The Wenatchee "This seemed like a good idea at the time" Omnium

As if leaving for a week to go race in Colorado wasn't enough, I decided to sign up for the Wenatchee Omnium up north in Washington. So after Nationals I worked my ass off for 4 days, writing papers, taking tests, and improving my spider solitaire winning record to 31 (that's a 16% winning average, thank you very much).

After these dreadful 4 days, only 4 of us were left still thinking Wenatchee was a good idea (plus the fact we had all already registered). Me, Andy, Ben and Duncan. We packed up the car, surprised everything fit, and headed up north. We made it to the Red Lion in time for packet pickup, only to find a few dozen people roaming around aimlessly in what looked like complete chaos, holding license in one hand and a beer glass/t shirt combo in another. It took some time, and our Whitman College wit, but we navigated ourselves through, one beer glass and t shirt richer.

The generous Valaas family let us into their home, and even broke into the house of their neighbor to find us a place to stay. They are so great.

Saturday morning was the TT. The race directors, again ahead of the game, had delayed the starts by a mere hour. I mean, who DOESN'T want to sit in a huge factory parking lot for an extra hour? This delay combined with our lack of coffee contributed to the crankiness of the team. We even had to call the Waaambulance for a Mr. Duncan McGovern. At least it was pretty outside.



Then we drove the road race course. Fuuuck.

Same night was the crit. This was the best part about the weekend, aside from the discovery of the Yakima Valley Party Station and the baller beer glass. It was a short, four corner course, with a fast downhill corner (like the conference crit) and a steep kicker of a climb right before the sprint. I accidentally found myself off the front for the first 5 laps, and spent the rest of the 30 minute crit (30 MINUTES??!?!? That's a crime!) trying to recover. It was fun to race with some the Hagens ladies, and one of them, Karen, gave me a super fast leadout...a lap early. It was still great. I ended up 9th, I couldn't really sprint I was so tired. Oh well.

Road race...ahem. 10 mile climb. 90 degrees. I am not cut out for races like these. I don't WANT to be cut out for races like these. After the first 9 miles (the time trial course, even complete WITH a turn around) we began our journey up the hill. I was riding okay, I could still see the lead pack, I looked to my right-Christine Chang. Cool, I'll just ride with her. Shit she's passing me. I looked to my left-a few other girls. Cool, I'll just ride with them. Shit they're passing me. I could keep going but chances are you'd stop reading after the 20th time I realized shit, someone is passing me. After a while, I gave up even pretending I was racing, and tried to check out some of the killer nature views. But, even the pretty flowers on the side of the road could not convince me that turning around (and returning to the feed zone where Andy sat with tons of cold water and all things good, at least I imagined) wouldn't be a bad idea.

Earlier in the day, when Duncan and Ben and I had driven up the climb to cheer on Andy we had heard a variety of cries from passing riders. For example:

Duncan: There's cold beer in the feed zone, just a half a mile!
Dropped guy: I need a cigarette!

or

All of us: Where the FUCK is Andy?
Andy: I stole your move, Duncan! I attacked right out of the start!
(As Andy rides a circle in the middle of the climb.)

or

Really dropped guy: Two nuns walk into a bar... that's all I got.

I envy these people. During the race I could not think of one single cohesive thought, especially not one that I would say outloud to strangers. My thoughts ranged from "What the fuck was I thinking" to "I'm a track racer" to "This will only make me stronger". Okay, you're right, I wasn't thinking that last one. But I WAS thinking "Why did you just spray me as hard as you could in the face with that hose?" I'm willing to bet some other people had that same thought.

Anyway, I finished. Some bitch sprinted me at the end, which I found both annoying and amusing at the same time. Go ahead and "sprint" me for 40th place, I'll let that happen. Duncan flatted, much to his dismay, and did not have to go up the climb a second time. Ben crashed, but still finished. Andy finished, with his 13 miles of glory.

A myriad of thoughts/outcomes:
1. Duncan got invited to join the Wines of Washington team.
2. Nobody parties like Yakima Valley.
3. Grad week is going to be well-appreciated by all.
4. GRAVEL RIDE
5. Wenatchee Omnium=never again.