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!
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