End of the trip

The trip is done, bikes are back home with their riders and I'm back to real life at Recycled Cycles. However there were a few cool things from the last day in Bend after we got done I thought were worth sharing. 

 

 Giant beetle. Knife in the picture for sizing. It's about a 3" blade.

 

 BLTA from Brother Jon's Alehouse in downtown Bend. There was so much bacon on this sandwich that it was falling off as I went. That and good beer makes for a very good after race meal.

 And before the race, if you have all morning to hang out, sitting outside of Back Porch Coffee with an ocean roll and a cappuccino is a good call. Ocean rolls are so good they were featured in two posts.

 

Baby deer in a field. And by field I mean backyard I walked through headed downtown. They're just around.

 

 This building houses a dance club and a church. Not sure if I am more distrustful of a dance club next to a church or a church next to a dance club.

Mt. Bachelor

Stage 3, Mt. Bachelor, pretty flat with a tough bit of climbing at the end and nothing but beautiful scenery along the way. Today also marked our first bike change during a road stage. The swap went smoothly and was not photographed. Apologies for that. However I did still get a few pics.

Headed to Mt. Bachelor. 

SRAM NRS getting ready for the stage.

Cal Giant Strawberries has a last word before the stage.

Bend has a few good coffee shops but Back Porch Coffee Roasters won out this trip because of their exceptional pastries. Very important to get one, even if eaten on the go.

Headed up the last climb, long line of cars. I think there is a bike race up there somewhere.

The illegal feed zone: apparently an institution on this stage. The print below says "1 finger = water, 2 fingers = gatorade, 3 fingers = coke, 4 fingers = beer."

This gentleman was responsible for the most important illegal feed: 4 fingers for beer.

A few days in

As I'm writing this we are getting ready for stage three of Cascade. Time trial is in the bag and we're headed back out on the road bikes, but I did get a few shots from the last couple days.

Stage 1, headed through a really cool lava field in the caravan. Nice rocks.

A view from the porch of our host house. A little down time at night sometimes leads to grilling.

And a small crash sometimes leads to blood on frames. Everyone on our team came out mostly okay. Just a few cuts and scrapes.

Kennett about to head off on his TT. Stage 2 was a longer time trial. These are definitely the most stressful days for me. Very glad to have them done for this race.

This message was on the inside of one of the port-a-potty doors. What a nice vandal.

Two of our guys returning downhill to the pelaton after a crash. They were going about 50 in this picture.

Some local kids came out to cheer on the riders. Always a nice to have some local support.

Watson. Very nice dog, but seemed unwilling to assist in washing bikes. Just lays around and sometimes moves to avoid getting wet. 

I got this shot as I was driving home from dinner. I would argue no shirt, no shoes, no helmet means no ride your bike. But that's just me. You also can't quite see the giant headphones in this pic. But beats by Dre were happening.

There is sometimes a lot to get done to get ready for a stage. Here Chris is getting the post race PB&J ready on the assembly line.

I also discovered that Alan keeps a stock of HB colored M&Ms in the car. It's always important to be sponsor correct.

Prologue

The Cascade Classic started with a prologue time trial. Short and fast.

Getting set for the prologue. Showing up early turned out to be a very good call.

Gabe was our last rider to go off. It was a short 2.8 mile TT but very fast and very hard. I think we hung out at 35 for a while.

Time trial complete. Just getting a chance to step back and admire the scenery. 

Van loaded and ready for the first road stage. So good to see 9 bikes clean and ready to ride.

Cascade classic: the beginning

After a great week in BC we headed to Bend for the Cascade Cycling classic

Our host house is great, and features deer. (In real life the deer are not quite as blurry)

Van space was at a premium, Jon is currently sitting under his TT bike.

But great scenery

And some Toyota on Toyota action

A mechanic's job sometimes involves strange tasks. In this case: fixing the fridge shelf at our host house. Gorilla tape is great.

And then wash the van. The giant, giant, van.

Birthday on the road

This was my first birthday, I suspect there may be more, that I spent out of town with the team. However the day still turned out well: bike ride to the Wired Monk in Crescent Beach for coffee, little action at the Tour of White Rock crit, and then dinner and pie with the guys back at our host house. Not a bad day at all.

Small joys of the road

As our BC squad dwindles leading into Tour of White Rock this weekend I got some time to just relax and enjoy the little things in life.

While the guys were on their ride I took a joyride down to the waterfront in White Rock.

Complete with pier.

And in case you didn't believe I knew where I was, the proof is in the...arch.

Nighttime racing means daytime cleaning. Got to make sure those wheels sparkle.

Also a good chance to even out all of the awkward tan lines I am accumulating.

So I guess there has to be at least one bike racing picture. The tiny blurry guys are the lead group heading towards the finish line about midway through the Giro di Burnaby. There must be a lot of Italian immigrants in Burnaby, because while it was confusing to have a Giro in Canada, I did hear a lot of Italian.

Our host mom this week had made sure that we have plenty of food, brownies included.

Mr. Jackson courtesy of Mr. Chis Wingfield, who did not seem to understand the new profanity rule instituted this trip.

The return of the Gastown Crit

A small piece of background: this is the biggest race in Canada and had not happened since 2008 but was back for 2012. I had heard good things: this was a bit wild.

Apparently closing down a number of streets in downtown Vancouver on a Wednesday leads to some congestion. Good thing we arrived early.

Unloading bikes in front of the Fairmont Hotel on the waterfront. The guys got to enjoy 5 star accomidations after the 5 star crit Wednesday night.

The crowd behind the pit. I had to part the crowd and jump the fence just to get set up. The guys from Vancouver Bike Gallery were a huge help in making that happen.

The field lining up at the start. Dan is in the foreground saying hi to his host dad from Delta.

Corner 4, headed into the finish. So many people!

One more crowd shot as they lined the finishing straight for the final sprint. Apparently 35,000 people were on hand to watch.