Cascade Cycling Classic 2010

Bend, Oregon – one of the most beautiful places on Earth (if you ask me, that is). Every year, hundreds of cyclists flock to Bend for the grueling Cascade Cycling Classic. Cascade is the last big women’s stage race on the NRC calendar and the last race in the Women’s Prestige Series, so naturally, our team was pumped and ready to race in beautiful Bend!

Bend, as beautiful as it is, apparently happens to be troublesome and mischievous. Every year that I have gone to Bend (3 years running now), something (or things) out of the ordinary has happened. Year 1 – I got some strange rash that was diagnosed as shingles and didn’t finish. Year 2 – On the drive to Bend from Tucson, our bike rack broke on the interstate, the car broke down, and I developed a weird breathing problem. This year, which is year 3 at Cascade for me, the mischievous nature of Bend seemed to culminate in lots of weird events, which made racing difficult and/or impossible for some of us.

But for starters, Bend brought some good luck. Two of our riders were contacted to ride for their national teams in Europe and were unable to race Cascade. Chloe Forsman can currently be found racing for the US National MTB Team in at two European World Cups, and Cara Gillis is racing for the Canadian National Team in a variety of stage races and one-day road events around Europe, as well. So in that regard, Bend was very good to our team. Congrats, ladies!

However, for the rest of us, Bend remained somewhat unruly. First, two riders were unable to make it due to a house flood for one and a family emergency for the other. When the rest of us arrived in Bend, Ari opened her bike bag to discover that the water bottle cage had been ripped out of her frame, causing a crack in the carbon, and her disc was also smashed. She subsequently rented a bike from Sunnyside Sports (who were a huge help, thanks!). The bike’s name was Patty (like from the Simpsons).

Next, Ari came down with a fever due to some strange, undiagnosed virus. She suffered through the prologue and the first stage before we took her to urgent care. I arrived in Bend after dealing with a hip injury for two weeks and wasn’t sure if I’d be able to race. I finished the prologue and the first stage, and then immediately got sick! Jenna Rinehart, a guest rider, was also battling a head cold. I finally had to pull out of the race after the second stage, which is a good thing, because I later learned I had bronchitis. If injury and illness weren’t enough, we had some fun mechanicals, as well. Jenna’s rear shifter broke mid-ride on the way to the time trial. Good thing I had my TT bike, so Russ – our awesome mechanic – poached the shifter off my road bike for her TT. Various other parts were broken, etc., etc. throughout the week, which took us back to the bike shop over and over again.

Meanwhile, there were some pretty bad crashes in the peloton on a few stages, which took a number of great racers out. Best wishes to all of them for a speedy recovery!

Anyways, by Stage 4, our team had been whittled down to three riders – Judy Jenkins, two guest riders – Jenna Rinehart and Anna Barensfeld. These ladies toughed it out the rest of the week with some great finishes – Anna 33rd GC, Jenna 36th GC, and Judy 75th GC. Despite the much diminished size of our team, we were still a force to be reckoned with, and the remaining ladies rode like champs.

Meanwhile, Ari, Russ (our mechanic), and I entertained ourselves in the feed zone, while our awesome team director Maggie took care of the ladies in the caravan. Since I wasn’t racing, I had more time to take photos!

Gosh it's pretty here - view from the caravan

Ari slides down a mound of snow we found at Mt. Bachelor

Judy and Jenna get pumped for the crit

Anna deep in concentration before the crit

Russ tests out Judy's bike before the crit

Ari writes some motivational words on the course for our ladies before the final stage

Anyhow, Cascade was the last big NRC stage race on our schedule for the year. Despite some of the troubles we encountered at Cascade, our team had tons of good luck all year. All in all, it’s been a fantastic year for Specialized D4W! We definitely have some good momentum, great results, and are looking forward to a bigger and better 2011! Many thanks to Maggie, her husband Don, and Russ for the great support at Cascade, and thanks to all of our great hosts in Bend (sorry we got one of you sick…).