I didn't expect much from Olympic View.  It's a fun course, but adding an extra lap on top of last year's race combined with the race being a state championship event were sure to make things hard.  With 8 guys in the field, we needed to make sure Garage was in every break.  I think we planning on having someone try to go in early breaks while either Zach or I rested for later attacks, but I forget things as soon as the race starts...

After my typical "start at the back" move, I decided things were going a bit slow and moved up the right side to hang out with the guys up front.  I went in an early attack right as a big crash happened near the middle of the field.  Tubbs bridged up to the break and told us to neutralize since most of the race had either crashed or gotten stuck behind the crash.  We rode slow for 5-10 minutes until folks started saying it was time to race, so I took off solo.  Carson Miller bridged up to me like a freaking rocket, and I swapped a few pulls with him hoping like hell that some other folks would join in since I knew I could hang with him for 100 miles at his pace.  It seems as though Carson was poison to any break, though - we were chased down before we could build a gap larger than ~20 seconds.

Soon after, Jamie Stangeland attacked and rode solo for a few laps.  Nothing much really happened in the field during this time.  I took a couple of turns at the front to keep from being too bored.  Folks would try to go off the front now and then and get shut down pretty quickly.  Oh, it also started raining at some point - mostly just on the back side of the course.  The pack eventually brought Jamie back with about 3 (4?) laps to go.

Breaks formed and were chased down for the next half a lap.  Folks would react very quickly to any break that Carson or Stanko joined, so nothing really got anywhere.  Suddenly, Kyle and I watched (from way back in the field) as a group of 6 guys slowly rolled off the front while the Garage guys near the front mumbled something about "defence winning championships".  Okay, maybe not, but we let a break get away.

Oh crap!  This could be the winning break: Ian Mensher (KR), Jeff Hoover (Audi), Todd Herriott, Rich McClung (HB), Rusty Dodge (Fanatik) and a Team Oregon guy.

After chasing for several miles, we weren't really making time on the break.  I moved out of the rotation for a bit to rest and pout.  That's when Steve Wilssens pulls up next to me and says, "you wanna try to bridge?"  He took off before I could finish saying "sure", and I jumped on his wheel.  Here we go!  We got clear of the field, and I killed myself pulling about half as long on my turns as Wilssens would pull.  I was pretty sure I was destined to get dropped as soon as we made it to the break, but maybe folks wouldn't pick up the pace when two new riders arrived...

We made it up to the break before the feed zone and sat on the back to rest.  When we told the rider at the rear (TH) that we were going to skip a few pulls to recover, I was (not very) surprised to hear, "Fine with me!  I'm just sitting on, too!".  Great, it's going to be one of those days...

As we neared the finish line, the lead car began to slow and then came to a stop.  I then remembered that our follow car had told us that there was an ambulance at the finish line (crash in the masters race), but the guys in the break hadn't gotten that memo.  The lead car said we were stopping, so a few of us took the opportunity to have a bio break.

Our break was given a head start (50 seconds, I think) when the race restarted for the final lap.  We all worked pretty hard to keep the gap going.  About halfway through the lap, we were told there was a chase group of 6 about 50 seconds back with the field another 30 behind them.  Then the lead car began to slow again.  Are you kidding me???  We had 10 more miles to go, and they were stopping the race AGAIN.  It turns out there was another crash requiring an ambulance at the finish line (cat 3 field).  This stop lasted much longer (20 minutes or so).

We all got really cold standing around, and everyone starting making "bad sprint excuses" by talking about how tired they were or how bad they were cramping.  We all agreed that priority #1 is to not require another ambulance appearance.  Our follow car let us know that the chase group was actually 4 guys, but they wouldn't give us any more recon.  Anyways, we got going again eventually and got back to a pretty normal rotation.

Rich created a small gap on the downhill turns leading to the finishing straight.  We all came back together at the 1km sign, and folks started looking at each other.  Someone jumped again with 300-400 meters to go, and the sprint was on.  I ended up on TH's wheel while he followed someone that caught and passed the first person that jumped, but I missed Ian and Jeff when they shot around us on the left side.  I passed the two guys directly in front of me with enough speed to start closing on Jeff, but I ran out of road before the finish line.

So that's the story of how I got third at the state championship road race.

Aaron Bernston won the masters race with Mark Mirante picking up 3rd.

As summer progresses road races head out of favor to crits and shorter circuit races. The past couple weeks Garage Racing was out at the Brad Lewis Crit in Seattle's U-District and made a good dent in the Keller Rohrback Road Race in Eatonville.

On paper the Brad Lewis Crit (ie- Boat Street Crit) is straightforward, but it's deceptively technical and challenging. An incline on the backstretch, some tough cornering, and a small field leave no place to hide. The threat of weather with some raindrops made many leery about the race. At the start line it was 25 racers in the 1-2 field, with Garage having Mike Murdin, Alex Rosenast, and Kyle Farrell up on the line. Seventy five minutes later half the field DNF's, Kyle takes a solo flyer for the wrong 15 minutes of the race, and Murdin rolls across the line 5th. A good day considering the sprinters in the field and the number of DNFs on the day.

Yesterday the team was in the rural and welcoming community of Eatonville for the KR Road Race. Advertised as a relatively flat circuit race, the course was anything but. Again it was 25 racers in the 1-2 field (though not exactly the same as Boat Street), with the addition of the seven racers from the Masters field. Kyle and Zach Jones rode 1-2 with Alex and Neil Casserly in the same field representing for Masters. An early break went without Garage, and without much organized chasing by the pack. Despite numerous attempts to attack and get a bridge group going, the pack pulled up every time. With over three of five 11-mile laps completed, Zach had enough and went for a solo ride off the front. At this point most teams were down to single riders (except for Bikesale, who had about 20). Great move by Zach, with that composite in the pack nobody was going to chase. Zach finished 5th for the day, with Kyle in 7th. Neil took 1st in the Masters field, finishing incognito to the other racers riding Masters.

Earlier in the day Aaron Lavin took 1st in the cat 3's. We've yet to hear his race report. The silence leads the team to assume Aaron was whisked away to put ink to a pro contract and is busy with celebrity fame.

While the weather was down (steady drizzle greeted us, with no Olympic views), Garage managed to get up the road.

In the Men’s 1-2 field, Hitch and Andrew made it into the break of the day about half-way through the first of five laps. The group of 7 opened their advantage, and then the distance began popping riders one by one. By the last lap, it was just Hitch, Jamie (KR), Stanko (Audi), and Phil (HB). In the field, John, Zach, and Joe were able to follow the HB machine as they tried to chase down the break. But the break made it to the end – and after a lot of cat-and-mouse, Hitch ended up 3^rd. Zach finished up strong in the field, finishing in 9^th.

Meanwhile, in the Masters field, Garage had a strong showing. Murdin countered an attack, taking off on a 60-some mile break with only one other guy. They stayed away, and Murdin dropped his break mate to finish up solo. The rest of the guys cleaned up, posting solid results with a pretty spread-out field.

But that wasn’t all. Aaron L ventured into the Category 3 race without any teammates, and managed to come in strong in 6^th place.

It seems we like it when it’s wet. Maybe we need more rain?

Riding in the back of a race gives one a great view of action that other racers miss out on. For instance, Andrew Bates proved that his carbon fiber bicycle pieces are no match for his climbing power and ripped his steering tube in half on lap 2! I got to see the whole thing happen because I was choosing to climb the hills at the back of the peleton! (Andrew is fine, by the way)

On the next climb, I was able to pass along a tip to a rider with a flat tire that was signaling with his left hand. I told him, "hold up your right hand if your rear tire is flat." He would have ended up with a fresh front wheel from the support can if I wasn't there to offer my expert advice.

A lap later I got to witness (and avoid) a broken chain flailing back and forth like a some sort of James Bond anti-pursuit device. (Bond was able to safely stop his bike without taking anyone out)

Finally, I'm able to get a lot of encouragement from spectators by climbing at the back of the field. I feel like I have my own fan club when I get to hear folks yell, "good job man, keep going!" or "come on John, you can get back up there!"

Of course I'm joking, and here's a little about the actual race: Independence Valley didn't disappoint. There was rain, there was sun, there were attacks, there were moments where I feared another field would catch us, there were really fast rides up the hills, there were sketchy descents, there was a 2-man break that stayed away for almost the whole race, and then there were the last 1.5 laps where things got crazy-fast! Hitch rode super-strong and managed 3rd place after getting in a 4-man break on lap 4. Zach held on to a front group after a solo attack and managed to finish 8th. And me? I pulled the plug after lap 3 and enjoyed a rainy ride back to the staging area.

Alex made his way onto the podium in the masters race with an impressive 3rd place finish.

Race season just started and already Garage is too busy standing on the podium to update the website!

Weather was excellent for the early season Ice Breaker 8-mile time trial. Flavio pulled a 2nd place finish in the Masters field. As part of his cool down, Flavio rode to top-10 finish in the cat1-2 time trial.

Road Racing! Nikos is on a weekly climb in the Masters field in Sequim: 4th at Sequim #1, 3rd at Sequim #2. Perhaps we should of scheduled two more Sequim races?

Too eager to wait for March racing the PNW, David Hills tore the legs off the kiwis in New Zealand's Leeston Classic back in February. Returning to US soil, Dave is on a role with podium results at both Mason Lake and Sequim in the Masters field.

I managed to retain some fitness after my season peak for Mason Lake #1, pulling 2nd at the first Sequim road race in the 1-2 field. I'm now on a self-prescribed 3-month recovery/couch potato schedule after which I'll begin training for the season.

Garage riders reached for the white jerseys over the July 4 holiday "crit week." This inluded the State Championship, Masters Championship, Joe Matava Memorial, and Redmond Derby Days all in an 8 days under the sweltering sun.

Garage covered both sides of the mountains in mid June with wins
in the Methow Valley Omnium and the Seward Summer Criterium.

Ian Mensher rode away from a very strong eight man break for a win in the cat1/2 field. Garage took its second Masters A win in a row at a Seward weekend when Jay Hilwig crossed the line.

East of the mountains , the second annual Methow race proved to be a showcase for rising talent on the Garage. In the road race, Kyle "53X10" Farrel flew by the finish in front of two break away companions and took the victory, ending up third in overall Omnium points. Dan Hazzard placed 6th in Twisp's bumpy crit and 5th in the road race and secured 9th overall, closely followed by Aaron "fast socks" Lavin in 12th.

Alex "No beer" Rosenast bounced back to take second in the Masters road race. Alex was a model of watching and waiting for the right moment to go off with the right breakaway partner. He wheeled, he dealed, he pedaled and placed. In the Cat 1/2 race Mike Murdin and Kevin Masterson rode well to round out a great weekend of racing for Garage.

It's been awhile since the last post, in that time Garage Racing has had some excellent results. A couple highlights:

• Nathan Smith taking 1st in the opening stage of the Walla Walla Stage Race and 5th overall in the cat 1/2 field.
• Garage has some smokin' time trial engines: Josh Gunn set a course record at the Orcas Island uphill time trial. Meanwhile at the June Carnation Time Trial five of the top ten spots were held by Garage riders.
• Flavio Rattazzi takes his TT efforts to the Seward Spring Crit by staying away for entire Masters A race and soloing to the finish.
• In the cat 3 field, Colin Westbrook took 2nd at Vance Creek against a tough field.