Cascade Cycling Race Report

So that’s what an NRC stage race is like…



Cory Greenberg and I traveled up to Bend a week ago to race the Cascade Cycling Classic, a six day, NRC 2.3 stage race. A strong professional team presence on the start list included full squads from Fly V, United Health Care, Trek-Livestrong, Garmin-Holowesko, and a number of other teams.



7/20 It all started last Tuesday with a fast 2 mile prologue. Everyone showed up with full gear including Floyd who had just picked up a new t-shirt in time to get pinned for his start.



7/21 Wednesday was the first challenging day though with the McKenzie Pass Road race, which featured two major climbs, the first of which was over 20 miles long and had over 3000 feet of elevation gain. The peloton quickly shattered when the climb started sloping up and as remnant groups began to form I plugged into just under my limit and joined a group. Lesson learned was how tricky and even more important it is to have a good position in a large pack going into a climb. On the descent and flat, a number of groups, including mine and Cory’s, joined up to form a large groupetto. We rode tempo up the final climb finishing far behind the leaders but happy that the one of the most difficult days was over.



7/22 Thursday’s time trial also proved very difficult. The 16 mile course goes out as a hill climb, has a turnaround, and is then a fast descent to the finish. Since we finished pretty far down the day before, Cory and I started early at 10:13 and 10:23 and had a headwind going up the climb. Unfortunately, Cory had a mechanical going up the climb. We both put in solid times to keep up with most of the peloton.



7/23 The Cascade Lakes Road Race on Friday would prove to be another challenge. Again two large climbs stood out in the course profile. The leaders hit the first climb hard and a number of unsuccessful breaks went up the road in the battle for KOM points. Cory got unhitched from the group just before the final pitches was barely unable to catch back up on the very fast descent. I stuck in with the peloton through the fast flat miles to the final climb and finished in a chase group behind the leaders at 1:30 back.



7/24 The final two days of racing were a downtown crit at 7 and the Awbrey Butte Circuit race. These courses are exactly the same as what we raced at nationals so we had a good idea of what to expect. The crit was a very fast four-corner course. Cory and I decided to sit in the group and save energy for Sunday. After a breakaway formed that United Healthcare was happy with (Rory Sutherland was in the yellow jersey) they controlled the front and kept the pace smooth.



7/25 The final stage, though it didn’t have any extended climbs, still required a lot of power from the legs. The pace was held very high until just after 2 laps into the race when a breakaway was allowed up the road. The hard week’s racing had sunk into Cory’s legs and he wasn’t able to match the accelerations from the attacks. After the break formed, the pace was steady until the final climb. Then Sutherland drilled it and shed most of the field including me. Dowsett from Trek-Livestrong would later attack to win the stage. I rolled in to finish about 2:30 behind him to secure a 72nd place in the overall. About 50 riders failed to finish Sunday’s stage or got time cut. The starting field of 177 was reduced 100 by the end.



I learned a number of things from this brutal race. First, you must drink twice the normal amount of water and GU mix in hot, dry weather. Second, coconut water is great electrolyte replacement OFF the bike (I totally recommend it if you like the taste of coconut). Third, for long stage races, it’s extremely helpful to have someone around to feed you ice and musette bags and to help cook and get things ready... thanks Dede! (My amazing mother came along to be the team mom and help out). Also, thanks to Eddie for stepping up and providing extra support for this race.



After two trips to Bend this summer, I’m ready be back in California for a while, but the racing up there has been spectacular and some of the hardest racing ever for me. Racing with the pro’s only makes me more determined build on the strength that I have now.

Thanks for reading,

Stephen Leece