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Tour of Utah

August 17, Prologue - 2.8 miles of fun.  Results - http://www.tourofutah.com/index.php?p_resource=race_2010stages_prologue
Not what I was hoping for, but live to fight another day.  Paco is in 13th and I am sitting tied for 28th?  There is a lot of riding left, so bring it on.
August 18th, Stage 1 - 86 miles give or take.  Caynon bicycles did a lot of work today.  I hope everyone can recover.  It was hot and fast.  I spent most of my time with team mates on the front or just on the front trying to protect Paco.  He finished in the 1st chase group in 23rd and moved to 8th overall.  I am sitting a long way down the GC in 79th, with one goal in mind, get Paco on the podium.  I'll have a lot of work to do tomorrow.

August 19th, Stage 2 - 77 miles with one big climb, with one big climb, with one big climb, it might as well have been 3 climbs.  This thing has a breast, 4800 ft of elevation gain in 20 miles.  Ouch.  Did I mention the finish was at 9300 ft above sea level?
I have mixed feelings about today.  It was nice to pull the parachute on the bottom, but I would have liked to hit the base fresh.  I spent my day keeping Paco out of the wind and chasing attacks (I guess I can do that for a 6th place finisher in the TDF).  Paco finished 2nd on the stage, moved to 2nd overall and grabbed the King of the Mountains lead.  Tomorrow is the TT, lets see what I saved.  The games begin again on Saturday with an interesting crit, and Sunday with the queen stage.  I have been looking for pictures to no avail.  Here is a link to the results:  http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/08/road/2010-tour-of-utah-results-stage-2_135724

August 20th, Stage 3 - 9.3 mile TT, I felt good in warm ups, but did not feel so good in the race.  It was another very technical course with a lot of turns.  You could take most of the turns at full gas, but it just seemed to slow me down on every corner and I had to sprint out of each corner (I think that took its toll).  I may have also run low on fuel and hydration, according to how much I drank after the race (2 cokes and 2 vitamin waters right after the race and a glass of OJ and vitamin water when I got home).  Well, it is what it is and today is a new day, my favorite event, a crit.  Time to get the morning spin, good day.
August 21st, Stage 4 - 75 minute crit, not a crit.  It was  a hill climb with some turns.  Really no game plan, just finish.  We lost two riders and now can claim the lanterne rouge.  We went up the climb about 30 times and climbed close to 4000 ft.  I spent about 10 laps off the front stuck beween the break and the field then spent 10 laps just off the back. The whole race was a mess with riders scattered all over the road.  I'm sorry to lose a couple of our boys, but it was actually a fun crit.  The last update will probably come on Monday because I will have to kill myself today for Paco.  We are doing 102 miles, and let's just say a couple of climbs.  Can't wait to be home and tell you all about it.

August 22, Stage 4 – 102 miles, So Paco decided I should go with the early break, sounds like a great idea?   Well, I figured out what he was thinking, get me over the first climb so I can help in on the next 2 climbs.  Well, it worked kinda.  I got gapped off right at the top of the first big climb, but managed to stay close enough to the field to catch them on the descent (it was a wild descent and I only scared myself once).  So to caught you up on what was going on, I was in the early break of about 20 riders that blow apart on the first climb, Crawford (eventual stage winning bridged and past original break on the first climb), Main field with Paco and Levi 1:40 down on the break when we hit the lesser slopes on the descent.  So this part of the plan worked, I went to the front and drilled it for the next 20k, and took back some of the time on the break, hit the next climb and did what I could to push the pace up the climb.  Well, in a nut shell, I blow up and rode my pace the rest of the way in.  I had some friends on the way in and was the biggest group to finish.  Paco finished 3^rd on the stage and 2^nd overall, but losed the KOM jersey.  Fun racing, but hard, and I’m ready to be home.  Thank you and cu all soon.

Me with Paco in tow, and the rest of the field behind.  Across the ridge heeaded to second climb of the day. 
Final Results:  http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/6th-tour-of-utah-ne/stage-5/results

Check out results at:

https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2010&id=1947&info_id=28324


https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2010&id=1947&info_id=28342

Quick Recap:

Thursday 35K TT – Race of truth, a great day with a great result.

Friday Crit – I took a couple of flyers, to no  avail, then just dodged bodies laying on the pavement

Sunday RR 160K – There is a great article in Velonews on the race, In short I put in a hard effort up the canyon climb but was marked tight by the field, and on the false flat out of the feed the field slowed, and I jumped.  I got a quick 30 second gap, up the Archie Briggs climb opened my gap to 1 minute.  The last 40K the gap held at 1 minute.  All I did is put my head down and hammered.  I finished 56 seconds on the field.  What a great day. 


Finally we got to race.  35k race of truth.  Per results from last year, I got to start last with Greg Krause (who finished 3rd last year) 30 seconds in front of me.  I shook off all of the bad luck from Hood and didn't have any problems.  It was a good day finishing 44:45 and on top of the leader board.  I will try to write more as soon as i get some more time.  Thank you for your support.  Still two races to go...Here are a couple more photos and results.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/usa-cycling-junior-u23-elite-road-national-championships-cn-1/day-3/photos/127501
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/usa-cycling-junior-u23-elite-road-national-championships-cn-1


https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2010&id=1521&info_id=25828
Here is the result from the crit.  I took a couple of flyers, to no avail, so just sat up to avoid the crashes in anticipation for the RR on Sunday.


Here is a great article from Velonews on the RR andf the win:  http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/06/news/olheiser-gets-goose-bumps-from-elite-title-defense_123662 
Here is some great pics by HeidiSwift:  http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/usa-cycling-junior-u23-elite-road-national-championships-cn-1/day-6/photos

Lonely, so lonely: Michael Olheiser (Moontoast) rode away from the peloton.

Photo: © Heidi Swift

Sorry again for lack of updates.  This is the first time with internet since Tuesday.  I have had a very interesting race, with two flats including my disc on the big TT, crashing into the comm car, and going down in the Wednesday crit.  Somehow I am still in 13th overall, with a sore shoulder and hip.  Here is an address to copy and paste for the results.

http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/race-results/2010gc-results/

Mount Hood Cycling Classic

To the race, I love you, I hate you.

 Riders crash and riders fall, some riders make you crash and fall, or some people park car in the riders' way and make them crash and fall. (Thank you white Cadillac)

Some riders get flats and some racers do not, but in the end you still need two full tires to finish the day.

 You go up the GC and then back down the GC.  Where you land is the game we play, some days you play better than other days.

We go up the hills, over the rivers, and through the snow.  Whomever crosses the finish line first wins the day, but the most consistent wins in the end.

It was a crazy week, in the rain and snow.  We enjoyed the racing and the friendship.  Thank you for reading and your support.  Next report will be from Nats in Bend.  Wow, two weeks and I am back in OR.