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!
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