# Advice for the Elkhorn Classic?



## bahueh (May 11, 2004)

I'm attempting my first stage race in Baker City, OR. in a few weeks. two RR (75 and 101mi), a 10mi TT and a 40 min crit downtown I guess. I suck at crits, but can TT well with a disc and can climb like a monkey and crack, which is good as both RR's are climbing stages for teh most part. 
anyway...any suggestions? 
there are some posted in the racing/nutrion section....but was wondering if anyone out there had done this race and their take on it..
thanks.


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## llvllatt (Jul 23, 2005)

Hey.. sorry I didnt see this earlier.

I went to Elkhorn as well, what cat did you race? I was one of the "BC kids" in cat 4/5....

Elkhorn is a pretty brutally-hard stage race, you probably should've started with something like Walla Walla
Well, I hope you had fun and hope you see this post


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## bahueh (May 11, 2004)

*walla walla well?*



llvllatt said:


> Hey.. sorry I didnt see this earlier.
> 
> I went to Elkhorn as well, what cat did you race? I was one of the "BC kids" in cat 4/5....
> 
> ...



BC kids? I never saw that around the race advertised...I ran with teh 4/5 group. it was brutal on the last day, but fairly reasonable until then. The stage out to Unity and back was nice, as was the TT and crit downtown. Teh dooley mt. run though was an ass kicker...tempers were going off too as most of the riders were pretty tired I think...I saw at least two verbal arguments and a shove...
some people just lose the reason they drove out there in teh first place....


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## llvllatt (Jul 23, 2005)

Our official team name is Lactic Acid Racing, but, especially on the crit and last stage, we were right up at the front and a bunch of the guys were laughing about having 15 and 16 year old kids there, and we kinda got the nickname BC Boys, being based near Vancouver, BC.

Yeah, Doolet Mt. was crazy... there arent many hills quite like that one.. I was right at the front of the lead group of like 20-30 ppl, but was in a crash right at the bottom of it, pulled a ligament in my wrist and some road rash, but finished okay.. my teammate had a good run up that hill, lost his 1st place position though but it was still good.

In terms of verbal arguments and physical contact, that race wasnt so bad, I yelled at one guy during the crit, but ive seen him at other races and he really pisses me off sometimes, but all in all, not too bad for that (as far as I saw). Even cat 4/5 is reasonably competetive, and if you throw that much testosterone on a pair of wheels and jingle some cash in front of them, bad things can happen


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## bahueh (May 11, 2004)

*i saw that crash..*



llvllatt said:


> Our official team name is Lactic Acid Racing, but, especially on the crit and last stage, we were right up at the front and a bunch of the guys were laughing about having 15 and 16 year old kids there, and we kinda got the nickname BC Boys, being based near Vancouver, BC.
> 
> Yeah, Doolet Mt. was crazy... there arent many hills quite like that one.. I was right at the front of the lead group of like 20-30 ppl, but was in a crash right at the bottom of it, pulled a ligament in my wrist and some road rash, but finished okay.. my teammate had a good run up that hill, lost his 1st place position though but it was still good.
> 
> In terms of verbal arguments and physical contact, that race wasnt so bad, I yelled at one guy during the crit, but ive seen him at other races and he really pisses me off sometimes, but all in all, not too bad for that (as far as I saw). Even cat 4/5 is reasonably competetive, and if you throw that much testosterone on a pair of wheels and jingle some cash in front of them, bad things can happen


I had to swerve around you guys...did you hit the dirt or the other guy who stayed on the pavement? looked painful nonetheless, sorry about that...I nearly bonked about 1/2 way up Dooley and just strolled in...my dogs were tired. the crit was nice and honest, I mostly hung in the rear 1/3 knowing my sprint wasn't up to par then. the TT was good..my folks live out on that street so I know the area pretty well. how did you finish in the GC? I was somewhere in the 40's after some blown spokes on day one and that DAMN HEADWIND. did most of the trip out to Union by myself...


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## TooFat58 (Aug 12, 2005)

Hey BC Boy, did your new toys make it across the border and are you out of ammunition yet?


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## llvllatt (Jul 23, 2005)

TooFat58 said:


> Hey BC Boy, did your new toys make it across the border and are you out of ammunition yet?


 LOL!! ya, they made it out, kept them in the trailer, they have no reason to check it  and we're no where near out of ammo.. bought about 10k lol

Ya, the crash was relatively painless, I sprained my wrist but thats it (and theres no way thats gonna slow me down..). Crit was awesome, except for the football guys on the inside of corner one who wouldnt move.. messed up my inside line. My TT wasnt very good, didnt have any bars (long story, wont get into it). I dont know where I finished in the GC, the site is down, probably around 20 due to the crash and a bad TT.
Sucks that you blew out some spokes on day 1, that must've sucked

Sounds like you had a good time though.. maybe i'll see you next year, i'm gonna be racing cat3 though


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## bahueh (May 11, 2004)

*i might be there..*



llvllatt said:


> LOL!! ya, they made it out, kept them in the trailer, they have no reason to check it  and we're no where near out of ammo.. bought about 10k lol
> 
> Ya, the crash was relatively painless, I sprained my wrist but thats it (and theres no way thats gonna slow me down..). Crit was awesome, except for the football guys on the inside of corner one who wouldnt move.. messed up my inside line. My TT wasnt very good, didnt have any bars (long story, wont get into it). I dont know where I finished in the GC, the site is down, probably around 20 due to the crash and a bad TT.
> Sucks that you blew out some spokes on day 1, that must've sucked
> ...


i'll be Cat. 3 also but I'm guessing that group is going to be quite competitive next year. depends on what next year brings in terms of spring training. I had a bad TT too...i had bars but no disc...like you, a long story. had a weird stomach thing going on too. 
i noticed those football kids too..they were having fun staning there in the wind, they were taking turns. small town fun I guess.
anyway...good luck with the season remainder.


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## TooFat58 (Aug 12, 2005)

If you guys are racing Cat 3 next year, be sure to get your registration in early because it will fill up fast.


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## llvllatt (Jul 23, 2005)

Thanks bahueh, one more race to go (and a stage race, not sure if i'm going to that one though).. good luck to you too!



TooFat58 said:


> If you guys are racing Cat 3 next year, be sure to get your registration in early because it will fill up fast.


Did that happen this year? That would explain the pseudo-cat 4 intensity some of the time (after the feed zone day 1 lol). Thanks for the warning.. i'll get on it asap


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## bahueh (May 11, 2004)

*for GC results..*



llvllatt said:


> Thanks bahueh, one more race to go (and a stage race, not sure if i'm going to that one though).. good luck to you too!
> 
> 
> 
> Did that happen this year? That would explain the pseudo-cat 4 intensity some of the time (after the feed zone day 1 lol). Thanks for the warning.. i'll get on it asap



just check out www.obra.org ...the site is NEVER down!! just click on "results" on the top fo the page and the lists are on the left.
ya, I've got maybe a hand ful of crits and a hill climb time trial left in my legs...and then its back to enjoyable training rides and wet leaf dodging. I cracked a frame two weeks ago which puts a considerable stop to things.


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## gray8110 (Dec 11, 2001)

It's nice reading other's impressions of the same race. I raced 4's as weIl and was rather bummed by my 29th place  I loved the race but I got so dehydrated on the first day that I never felt right the rest of the race. I also ruined my rear zipp 303 wheel when it collapsed early on the Dooley Mountain stage. My 4th place in the TT is the first time that I've finished worse than 2nd in a categorized time trial.

I thought Dooley was an easy climb, tough at the bottom with the inital pace but the climb was barely 4% average. I still lost 5 minutes on the stage. Among the other cat4's in Oregon I'd been able to stay with riders on the climbs in earlier races but the 16mph pace that the leaders set on Dooley was humbling to say the least. I was right behind the crash at the base of Dooley.. silly stuff. Glad you weren't hurt. One of the UC Berkley guys went down, got up went down again almost immediately..


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## TooFat58 (Aug 12, 2005)

*Saw your ruined zipp*



gray8110 said:


> It's nice reading other's impressions of the same race. I raced 4's as weIl and was rather bummed by my 29th place  I loved the race but I got so dehydrated on the first day that I never felt right the rest of the race. I also ruined my rear zipp 303 wheel when it collapsed early on the Dooley Mountain stage. My 4th place in the TT is the first time that I've finished worse than 2nd in a categorized time trial.
> 
> I thought Dooley was an easy climb, tough at the bottom with the inital pace but the climb was barely 4% average. I still lost 5 minutes on the stage. Among the other cat4's in Oregon I'd been able to stay with riders on the climbs in earlier races but the 16mph pace that the leaders set on Dooley was humbling to say the least. I was right behind the crash at the base of Dooley.. silly stuff. Glad you weren't hurt. One of the UC Berkley guys went down, got up went down again almost immediately..



I noticed your Zipp on the wheel car and talked to the driver about it. The tire wasn't in very good shape either, driver wondered if you should have been using it.
Anyway, hope you guys make it back next year, there will be at least one course change due to road construction and the Elkhorn loop may be added on Thursday. I've been there every year helping the race organizer and it's been fun!


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## gray8110 (Dec 11, 2001)

TooFat58 said:


> I noticed your Zipp on the wheel car and talked to the driver about it. The tire wasn't in very good shape either, driver wondered if you should have been using it.
> Anyway, hope you guys make it back next year, there will be at least one course change due to road construction and the Elkhorn loop may be added on Thursday. I've been there every year helping the race organizer and it's been fun!


The tire wasn't like that at the start of the day but that thought occured to me too when I picked the wheel up. I have to wonder if the ride back to Baker on that horrible frontage road on day one was a big contributor to the wheel failure. As bad as the tire ended up, it was torn up because of the way the wheel seized and slipped 6 or 7 times before finally jamming. That sucked. I'm glad it happened going uphill not down & the front wheel hasn't been touched since.


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