Power Data From Mt. Hood Cycling Classic

Pre-blog reading material to prepare you for what you are about to see:
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Dr. Emmett Brown: If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious shit.


Younger Dr. Emmett Brown: [running out of the room] 1.21 gigawatts? 1.21 gigawatts? Great Scott!
Marty McFly: [following] What the hell is a gigawatt?


Dr. Emmett Brown: Marty, I'm sorry. But the only power source capable of generating 1.21 gigawatts of electricity is a bolt of lightning.
Marty McFly: [startled] What did you say?
Dr. Emmett Brown: A bolt of lighting. Unfortunately, you never know when or where it's ever gonna strike.
Marty McFly: We do now.
[hands Doc the "Save the Clock Tower" flyer]
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Actual blog material:

Turns out I'm doing the Mount Hood Cycling Classic once again this year and my computer, with it's psychic ability, told me what I was going to do in the first stage. Amazing! What a computer!

Here's the power data from the first stage of the 2008 Mount Hood Cycling Classic. The red line is what the computer says I'm capable of and may have to produce one day when somebody invents tires able to handle that kind of power. The yellow line is what will be produced to win the first stage by a couple seconds.

Check out that five minute power! Considering that the world record to date is roughly somewhere just under 2,500 watts produced for less than one second, 390,000 watts for five minutes sounds like nothing more than just plain non-sense, but that is what will be required to win at Hood. Maybe that's 390,000 "perceived" watts? Yes, that sounds much more accurate huh? The "perceived" exertion at Hood goes up each year I've done it since the field keeps getting better and better. Last year it felt like I was doing 1.21 gigawatts and going 88 miles an hour, so I figure this year, it's going to require at least 123 mph to hold on to the group. Luckily we're staying at the Vagabond again and the neighboring Charburger will be prepared once again for our disgustingly large appetites (note the 112,959 calories burned on the stage in the bottom left of the picture).

Also, if you think this power data happens to look vaguely like the Emmett Roubaix event, you're waaaay off. See those zero's down below, that's proof!

A Strange Place For Road Bikers

Dirt courses are designed for mountain bikes and bmx's right? Yeah, it's true, I won't try to contend that, but us road bikers don't mind testing our skills once in a while. The new Idaho Velopark is getting developed nicely and will eventually have a velodrome for us road toads, but for now, it's just got the dirt sections. Check out this great vid of better bike handlers than me on the courses we played around on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj9AURLD0pE

Anyways, here's the pics from our off road fun.


BTW, the Emmett Roubaix went off today and it went as good as it could have for the team and myself. Four of us Bob's got away in the first time through the dirt section, but JRose flatted almost immediately. The remaining three stayed away for a 51 mile break. Results
I doubt you're interested, but here's the power data:

All The Way To Roubaix

The Paris Roubaix is already over and hats off to Tom Boonen for winning, but the Idaho equivalent is taking place in two days. Here is Hincapie rocking to an Emmett (yes, it's clearly in Emmett) Roubaix victory:

The fan turn out is absolutely astounding for Idaho don't you think? It's actually an incredibly hard race since we start in Emmett and finish in Roubaix, France. Mid race we hop on paddle boats and the going gets even more intense. Here's a participant from last years race:

This guy was hot on his heels and trying really hard. Not really sure which one has the lower water resistance coefficient, any guesses?
Once back on land in France, we get back on our road bikes. Eventually, we make it to the Roubaix Velodrome. At this point, many are extremely tired!

Eventually a winner is crowned.

I've tried to win this race since 2004 and have yet to attain that goal, having finished 2nd twice and 3rd once. Many racers will bonk at least 30 times during this race. Here is one of my bigger bonks from the 2005 race:

Bonking when in the Atlantic Ocean can have severe side effects! Make sure to bring enough food and water!

Anyone Know What Does This?

What causes those huge dents and cracks? Made me think of a Joe Dirt scene:
Meteor Bert: Well, it ain't a meteor.
Joe Dirt: Yeah it is. It came out of the sky.
Meteor Bert: Well I'm sure it did but it ain't no meteor. It's a big ol frozen chunk o' shit.
Joe Dirt: What!
Meteor Bert: Oh yeah, see them airplanes they dump their toilets 36,000 feet. The stuff freezes and falls to earth. We call 'em Boeing bombs
[chomps teeth]
Joe Dirt: no that can't be. That's not what it is
Meteor Bert: oh, afraid so. See that peanut? Dead giveaway.
Joe Dirt: Uhhh, no, that's a space peanut.
Meteor Bert: No, afraid not. That just a big ol' frozen chunk of poopy.
Studio manager: Dude you were eating off it!

I found that rock on the way up to the east side of Table Rock if you're interested in seeing it for yourself.

Canadians Like Walla Walla 'Eh?

Bob's got hit by a truck, a speeding Red Truck from Canada with it's headlights set on Walla Walla. We weren't the only ones to get ran over. Hagen's Berman of Seattle brought a fully loaded squad and shot bullets at the Red Truck valiantly until every last bullet had been fired off and then they just threw the gun at 'em. Between shots from Hagen's, Bob's tried a few hand grenades, blowing up one-by-one. Turns out that the Red Truck from Canada is immune to bullets and grenades.

To start the shenanigans, a guy from Red Truck and Dan Harm of Hagen's launched mid way through lap one of two on stage one. As I thought Dan Harm was probably one of the biggest threats in the race, I was not exactly excited to watch that break roll. I chased for a minute or so and realized I was getting no help, so I let it go. It was a gamble, hoping they'd go out too hard, blow sky high from the huge effort and get reeled in late in the race. Sure enough, Dan did finally detonate, getting caught with around 5K to go. The guy is tough! Only one problem at that point, where was the other guy?! Where's the lead vehicle? Shouldn't it be in sight since the other guy has to be cracking too right? WRONG! Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' (to the tune of Rawhide) way, way out in front of 120 pro's and amateurs from all around the northwest came Rob Britton of Red Truck. 2 minutes 48 seconds later, 29 remnants of the front group came charging in.

The three remaining stages had been set for everyone on large scale teams. Goal #1: crack the Red Truck squad. An alliance had been made between Hagen's and Bob's to do anything and everything possible to put Red Truck on the ropes. The next stage was a time trial, an individual event. Everyone starts at 30 second intervals, fastest man wins. Hagen's Sam Johnson got the stage by a landslide! One problem, Mr. Red Truck Rob only lost a little of his lead, finishing in 3rd on a road bike with clip-ons! The stage went a bit better for Bob's, placing three in the top five!

Stage three, a 95 mile road race with wind and one solid climb. Usually the wind neutralizes the climb as it is typically strong enough of a headwind that drafting allows all to make it up the hill without too much difficulty, but history didn't hold true in 2008. Immediatly, Bob's and Hagen's went on the offensive. Attack after attack after attack after... Red Truck covered everything like there was nothing to it. There were groups that made it off the front, but even the most impressive groups were brought back. The field even split a few times, but came back together over and over. On the last of three laps, a break without either Bob's or Hagen's got away. A passing word from Sam J. of Hagen's explained it all, "Oops." For the next many miles, Bob's and Hagen's worked together to bring it back. The gap was coming down slowly, but not like many would expect of a Bob's/Hagen's dual chase. After blowing out the majority of both teams from chasing, one of each team attacked the field and went it alone. Justin Rose and Sam J. uncorked every last bit of effort left in them to bridge to the break. With roughly eight miles left, the two completed one tough bridge. Race leader Rob Britton was in the break and had much fresher legs from the work his team had done all day. The last time up the major climb just clarified how much fresher legs he had. Results of stage three. A few other guys rocked out on the stage at the end, especially winner Zach Garland, but they were on teams that didn't have to hang out in the wind all day. At the end of the day, all legs hurt and the general classification didn't look too good for either of the major squads minus the big Red Truck.

Stage four, the criterium, a one hour race around an L shape of a few blocks in downtown Walla Walla. By that point, the criterium was more of a formality. The general classification had been solidified more or less in stone. A few breaks formed, but never stuck it since there was never the just perfect combination of teams represented. In the end, Ian Tubbs won the sprint for the stage win.

When all was said and done, Red Truck proved to be the most formidable bunch of arse kickers. Either they've got a seriously good program going on up there or there needs to be some testing done at Walla Walla next year.

Final Individual General Classification

Final Team General Classification

Oh yeah, gotta add a picture. Just one this time. Camp Bob's in Waitsburg:

Timing Is Everything Sometimes

Timing is everything sometimes. Like being able to leave with JRose for Portland with more than enough time to get plenty of sleep for the Kings Valley road race on Saturday. Like rolling into the Multnomah Falls parking with five minutes of light to get a shot before it's completely dark.

Like missing the fish toss over and over and... come on camera, get it together!

Like getting the shot of the seagull catching the french fry.

Like being at the parking lot just in time to see a bridge lift up (really, really fast btw).

Like snapping the Space Needle at 75mph's without getting a building in the way.

The most important timing came in the Kings Valley road race though. After being away in a four man break for 55 miles or so, my legs went from being invincible all day to cramping in the last 200 meters. When does it count to have invincible legs when it comes down to a sprint? You are absolutely correct if you answered the last 200 meters. 3rd is better than nothing, but almost all day in the break, I was sure that the legs were more than ready for their first W of the year. 75 degrees in the sun in western Oregon was amazing although the legs disagreed with that statement in the last 200 meters. The warmest they've dealt with this year until Saturday was sub-60. They'll be good next time, I just didn't bring the electrolytes that I needed. In the end, Rose got 6th and Campbell 9th. Not bad for only four of us starting! Results

As for the Brad Lewis criterium in Seattle, guess what? It rained and changed the game. A fresh sun burn gained in Oregon and then racing in a wet criterium seemed like an odd combination. Either way, that last corner never would agree with me and the results showed it. All I got to do was a bit of chasing at the end that didn't turn out to be successful.

All-in-all, a great four day trip! Boise to Portland on Friday, Portland to Kings Valley to Olympia on Saturday, Olympia to Seattle on Sunday, Seattle to Boise on Monday. Thank you to all that let us stay at their places, it is very much appriciated! It's been four years since I've had the chance to get some fresh fish on the water front in Seattle and I was definitely missing that. Without a doubt, it was great to get out of the Treasure Valley to see 21 hours of highway at 75 miles an hour. The best of all, spending four days away and having a net cost of $16! It would have cost more to stay home!

The four man break, beware of mirror like effects of cyclists who haven't had access to enough sun. If you look closely, it almost seems like I'm flipping somebody the bird. Dunno, I didn't think I was too ticked about that corner we were going into.

Wet corners, kinda sketchy when the corner is off camber.

Powertapped Weekend On The Road

The Hell of the North on Saturday and Pirds of Prey on Sunday.
Here's the power numbers since I finally decided to race with the tap.

Those SLC guys sure do like to spike the power and then lay off.

Note, there is a kilometer of missing data for Birds of Prey since I flatted at a very inopportune time. Also, I was riding a completely out of true wheel that was rubbing the brakes towards the end of the race as it just kept getting worse.
Results from Salt Lake's Hell of the North: 1st Rose, 2nd Calvin, 3rd Matt. Ah yeah! That sort of makes up for all the times those SLC guys put the hurt on us at Gate City Grind. BTW, thanks for the place to stay and breakfast Andre! Results (select 2008 results, our group is pro,1,2)

This is what the majority of travel weekends look like, minus the dirt. This is the pre-race drive of the 1.7 mile dirt section that we did 10 times.

Pre-race preparation sometimes spreads out to the local parking area.

Finishing up the Birds of Prey road race on Sunday. Stupid flats with 1K to go. Oh well, the team still rocked it! Richard Feldman laid down one amazing effort in the last five miles or so! He made us work for it. Results

Derailing from the racing scene; great news, Charlene made it through a "dump loop" before they shut it down for the rest of the year and completely remove "the wall." For those that don't know, the "dump loop" is Hill Rd to Seaman's Gulch Rd (past the Boise dump) to Hidden Springs to Dry Creek/Cartwright Rd to Bogus Basin Rd. That's a pretty big accomplishment for only her second ride ever!

And here's the resume if you were looking to get me a j.o.b. The phone numbers have been removed to protect the innocent.

As one of Chang's shirts says, "I'm Digitally Active."

Charlene's First Ride

Yesterday, Charlene and I went for our first ride. Looks like a natural huh?