack of about 25 people out of 100 starters. Last lap, Jason comes around Corner 6 about 5th wheel and holds his spot for a 5th place overall and 3rd place in the Cat 2's for the day! After the race it was off to Dirty and Michaels hotel room for showers before enjoying a big honkin burger and a couple of pints at the Full Sail Brewery. After that, it was in the car to head back to Seattle.

Well that's a wrap for another year in da Hood. We want to thank everyone that worked very hard supporting us this year.

1. Ian "Big Dirty" Mullins for your job as our race director and soigner

2. Beki Waisath for documenting all of our races with your awesome photography skills

3. Brad at Cucina Fresca for your sponsorship and support. By the way...your expermental Mac and Cheese is off the hook!

4. Bryne and Michael for donating your car as the team car complete with signs...very cool!

5. To the rest of the team that sent us your words of encouragement and support throughout the race!

Till Next Year!

Stage 5 - Killer Tomatoes get a lesson

The day started off as any other day here. People quietly start meandering into the kitchen around 7:00 in the morning, coffee is made, breakfast is started, a truck pulls up to deliver Patrick's oatmeal for the morning (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit). The guys are little quieter this morning as Stage 5 is going to be tough. 74 miles and 8000 feet of climbing with temps projected to break into the 90's again. What makes it even tougher is that we will be starting in the eastern foothills of Mt Hood where it is much more arid than the where we are in Hood River. Around 8:30 the team car with our Race Director arrives. Dirty will have help today as Michael's wife Bryne arrived last night. Combined with Beki Waisath, we will have 3 cars on the course today, ensuring that all our riders all have transportation. We head out to the start around 9:15 and arrive at the start in Dufur about 45 minutes away. The riders sign in and begin preparing for another grueling day. To keep our spirits lightened up, Big Dirty and Derek decided to show everyone their car modeling skills before the start which was delayed by 1/2 an hour. At 11:30 the Cat 2/3's roll out followed shortly after by the masters toward Mt Hood which is looming a long way off in the distance. The pack rolls out into a series of rolling hills before hitting the first climb inside of 10 miles. At this point the 2/3 pack starts firing riders off the back including Trevor, Neils and Travis who are suffering from the extreme heat. Michael gets gapped but manages to catch back on before getting popped in the second climb. Our climbers, J, Derek and Andy were all looking pretty strong sitting nicely in the pack. Around 25 miles in is the first feed. Bryne up front, Dirty in the back flawlessly handoff ice cold water and cokes. Somewhere along the way, Trevor and Niels pull out of the race. The pack continues on with Travis and small grupetto in tow pick up Michael shortly before entering the foot hills. The masters catch up the Michael and Travis and Spaulding is riding strong but Patrick is missing (who also was having trouble with the heat). Shortly before the second feed, Derek pops off in order to avoid an emergency exploding bladder and decides to wait for Travis and Michael who at this point are riding by themselves. Up the road in the pack, Andy is taken out in a crash shortly before the last 20 K, busting his derailler and taking him out of the race. J-Dub is alone and manages to duke it out for 13th place, losing only a few seconds to the leader and holding his position of 12th in the GC. Spaulding finishes a little bit behind the pack in the masters, having had a great day in the saddle and moving up in the GC. A little while later, Travis, Derek and Michael roll in together, happy to have completed another day. Dirty was there at the finish with cold packs and wet towels to rub everyone down and get them loaded up to head home. The guys immediately hit the showers while Dirty and the crew unloaded bikes and gear. After the showers the guys plowed through another boat load of the best pasta aound, roasted chicken, and garlic bread. Brad at Cucina Fresca also provided us with an experimental Mac and Cheese which is absolutely out of this world. As a matter of fact, most of us agreed once you've tasted it, Kraft should no longer be allowed to call their stuff mac and cheese. Once fed an cleaned up, the guys headed into town where to their surpise, Bill Clinton arrived to stump for his wife. A very interesting twist to a crazy day in the saddle! The mood is a bit relaxed as well as the hardest part of the race is over. Stay tuned to hear about the Crit tomorrow!

Stage 4 - The Race of Truth

Stage 4 - 18.5 miles with 1900 ft of climbing. We went to bed last night excited that we could sleep in as our first rider, Jeff Spaulding would be first to go off at 1:14. Most of us started crawling out of bed around 7:30 though as our stomachs were begging us to be fed. We enjoyed a hearty country breakfast consisted of bacon, eggs, potatoes and OJ except for Patrick who's pre-race meal consists of around 40 lbs of oatmeal mixed with fruit. After breakfast, most of us headed down to the garage to prepare our TT bikes before the race. We were joined by our Race Director, Ian "Big Dirty" Mullins (whom is also the team's Director of the Dirt Squad) who had the logistics planned out for the entire squad. I'd like to take this moment to let everyone know what an outstanding job Dirty is doing here as our Director Sportif. In addition to the logistical planning, he is treating each and everyone of us like as pros. Imagine being driven to the TT start, having your bike checked out, water bottles topped off, ice water rub downs before and after the race. It is amazing and I can't say how great it is (and how jealous the other teams are). Back to the race, everyone left it all out on the course and turned in respectable times. The big gun award today go's to the team TT specialist, J-Dub who laid the smack down and finished 12th with a time of 42:17. Good enough to move him up in the GC to 14th overall in the 2's and 11 seconds from a top ten finish. After the race, we rode home to shower off and put our legs up and recover. After a couple hours of chillin, a group of us mounted our road bikes and headed into town for iced mochas in the local coffee house followed by a recon of Sunday's crit course. The locals here are great and have been very accommodating which is very refreshing. After our night on the town, we headed back to the house for a dinner of Cucina Fresca tortellini, BBQ chicken and salad. After watching some tv, the guys decided to call it a night. Stay tuned for tomorrows details.

Stage 3 - Break out your climbimg legs

Stage 3 - 67 miles, 6600 feet of elevation, lots of pain. We woke up early as we had to pick up our packets before rolling out at 9:00. We left the crib around 7:15 to head to the start. Our Director Sportif, aka Big Dirty immediately went to work on Derek's bike as we found that they were not going to do roll outs on Jr riders. After getting set up, we went for a little ride to warm up before the race. The course is about 19 miles and starts out with a 10 mile climb. It's not that it's that steep, but it goes on for what seems like forever. The pack rolled out on time and after a nice easy roll-out, the pace started to pick up. The pack immediately was cut in half. J, Derek, and Andy made the first climb together with the rest of us in various groupettos behind the main pack. The backside descent is absolutely awesome with lots of twists and turns and after a little work, Travis caught back on. Lap 2 started the neutral feed and out savior Dirty was there to save the day, handing off ice cold water and coke to the killer tomatoes. The pack continued to cruise up the hill and was whittled down even further. Travis lost contact with the group for good and Andy started cramping due to the heat. J and D-Rock continued to look strong riding within the main group. Lap 3, a solo attack goes off and puts 2 minutes into the pack. Everyone else maintains position. Travis catches up with Andy who is cramping pretty bad at this point. Last lap, the pack starts attacking each other, and spreads out. J comes in 18th for the 2's, Derek finishes only :58 secs down at 14th in the 3's which he's looking to make that up on the TT tomorrow. After the race, it was back to the crib to shower, eat, rest. Around 5, the crew headed into town to get some groceries and frappacinos. Back at the crib, we enjoyed a boat load of Cucina Fresca pasta (you get yours at www.cucincafresca.com), bbq'd salmon and salad. But the best was yet to come as once Dirty was done cleaning up, began rubbin down the legs of everyone followed by a date with the hot tub and a cold bath. Tomorrow is the TT. Stay tuned!

Big Pimpin

After a very hectic day at work, I buzzed over to J-Dub's to begin the trek down to Mt Hood for the 2008 edition of the cycling classic. We arrived at the house in Mt Hood about 3 and half hours and a sweet fish burger later. Let me describe the house in two words...FREAKING INSANE! This place is beyond what we expected. The place is HUGE! 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, bonus rooms, huge garage, 3 decks, hot-tubs. If MTV were in town, they would be filming an episode of Cribs. Of course we immediately personalized it with a 4' by 8' banner on the deck overlooking the town. Hood River has been put on notice that the killer tomatoes have arrived. Most of us ate and are hydrating for tomorrow. Stay tuned for Day 1's results tomorrow!

Enter da Hood

Tomorrow starts the second year that the Team will travel to Hood River, OR for one of the tougher stage races in the NW. Things are coming together nicely. We all checked out our systems on Saturday's race at Ravendale where Patrick Dean took a win. We've got our bikes pimped out, the team mansion is ready and I have just a little shopping to finish up tonight. Tomorrow we'll meet after work down at Southcenter Mall to head out on a 4 hour tour down to Oregon. Looks like the weather will be cooperating this year again. The forecast calls for Sunny and HOT!This year we have a nice group of strong guys that have a great shot at taking the Cat 2/3 field as well as some masters riders as well. Tune in for all the action as we update the site throughout the weekend!