July: Delta, Boise, Cascade

I promise my blog isn't dead, it was just resting okay... For more than a month... I guess that is probably considered hibernation?  But perhaps it's better this way because I can spare you all of the boring details of the last month and just give you a months worth of highlights

So after last month's tail safari on the way home for Augusta I did a little bit of resting. (Is it good or bad that I just had to look at my google calendar to see what I've done in the last month?)  Then after resting was the Tour de Delta in Vancouver, BC.  Always a good race and it didn't dissapoint this year. Thanks to Winger's grandparents for hosting us and to these guys for entertaining me on a morning spin through scenic North Vancouver.

Next up was a little drive to Boise with Ian and my new found teammate, Cody Campbell.  Cody is Canadian, so it was natural that we found him after Delta.  Supposedly Cody has been on the team all year, but since I didn't race San Dimas or travel with the Canadian National team to Belgium (those are things that Cody did) I didn't know.  I'm really glad we have him around now though.  Here is a picture taken on the way to Boise.  It's like we are getting ready for a bike race, but really we were just going for a little spin to break up the drive.  Either that or we are 3 homeless dudes living out of a van.

Boise was a pretty cool place to hang out.  Unfortunately the crit didn't yield any great results for us.  But I'd heard that there was another crit less than one week away, so I kept my head up.  Though I soon learned that this crit was deep into some big stage race called Cascade and that getting there would be somewhat challenging.  I'll break down the Cascade from my perspective:

Prologue: 19 seconds down isn't going to matter at all for me by the end of the week.
Stage 1: 18 mile climb? Really?  I'll settle for finishing in the largest group on the road, 16min down.
Stage 2: Another TT? Really?  I wasn't last, but was really far from 1st.
Stage 3: Only the top 150 riders after this stage get to do the crit!  Why does this race start with a 10mile climb?  Woa this is hard, imma be chasing back through the cars for a while when we get to the top of this.  Ah ya this finish climb seems somewhat easier, imma totally win this gruppetto, top 100 on the stage.
Stage 4:  I made it to the next crit! Here is is!  I rode near the front all night, but not close enough to make the break.  I did manage to snag a $200 prime though and finished 33rd on the stage.  Little did I know there were all these skinny dudes "resting" up for some other race the next day.
Stage 5: Woa, hey, is this really hard for anyone else?  We've been going 29mph for more than an hour now guys and its really hot out. Can we slow down? No?  Okay well I'm going to have to slow down now, see ya later Cascade Classic.

So Cascade was tough, but a great experience for me.  Hanging out in Bend is always a pleasure too.  The wildlife really enjoy Hammer Nutrition products in Central Oregon, I'm glad HB Cycling could help out.  Now it's time for some local racing