Winthrop provided the center for the Methow Valley Stage Race this past weekend. Garage riders "cowboy'd up" to the wild west town and the race. While we would of preferred horses, cowboy hats, and six shooters; the team came equipped with road bikes, helmets, and energy bars. Winthrop would have to get by with a weekend of clacking road bike shoes replacing the jingle of spurs.

The race started off with a more than challenging 10 mile time trial in Mazama. Lots of rolling hills make steady pacing nearly impossible. This is a TT to ride smart, not just hard. Garage was consistent in all fields: Kyle Farrell in cat 1/2, Morgan Coleman in cat 3, and Mike Burdo in the masters field all pulled 6th place finishes in the morning. Brent Carlson finished mid-field due to a mechanical that cost significant time.

Saturday night was a new event: a mass start hill climb up a single lane forest service road. In the cat 1/2 field Brent Carlson put in an early move to as the pace was letting up; on his return Kyle Farrell moved up to crest the steep first mile towards the front of the pack before eventually falling back to finish 9th on the climb. Morgan Coleman never needed the small chainring for the climb, flying up the hill to finish 2nd in the cat3 group. In the Masters field Mike Burdo regained face after a 6th place finish by daredeviling the descent and being the first down the hill (and presumably first to the Old Schoolhouse Pub!).

Former Garage rider Josh Gunn had the right idea by avoiding the next day's road race. Brent made the move of the day and had a 3+ minute gap on the field with two breakaway partners. Though Brent didn't stay away, the move made it much easier to sit in the pack for half the race.

Overall a good weekend with top 10 placings in the GC in all fields. Top it off with ice cream in Winthrop and Garage had a complete weekend.

A few awards for outstanding achievement are in order from the past weekend of racing:

Energizer Bunny Award: After doing a ton of work throughout the Ballard crit, Tom Wick gave Alex Rosenast a super leadout for 3rd and still held on for 4th in the Cat 3 race. And as if that isn't enough, Tom was in the 55 mile break that stayed away for 5th at Ravensdale the next day. Just can't stop that guy.

Most Clever Use of a Disguise: Josh Gunn made a Seattle appearance on Sunday wearing some garish green and blue disguise. No one ever suspected he was a Garage double agent. The team kept a straight face as everyone in the pack asked who the the guy with no fashion sense was that dropped the pack like an anchor.

Murdin Award: This award goes to someone who finds the most creative way to get dropped from a race. Past recipients have had crank arms fall off, loose wheel skewers, slipping seat posts, etc. This award goes to Kevin Masterson for finding the only wheel-destroying chasms off the side of the road two minutes into the Ravensdale Road Race.

Big Cojones Award: A little over 2 months since the birth of Jett Murdin, Kele shows the rest of the guys on the team who's really tough and takes a top 10 in the Ballard crit and a prime along the way. All this while taking care of two babies at home!

Fish Out of Water Award: Leaving the sanctuary of the pavement behind, Kyle Farrell hit the trails for Leavenworth's Bike & Brews mountain bike race. Rumor has it the roadie attempted to draft riders at 4 mph uphill as he tried to position himself for non-existent prime laps.

Thanks to Nikos for contributing the excellent write-up!

Enumclaw Omnium Stage Race, May 30-31, 2009
Master A/B

First of all: Omnium or Stage Race? What? Both? How does that work? Really? Really?

Okay, now on to the report...

TT, Saturday morning

We were successful for the TT. Especially in parking for the race, as we got the prime spaces in the lot. However, it was a comedy of errors for the race itself. Alex was able to turn in our best time of the day, despite being dropped by the holder at the start line with 10 seconds to go, good enough for 7th place. Brian pulled out 8th place after MISSING HIS START TIME. Mike was just out of the points, and then Aaron L, Nikos, Aaron B, Robert, Tom, John M, Jay, Brad, and John M (#2) spread across the rest of the field (in no particular order). We had numbers, though: Garage was around 20% of the field.

Crit, Saturday afternoon

We were all concerned about being able to ride this 8-corner crit in dry weather, as this has not been the case for the past several years. But things worked out: it was a healthy and fun (and short! 35 minutes!) race. At the start, Tom showed off his ability to clip into his pedals faster than the average racer and hit turn #1 in lead position and in a near-full sprint. He proceeded to lead for the next several laps, never hitting his brakes and never getting much below 28mph. But the pack wasn't going to let this go, so eventually things settled. Shortly thereafter Mike ended up away in a break that looked nice and healthy: Lenovo, HB, and maybe one other team represented. Tom and Nikos and Alex spent some time swapping around and disrupting things at the front. When this break came back (after Mike had won a prime) Nikos found himself away and won another prime. Alex, too, spent some time off the front. At the end of the race Tom ended up rolling off the front with just over two to go where he won a prime and then tried to stay away solo for the final two laps. Not gonna happen. When Tom was caught with half a lap to go, the sprinters Brian and Aaron B and Nikos were rolling things well. Brian got 3rd, Nikos 7th and Aaron 8th. Tom held on to 15th for the final point in the race. (Alex afterwards wondered if he was supposed to sprint also...)

Road Race, Sunday afternoon

We went into this race with Brian 3rd place in GC, and we wanted to hang onto that. Alex planned to make some moves early, and he ended up away in three different breaks before the first time we hit the climb. Shortly after that, a break containing Mike and Aaron B got up the road, and proceeded to make TONS of time on the field. Racing was spirited. The temperature was warm. In the feed zone, John M was awesome, providing water bottles and super-soaker squirts to everyone on the team who wanted them: he was essential for the team! With just under a lap to go, Mike fell out of the break but he said Aaron was doing well and looking strong up there. (His quote afterwards was something like, "Yeah, Aaron was going places he wasn't comfortable going, but he was doing fine up there. He'll be going back there again, I'm sure.) In the pack, Nikos and Aaron L were especially strong on the hill each time. On the final climb Aaron L went off the front with a group that eventually caught the lead break just before the finish. The A[aron] Team placed 3rd (Lavin) and 7th (Berntson), and then Brian placed 14th after a lined-out leadout snafu by Tom.

In the final GC, we did very well. Aaron L placed 4th, Brian 7th, Aaron B 12th and Nikos 13th. Garage had a great weekend, and racing was a blast.

April was a busy month for the boys of Garage Racing. Early April saw the first crits with Volunteer Park. Photos from the race are in the gallery. Flavio Rattazzi had a good race in the Masters field, finishing 4th. The first crit came at a high price, with both Dan Hazzard and Chris Teufel coming away with substantial injuries. Best of luck to for a speedy recovery and welcome them back to the peleton when they're back on the bike.

The Green Valley Time Trial brought excellent results for the usual suspects. Flavio not only had the fastest time of the day taking the win in the cat 1-2 field, but pulled a 3rd place finish in the Masters field in a second run. In fact, the Masters field was dominated by Garage with Matt Hill in second, Gibb Clark in fourth, and Mike Burdo in seventh. The cat 3 team showed similar dominance with Alex Rosenast in 2nd by a wide margin and Tom Wick finishing 7th.

The Dalles, Oregon proved to run the gamut in variety and quality of bread pudding. I sampled this dessert from three different restaurants while in The Dalles and, as an aside, attended the Cherry Blossom Stage Race.

Stage one bread pudding was at the Cousins Country Inn restaurant, which also happened to be the motel where teammate Brent and myself were staying. The dessert was a decently sized bowl of the typical raisin/custard/bread combo. While it was a good prep for the 80 mile Cherry Blossom stage one road race, stage one dessert was nothing to write home about and proved to be a test of endurance to finish. Both Brent and I finished the next morning's race with the pack, an unfortunate 10 minutes behind the lone leader.

With Friday evening came stage two at Baldwin Saloon in the downtown area. The historic atmosphere was complete with live piano and waitresses that could substitute for a stubborn grandma. That said, stubborn grandmas know how to make a good bread pudding. Baldwin's hit a gastronomical high note, offering a creamy custard flavor; the absence of raisins was replaced by a delightful whipped cream and blueberry topping. Following the bread pudding, the next morning saw solid individual results in the morning's 8 mile time trial. The evenings crit, shortened to 30 minutes, saw no changes in overall GC with Brent and myself finishing with the pack.

The final stage came from an unlikely source: Romul's, a very appetizing Italian restaurant with pasta dishes sure to satisfy the cyclist. Romul's gave yet another bread pudding which nixed the typical raisins for an alternative. Instead, Romul's served up a pear based delicacy. The presentation was excellent with slices of pear to top the dish adjacent to a bed of whipped cream. Uniquely different from the traditional bread pudding. The slicing of the pear was a foreshadowing of the following day's final stage slicing up the pack. Sustained climbs, technical descents, and numerous attacks on the final climb had the field broken into many groups all trying to finish the day. Brent had the misfortune of a flat with no wheel car to provide a spare. I rolled in with about a dozen racers 5 1/2 minutes after the leader, finishing the weekend 10th in GC.

Overall it was a successful weekend with many varieties of bread pudding sampled. Next up: the team will see if Walla Walla shares The Dalles raisin-aversion in bread pudding.

The team posted excellent results for the opening road races of the 2009 season. Washington road racing starts with Mason Lake, a three race series riders will either show up to regardless of weather or avoid like the plague. In the cat 1/2 race, Kyle Farrell spent a good part of the day in a breakaway and ended 3rd for Mason Lake #1. Mike Murdin rounded out the top 10 in the road race opener and managed similar placings in the remaining races of the series.

In the second and third Mason Lake races Chris Teufel pushed through the pain cave with 4th and 3rd place finishes. Chris ended up in 2nd place for the series, tieing the overall winner for series points.

In Masters A/B, David Hills opened his season with a 6th place at Mason Lake #1. Meanwhile John Meehan and Matt Hill showed consistent finishes ending the Mason Lake series in 4th and 5th place.

Road racing in Sequim is another staple of the early season calendar. The team pulled off some excellent results in the second race last Sunday. Kyle Farrell finished 2nd place in the cat 1/2 field with Mike Murdin in 10th and Dan Hazzard, in his first 1/2 race, in 12th.

Sequim #2 also saw Flavio Rattazzi use his time trial skills to take the win in the Masters field. Brad Lamkin wasn't far behind in the field sprint, finishing 4th for the day.

Off to a great start in March!

Results from the 2009 Tour de Dung races are available. Thanks to everyone who showed up for race #1 and the fantastic showing we got on race #2. Fields were larger than anticipated for the second race making for an excellent competition. Race results:

• Tour de Dung #1
• Tour de Dung #2