Walla Walla Cat 3 Stage 1 2009 Race Report

We had 6 riders at Walla Walla. Jay, Ben Olivier, Steve, Lyle and myself. There was a field of 105 riders probably fewer than 1/2 from western Washington. There were teams from Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Canada, Spokane and the tri-cities etc.

The first race was a little hectic at the start. The line at registration was long we didn’t get there early enough. The first I saw of most of the team was lining up for the race. Lyle was getting his numbers pinned on while the referee was giving her spiel. But the race started we were there. The 65 mile race had three climbs on each of 2 laps ( 700 ft over 7 miles, 400 ft over 3mi and 600 ft over 3 miles) and between the hills there was head wind. It took a while to realize we were on the first climb. It wasn’t that it was easy because it was starting to get very uncomfortable. But it was hard to recognize it as a hill since we were doing about >20mph. By the top I was way over threshold. This was the beginning of the end for me. The next 15 minutes was a succession of more climbing, chase into a strong headwind, serge hard to stay on wheel. POP.

So there I was alone in a headwind with 45 mile to the finish and only another 3000 feet of elevation gain in front of me. It was going to be hard to conserve for the next 2 days of racing.

Soon Steve caught me and we rode together. Steve said he was feeling bad. He took a neutral Bud Light feed in the feed zone and downed part of a beer. It seemed to give him a bit more go. Pete Banko caught and passed us say something like lets loose those suckers. It took Steve and I working together another 3 mile for us to catch Pete. The three of us rode for a long time. Eventually we started reeling people in we passed some, some stuck with us. We lost Steve. We passed Jay; He couldn’t hang on. The Banko express was going full steam. We finished with a group of about 15-20 in 60th place, 7 minutes behind the lead group of 38 riders.

It was a really hard humbling day. Olivier and Ben had stayed with the lead group. Lyle was 2:00 back he wasn’t feeling well either. Steve felt so bad he left after the first day.
-Greg