Therapeutic Associates PDX Cycling

Photos used with permission by: Catherine Lee Cooper Photography (all rights reserved)

It was perfect wether for wrapping up the Banana Belt series at Henry Hagg Lake. Reports from the various Cats:

Mens Pro/I/II:

We had nothing to lose in regards to the series so we had a open game plan to look for opportunities.  I was thinking that we might start off a little slower but no such luck, the attacks came fast and furious within the first two miles.  We had a decent crew of 6.  In the first couple laps Alex & Erik were in the first credible moves with a good combination of other teams represented.  Unfortunately there were several smaller teams with some power to pull each back.  On lap 3 Erik made another credible move but it got pulled back and a counter surge occurred that looked to have one of our guys but it was Capo and a couple HPC and a couple other unknowns, no TAI, we were forced to chase hard for over a lap to catch them.  I was extremely impressed with some of Casey’s pulls at the front, along with Brant, Erik & Mike who also did a incredible amount of work.

Short track and ‘cross without barriers. Report from Jeff:

Photo by Hot Foot Photo

It feels like summer, even though it just the first week of May. Both PIR Series and the romp around Hagg Lake are in full swing.

At Banana Belt, we chased hard, covered attacks and ended up with 2 top 10′s and just missed the podium with a 4th.

Men’s 1/2: we had a full compliment of guys out, with the intent of getting Erik in the running for the series. Along with the nice weather, came wind. Only 750′ of climbing per lap, still ends up being close to 4K.

Breaks were chased, and the pace was pushed. Near the end, as they were overtaking a neutralized, slower field, there was confusion with the lead car, and a group without us was away at the end. Kevin, after protecting all day brought home the top spot.

Rich also was 10th in the Open 3′s field.

Brad Meier showed that he is learning fast, and even though he expressed some disappointment with his result, he still brought home a 4th. His placings as a brand new racer continue to impress.

Sarah, the lone TAI woman, was 7th in the 3′s.

Monday night PIR was the fastest that many could remember. Men’s 1/2/3 report from David:

Wow!!  What a impressive showing of strength, team work and dominance tonight at one of the fastest Mon PIR on record, on pare with Tues PIR speeds!  Some of the fastest riders were there tonight.  We controlled the race from start to finish!  We weakened the field lap after lap with Cancellara-Like attacks coming from Brant, over and over.  Kevin, Shepherded Alex around all night and protected him with some super human pulls at 32 mph.  Roger took some impressive pulls out front as well.  Rich was right there in the action at all times, ready to do his share in the work to pull moves back.  There were multiple break attempts that were dangerous that all of us made sure that Alex was in, especially Kevin & Brant were right there at all times to make it happen.  Alex also had to give some pretty big digs of his own to get in the right position.
Eventually with 6 laps to go, Brant & Kevin put in some Hercules efforts that tore apart the tiring peloton and only left  about 6 to 7 riders off the front that included Alex,Rich, & Kevin.  The other riders in the break wouldn’t work at first so a few managed to barely bridge up which included Brant and myself.  So 5 TAI in the winning move of 13-14 riders and some of the fastest guys in the race left behind, sweet!
On the last lap we threw out a couple fliers, one of the best near the end came from Rich to soften the field.
As we turned onto the straightaway Rich was caught and some hesitation allowed for a Soraz rider that was fresh to attack, he got a good gap and then the sprinting fireworks started at 39.2 mph according to my Garmin.  Lots of dicey maneuvering which got Alex boxed in and then we had to start over with Kevin trying to lead him out of the mess as I moved up hoping to get Alex on my wheel but he went the other direction and still managed a 3rd or 4th place in the final sprint, hopefully 3rd overall with hot spot points.
We’re really starting to get the team racing rhythm & tactics down during the race, now we just need to put the finishing touches on.
That was the most fun I think I’ve ever had at a PIR race!  5 team mates in the winning move, holy crap!!
Excellent work guys!

Brad carried on with a strong 6th. The 1/2/3 women had Sarah and Stacey in the top 10, and newcomer Robin 7th in the 4′s.

Another great week, and we’re still the #1 team in Oregon by almost 350pts. Good stuff.

The TAI women, and the solo dude, Erik, headed to Washington for the 3 day, 4 stage Tour of Walla Walla. Very windy, hard racing was in store for all those that braved this tough race, packed with top notch racers from around the world.

Women’s report from Jan:

I think it needs to be termed Tour of Windy Windy…… holy wind tunnel Batman, it is breezy in WW. Friday we did the TT course as a recon ride and it was pretty windy. That was the least amount of wind all weekend and the damn wind built up over the entire weekend.

Here’s a summary…

TT:
Sarah our TT expert and only person who looks forward to doing a TT did great. Sara and I used our disc wheels and holy crap, I’ve never been frightened in a TT before, but that cross wind was crazy, only to turn into a 30mph slight uphill finish….yeah that was fun. Sarah and Courtney had top 10 finishes and were not too far behind in time.

Crit:

A couple of years ago they took a technical crit course and added even more turns. It is a great crit course now. In a combined field of Women 1/2/3, we had about 50 riders on the line. It was going to be fast fast fast. I, was not mentally prepared to be “in” a crit and chose to hang in the back so I can not comment on the actual race. Sarah and Courtney hung in there with the big girls for the whole dang race and looked great…..didn’t even look like they were tired. the finish was a tailwind section, but for some unknown reason it seemed like all other aspects of the race were headwind! It was wearing to ride in that wind. Stacy and I got pulled with 4 laps to go, but we got a “finish” and thus all were ready for the RR on Sunday.

RR:

The weather called for winds of 10mph. Bullshit! At least it was dry. As we were warming up, the morning fields were coming in and all the guys were a bit shell shocked. I did not pick up on how shell shocked they were until later, when I was the same. Anyhow as expected, at the feedzone climb, the pace went apeshit and the field blew apart. I believe we were Courtney/Stacy/Sarah/Jan in that order strung out with other riders. For me, I was with a woman from MT. We were doing okay until we got to the descent from hell……. a fast descent with a cross wind that had me in absolute terror. My bike shook and I feared the “death rattle” would ensue. I have never feared for my safety like that. Only to be rewarded with a ride into a wicked head/cross wind. then came the climb into the headwind that was unbelievable. After 20 some miles of that suffering and doing the calculation that I’d ride for 4+ hours if I did the whole ride, I pulled the plug after one lap. I have done this race 5 times, and only finished it twice. It is a beast. But Courtney and Stacy who eventually got together on the road dug deep and toughed it out!!

It was a great team weekend though….. lots of commraderie, fantastic food thanks to Courtney’s preparations, nice scenery, socializing with a lot of other teams…… we’ll do it again.

Courtney was 13th on GC and Stacy 16th. Sarah had a top 10 finish in the TT at 7th.

Erik fought hard in a tough field that had a very high attrition rate. He was one of the few Oregon riders to finish the whole thing. 116 starters, 85 finishers, and he was a mere 10min off the top (the last place finisher was >45min down). Great result, given he was alone in the field.

As an aside, a group stayed home, and didn’t show up for the always cancelled “De Ronde van West Portlandia”. And as such, newly upgraded Cat II Casey didn’t finish the route in an (un)impressive 2:58, with Alex on his heels, becoming the 2013 loser (and Strava non-KOM leader for the route). Kidding aside, that’s a really f’n impressive ride from him, Alex, and anyone that can finish the thing.

It’s that time of year again. Monday and Tuesday PIR, where we get the chance to go fast, learn team tactics, and bring home the monthly team and individual titles.

Report from Road Director David:

We had a pre-race plan that everyone knew about before the start:   Cover the front, Duncan goes for the sprints and Mike, Brant and Erik get launched by either Myself, Roger or Rich after the hot lap sprint.  Well, it didn’t go to perfection as a break went including Brant, Erik and Mike just before the Hotlap and it got pulled back,  so I didn’t think they would be ready to go again but evidently Brant & Erik were  ready and Rich was in position to launch them both off the front after the first sprint and away they went on Lap 12!  All the other teams were there in numbers but none could get organized to chase them down and it didn’t help that the rest of us, especially Mike were doing our best to screw up any organized effort.  Eventually with 4 or 5 laps remaining there were some hard charging efforts to bring them back and one rider got lucky enuf to be close enuf to bridge to the dynamic duo!
Brant and Erik shared the points with there new break companion that agreed to help and by the last lap they were out of sight on the straight away.  So Brant being the sacrificial team mate lead out the sprint for Erik but unfortunately the Rivercity rider got him at the line.  Erik and Brant did a ton of work out there to stay away so long at such a high speed.  It was a awesome feeling seeing my two of my team mates alone out front almost the entire race and the peloton being so frustrated at not being able to a damn thing about it.  Erik might still have won based on points, not sure yet.  It’s a great way for Erik to come back to PIR after heading to the hospital after his last race there!
The coolest thing is that we had a plan and made it happen and everyone was on the same page.
Not sure how the women’s race went, I thought I saw Sarah off the front with Sara Fletcher?

Great job to everyone who raced tonight! -David

Photos courtesy of HotFoot Photo, all rights reserved

Another wet, rainy weekend in the PNW, and more TAI PDX out kicking butt.

On Saturday, some of the guys headed north to Vance Creek RR in Elma WA and once again Casey showed Washington racers what’s up. Heavy wind and rain was the order of the day “The last lap I couldn’t really see a thing” said Casey. That didn’t stop him from just missing the podium in 4th, and Matt with a impressive 11th. Great job gents!

On Saturday and Sunday, over in Blodgett, was the mud fest known as Mudslinger XC/ Super D. We had a great turnout and great results. Report from Jeff:

“Brant and Jeff raced the Uphill TT and the Super D on Saturday. Brant came in first and Jeff came in 4th for that section of the event. The rain stayed away while we raced, but the Super D was still muddy!! We spent more time cleaning our bikes and clothes than we did on the two legs of the race collectively. Good stuff.

Sunday was the 25th running of the Mudslinger. Brant, Todd, Roger Lloyd, and Jeff were there. Roger broke out his 80′s vintage bike to race and he came in a great 7th place in his race. Jeff came in 13th, and Todd came in 9th. Brant came in 3rd on the day. For the combined 3 stages of the Mudslinger, Jeff came in 3rd overall and Brant was the big winner!

The conditions at Mudslinger were pure Muslinger!!! Rain and mud everywhere…”

Great job to all that raced!!!

Another Fantastic weekend of racing, with the Rose Garden Thursday and Kings Valley RR on Saturday.

Warm weather showed itself this weekend and we headed north to Rochester WA for the prestigious IVRR. A 20 mile loop with short punchy climbs, wind in the valley, and some rollers was the terrain. Stacked fields made sure that the racing would be fast.

The Elite Men saw a field full of domestic Pro’s and Cat I/II’s with every team having designs on winning. Having 4 trips around the loop, most of the teams were probably lulled into thinking that the pace would remain low for the first lap or two, but 15 min into the race, up the first steep climb HPC’s Galen Mittermann led the way and the attacks from the Pro’s came hard, fast and without much warning. 10 riders were away at the crest of the climb, with most of the teams represented in the break. With no other teams willing to chase, we tried hard to organize but it became apparent that the break was going to stick, with an average speed of >25mph!

Brant was the top placed rider very solid 13th.

The big news of the day, was Casey in the III’s. It was another stacked field full of strong guy’s looking to use this as a platform to upgrade. Another fast race, with a average speed of just under 25mph, Casey was the lone TAI rider in the field of 76 that saw over 25 guys DNF.

There was a group away on the last loop, and not wanting to be out of the running, Casey charged ahead catching the group of 6, then in the last 150M, did what he does best: turned on the afterburners to take the win! Monumental effort pays off, after a disappointing mechanical/ flat at Gorge Roubaix.  Great job!

Closer to home at the 2nd As The Raven Flies TT, we had a solid turnout for another race against the clock;

Todd took the 3rd step with Brad close on his heels in 4th in Masters 40+.

Aaron continues to improve his TT skills with a very solid 7th in the open 4/5 Cat.

At the Crank Brothers PIR TT, another race of truth saw more podiums. New comer to the team, Nate Youngs, pulled off 2nd in his first ever TT, with Andy coming in 9th.

Sarah had the ride of the day, with a effort that gave her the top step in the Masters 40+ division, and an smoking 61st out of 150 (men and women) combined! Awesome!

Another fantastic weekend for TAI PDX Cycling!

Enjoy the weather!

Photo courtesy of CLC Photography

Well, the spring racing season is in full swing now, and TAI had racers up and down the west coast. Alex went to sunny So-Cal to roll with the heavy hitters at the prestigious San Dimas Stage Race. He had a very solid weekend, including standing on the second step on the final days Crit where the average speed was well over 28mph! He joined Brianna Walle (http://www.optumprocycling.com/team/brianna-walle/?tempid=women), who placed 4th in the TT, 2nd in the crit, and 1st in the Womens RR. Oregon representing!

Saturday saw a few hearty souls going out for another round of the Race of Truth. The results on OBRA are still a bit mixed up, but as of now we have: Roger Lloyd taking 3rd in the III’s, Todd and Sarah both took 4th in the Masters 40+, and Brad pulling a solid 5th in Eddy.

Sunday we headed east for some road/ graveling mix at the 2013 Gorge Roubaix. All the races were hard fought. In the III’s Matt and Casey were mixing it up early on the front when Casey flatted and combined that with a mechanical. Bummer because he’s super fit right now. That didn’t stop Matt from having a hard charging race. He finished just off the podium with a very solid 4th! Great job Matt!

The Masters II/III had David, Todd and Brant attacking. David went with a group early but no one was really interested in staying away, so they got caught after 10miles. The end came down to an exciting finish with Brant barely missing the top step by 1/2 a wheel. Chapeau Brant!

In in open I/II Men’s race the action was fast and furious. The group split with Eric being in the lead group of around 20. Coming into the sprint, Eric was pretty gassed and cramped up. He held on for 16th. Great result considering the pace.

Women: Another fast race. Report from Courtney:

Open 4/5: Aaron rode a the solo TAI racer and after a number of attempts finished in the middle of the bunch. It’s a tough gig to do alone.

In Washington, Kevin jumped into the mix at the Squim RR, and after trying some 4-5 attempts at his signature break away attempts, finished a solid 15th against some fast guys.

It was another great weekend for TAI! Keep it up out there! Warm weather is just around the corner.

It was a busy weekend for TAI. 2 different races and some Series podiums to be had.

Saturday at the Heiser Farm saw Stacy, Sarah, Courtney and Jan go: 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th. Report from Jan:

Courtney had a strong lead going in today so the focus was on Stacy and Sarah to see if we could solidify their placings.  Stacy needed to watch and beat Anne U-D from Upper Echelon. It was a points battle between them. Sure enough, like predicted Anne took off early in the race, but Stacy was right on her. They took another rider with them, but she soon came back to the chase group. Anne did all kinds of things to play with Stacy’s head, but Stacy stayed tough. That left the rest of us sort of chasing. The field was so small overall that in order to make it any kind of a race, we needed to keep up the racing and could not just sit back with Stacy up the road. TAI and UE were the only teams present and we decided to work together. On the hot spot lap, I went to the front before the dirt section. Had I only internalized and listened Sarah’s advice! Sarah had warned to be aware and ready for attacks, but when Heather took off taking the remaining 4 with her….. I was gapped and it was all over for Janny.  Shortly after the hot spot, Sarah bridged up to Anne and Stacy.  As Sarah left Heather behind, she solidified her overall placing.

Dirty Circles: There was a lot on the line all the way around. BAR points, series points. The results aren’t posted on OBRA yet, but I’ve heard from a lot of you, so I’ll update ASAP.

Masters 4/5: We had Brad and Aaron in contention for the podium, and Keyon showing strength in his first ever road race. Report from Aaron: At the hotspot on the end of the second lap, Brad and I found ourselves at the front going 3rd, 4th for the intermediate sprint. Shane Gibson from Half Fast Velo was defending the top spot for the series, and pushed the pace all day, testing us. Last lap, we chased as he got away to win. Brad was 4th and I was 5th. Keyon, learning pack riding on the fly, was on the front a ton. Great day of racing!

Men’s 1/2/3:

It was windy and fast in Woodland today. HPC was defending, and a lot of guys were “doubling up”. On two sections of the course, it was a echelon from centerline to gutter, no one wanting to be on the rivet. Jeff described it as “When ever we had the cross wind, there was no working together by anyone. The line of riders was single file and as far over into the gutter as possible. Or right on the centerline.” Mike was in the winning move by Bedford from HPC, but it was cooking fast. Alex took the group win placing 4th on the day.

Men’s Master 1/2/3:

In another screaming fast race, David got Kyle positioned with Josh Liberles from HPC and Paul Burcia from Veloce. Kyle took the podium in 3rd!

Women 1/2/3:

The women had a full weekend of racing; always on the podium and always about team racing. Report from Stacy:

Goals:  Going in Stacy is in 3rd for the series.  Since prizes are for the series only, our main goal is to keep her in that spot (and perhaps improve if either of the women above her showed weakness).  Secondary goal is to win the race today!

Competition:  We have a large Women’s 1/2/3 field for the Dirty Circles finale race.  Over 20 (that’s large for us women).  Three significant teams: Ironclad (2), River City (4), and of course TAI (4: Stephanie, Courtney, Sarah, & Stacy).  A couple strong solo riders in the mix too.

Strategy:  Steph, Courtney, & Sarah attack to tire out Ironclad, who we expect to be the major sprint contenders.  Stacy stays fresh and keeps an eye out for breaks that look dangerous or opportune (no series leader).

Lap 1:  Ironclad is attacking.  We chase them down a couple times, then let one of them off the front.  We hold her ~200m off the front so she can ride out in the wind.    At the end of the lap, the hotspot bell is rung.

Lap 2:  Working with other teams we gradually reel Leia in.  After the final left turn, positioning for the sprint starts. With a strong right-to-left crosswind, everyone is pegged on the center line.  Some dicey bobbing and weaving going on.  I end up on the front too early and bail.  Courtney gets some points in the sprint.

Lap 3:  After the hotspot, there’s a flurry of hard attacks in the crosswind – some from Ironclad, some from us (an especially hard attack by Stephanie).  As we turn north, we settle down and realize there has been a major split and the series points leader has not made the cut!

The Break:  The break of 7 has Courtney, Stacy, and Sarah from TAI.  Ironclad has two riders.  River City has one rider.  We have two solo riders with us as well.  At first we’re a bit disorganized, but Courtney brokers a deal for everyone to work together until we have >90 seconds on the chasing pack.  It’s in all our best interests and with some excellent echelons we quickly accomplish the task!

Lap 4:  Well ahead of the chasers, it’s back to Ironclad and us (TAI) trading attacks.  Breaking away solo seems unlikely, but we’re hoping to tire out Ironclad for the final sprint.  Courtney and I are attacking while Stacy is keeping mostly fresh out of the wind.

Lap 5 (Final Lap):  Courtney puts in a killer attack as we head east.  As we turn north, Ironclad catches her and I counter attack.  Ironclad chases again.  It’s a slugfest and we’re trading body blows!  Heading West, we settle down, but we lost Courtney on that last attack.  As we make the final left, I’m trying to help get Stacy into better position, but my legs are not cooperating.  Ironclad ramps up the sprint and all the attacking takes its toll and I lose contact – Ugh.  Stacy is toward the back of the (now) group of 5, which is actually not such a bad position for a windy sprint.  Ironclad is also feeling the effects of our attack-fest and finish at the back of the sprint.  In the sprint, Stacy gets 3rd, behind HeatherV (one of the strong solo riders) and Lelah (River City).

Results:  The series leader (Amy) was not in the lead pack and lost 1st place for the series to Ironclad’s Anna.  Still I believe Amy still had enough points to hold 2nd place.  So we achieved our goal of keeping Stacy in 3rd.  We podium’ed the race, but didn’t win.  We tired Ironclad out, but in doing that the solo riders stayed fresh enough to beat us in the sprint.

Quite a finale!  We attacked & chased incessantly – so hard our personal results were compromised.  That’s real team spirit.  Congratulations to Stacy, who ended up our fearless leader for this series.  She did a metric-ton (2.2 times a normal ton) of work to snag a podium spots for race #2, today’s race, and for the entire Dirty Circles series!