2008 Chinook Shiver

It was a cool start to the shiver, but the weather turned out pretty good and a bunch of people made it all the way to the top. We had about 35 riders with a few faces I haven't seen in a while.

A big thanks to Pete for doing the work so everyone else could enjoy the ride, and the Yakima Athletic Club for allowing us to use their facility for the start. And again a big thanks to Mike from the Revolution for opening up his house to a bunch of tired hungry cyclists.

It was a beautiful ride out to the first stop, Washington is much nicer to ride in a big group since they four laned it. I always enjoy looking back as we turn off Ahtanum on to 74th and see the long line of cyclists. The group stayed together to the first stop. There was a hard attack just before the stop by a couple cyclists that had to pee really bad. I won't name names, one rides a Bianchi and the other rides a Motobecane.




We not only caught the wiener dog, we dropped him like he had tiny little legs and couldn't run very fast.


As usual the ride picked up for those who wanted following the rest stop, quite a few people made it to the end of the road. Troy, Mark, and I had to work pretty hard to stick to Tristan's wheel. Reality is we were able to stick to his wheel because he let us.

The trip back was fast and fun. Plus we were lucky enough to hit the only rain falling in the Yakima Valley. No one wanted to lose the wheel in front of them so we had to eat some road wash yumm.

No ride is complete without a good BBQ and beverage of choice immediately following. A big thanks to Robert and Bill for teaming up on the BBQ and feeding the rest of us. Thanks to all for coming out to the ride and I hope everyone had a good time.

Mason Lake # 2 and the bike expo

Fast and aggressive are the best words to describe Mason Lake #2. Mark, Troy, Charlie and I made the long drive (Mark the morning of) to race last weekend. The master c/d group was bigger (69riders), faster, and a lot more aggressive than last week. Knowing it would probably end in a sprint I decided to attack on the first lap and do a short interval off the front. I got some space, but no one came with me. When the group caught me I went down the group on the inside and spent the next lap boxed in trying to recover. By the end of lap 2 (a very fast lap) My race was over. At that point riders started getting very aggressive trying to get position at the front. Some people were more than aggressive, they were doing stupid things. At that point I was too tired to fight for position and road the race out as back of the pack fodder. I still finished with the group when a lot didn't, so I'm happy with how things went. Charlie for the second week in a row was our highest placed Chinook Rider. A mountain biker at heart it was hard for him to admit how much fun he is having road racing. He's going to have his best Sea Otter ever due to racing Mason Lake. Mark also spent a bit of time off the front early in the race, and in the end felt a lot like I did. Mark had the quote of the day. Half way through the final lap we were riding side by side, Troy had flatted out, and Charlie was a couple riders in front of us. "It looks like Chinook is in survival mode today". I couldn't describe it any better from my perspective.

For the second week in a row we all came in ahead of Troy. Because for the second week in a row Troy flatted. I know a good bike shop Troy who will look at that wheel and figure out what's going on. I would tease Troy about it more, but I want him to keep racing and he's our best hope on the hilly courses. We all had a huge amount of fun and once again it was great to see some teammates in the group. Next up is Frozen Flatlands in Spokane April 5th and 6th. Troy and I will be going for sure, if you're interested let me know.

Bike Expo

A couple bike expo highlights, the Renovo bikes above are made of various woods. Very pretty, I'll let you test them out on a fast descent. There was a huge collection of old track bikes, see the Bianchi above. Check out the gearing on the bike in the upper left. I thing he said it was a 61 tooth chain ring. I have a hard enough time pushing my 53-12. The true highlight at the bike expo was parking enforcement across the street from the expo. 40 to 50 avid cyclists parked across the street on top of the bike lane (classic). They were all getting a ticket.

Race Report #1 Mason Lake RR and Icebreaker TT

Mason Lake Road Race

This weekend was the first full weekend of racing, and we
have some news to report. Troy, Charlie, and I ventured
out to the first of three Mason Lake Road Races. This race
can be a bit scary and intimidating at times due to early
season form (or lack there of), and peleton jitters. Saturday
was a bit different, the sun was out, everyone was friendly
and we all rode a good race. The ride of the day has to go to
Troy who rode a very smart tactical race at the front.
Unfortunately he flatted with about 3 to 4 km to go, he'll
be back in force next Saturday. Charlie also rode a great race.
After a couple laps he was able to make his way toward the
front, but didn't have great position for the sprint. He still
finished in the 20's in a group of about 50. It's pretty hard
contesting the sprint at Mason Lake, you have to have a bit
of luck going in to the final kilometer. As for me I had a great
race by my standards riding in the front of the group even
taking a couple pulls. I was there at the end, but as most of
you know I'm not a sprinter. We all had a lot of fun and most
importantly proved we have the ability to hang with the west
side masters just fine.

Ice Breaker Time Trial

As usual the ice breaker brought out a group from Chinook to
test themselves against the clock. Troy and Charlie decided to
sit this one out, but Mark, Erin, and Larry joined me for the
suffer fest that is time trialing. This was Larry's first time
trial race, and as you can see above he jumped in like any
dedicated time trialist with full aero helmet and all. At the
finish when I asked him how it was he replied "very painful"
and to that I say great job Larry you must have done it right.

As for results Mark finished 10th in the Master c/d group,

Larry finished 41st in the same group. His results say
unattached, what's up with that Larry you can't hide from us.
Erin finished 15th in the master women group, but hadn't ridden
in a couple weeks. More importantly she made it to the race
and helped introduce Larry to the joy of road racing. I ended
up finishing 21st out of 54 in the 4/5 group. I was very happy
with my time and feel like I'm getting back to my form of 5 or
6 years ago.

Next week is Mason Lake #2, Troy, myself, Charlie, and possibly
Mark Cleaver are headed over. If you are interested in going just
let me know. Troy and I are going to hit the bike expo in Seattle
following the race Saturday. Until next week enjoy the warm
weather and daylight savings just around the corner.