I’m back home in San Diego after finishing the Cascade Classic in Bend, Oregon. Bend is known as the Boulder of the Northwest because of its athletic and outdoorsy residents. Cascade is one of my favorite races. I got 8th in the circut race as a Cat. 2 in 2003 and that was what made me want to make the switch from mountain biking to road racing.

The first of the six stages was a 92 mile trek through the small town of Prineville and back into Bend before finishing atop the one mile climb of Pilot Butte. The entire team was very active trying to get into any breaks that went up the road. But after two and a half hours it was apparent that a break wasn’t going to get away. With 25 miles to go to the finish the peloton hit a vicious cross wind that shattered the field. The front group was decimated with only 20 riders able to hang up there. Trent was the only Jittery Joe’s rider to make the front split and finished in the top 15 at the top of Pilot Butte.

The team decided to regroup after a tough first stage and be more aggressive for stage two. That tactic worked when we were able to put Peter, Austin and me in a break of 15. The plan was for Austin and I to drive the break and have Peter sit on in hopes of getting him to the base of the 8 mile finishing climb with a gap. Our plan didn’t quite work as planned since there was very little help from the other riders in the break. The Navigators also put their whole team on the front and pulled the break back with 20 miles remaining. Again, the always solid Willo rode well up the long climb to move in to the top ten in GC.

Stage three was another road race and another mountain top finish. With the race starting with a 15 mile gradual climb, there wasn’t much of a warm up before the fireworks started going off. There were multiple moves and counter attacks before our own Peter Hatton threw in his own attack and rolled away with 2 Navigators, 2 Health Nets, and 2 Successful Living riders. The break worked well together and was able to put time into a Toyota United led field. On the final climb the break was down to 4 riders when with only 2k to go Peter’s legs finally gave out. My former team mate Burke Swindlehurst won the 3 man sprint at the finish, while Trent came in with another top 20.

Stage 4 was a flattish 10k TT on Saturday morning. With only 2 TT bikes on hand all the pressure was on Trent and Peter. While the course didn’t really suit either of the climbers’ riding style, Peter still managed 17th and Trent stayed in the top 10 in GC.

Stage 5 was the second stage of Saturday’s double day. This is the stage that the locals look forward to all year; the Downtown twilight crit. I usually despise double days but for some strange reason my legs were feeling better after each day. So I was actually excited to throw the shorts back on and head out again for 90 minutes of four corner action. After only 15 minutes of racing Austin and Evan found themselves in a 12 man break. With only 10 laps to go and a 30 second gap Evan (The Hulk) decided it was time to go it alone. Evan stayed away long enough to pick up the much coveted crowd prime of approximately $500 much to the delight of his cheering girlfriend. Evan was caught with just a few laps remaining. Then it was Austin’s turn to go off the front. As the rest of the break was caught with one lap to go it looked like Austin was going to win solo. But Toyota wound it up for JJ Haedo to and Austin was caught with only 2 corners remaining. Trent positioned Hoppy for the sprint finish. Hoppy had a great sprint and was narrowly beaten by a hard charging Haedo. After a great lead out, Trent will still able to finish 5th on the stage. It was our first podium for the week and the result of a great team effort.

Stage 6 was going to be a tough final stage of the race. The race consisted of 5 laps of 18 miles each which were mostly rolling terrain but with two steep climbs per lap. I was very motivated for this stage since in the two previous years I have done it, my worst finish was 10th.

With time bonuses on four of the five laps and the top three in GC separated by only seconds it was sure to be a tactical race. Coming up to the first bonus sprint it was unbelievably fast with three distinct lead out trains all going for the time bonus. Right after the sprint is the KOM climb. Over the top of the KOM the peloton was shredded containing no more than 30 riders. Three riders had slipped off the front over the top of the climb so I jumped across on the downhill. After such a hard effort in the field everyone was content to let the break roll so they could have a breather. Glenn Chadwick of the Navigators was the best placed on GC in our break. He was only 2 minutes down. This was Navigators big chance to slip away with the overall win. Also in the break were Aaron Olsen of Saunier Duval, Scott Nydam of BMC and me. With Chadwick motivated for the GC and the rest of us doing equal turns our gap grew to four minutes with only 2 laps to go. Nydam was hitting the climbs hard to try to take the KOM jersey. This was a great situation for me as I knew Olsen would be my only other challenger for the stage. Coming into the final lap Olsen was getting gapped on the climbs and really beginning to suffer. Chadwick, Nydam and I rode unbelievably hard over the last 15 miles to retain as much of our lead as possible.

With my legs feeling better and better, each lap I was confident enough to save it for a sprint. Chadwick drilled it up the final climb with the three of us in tow. With only 5 k of flat roads remaining Chadwick and I rotated on the front. Coming in to the final 500 meters I was on Chadwick’s wheel and jumped with 200 meters to go to take the win over Chadwick, Nydam and the Olsen. In the end we retained one and a half minutes lead, enough to move Chadwick into 4th overall and for Nydam to pick up the KOM jersey. Back in the field the rest of the team rode great as well. Peter and Austin sprinted in for 9th and 10th. Trent rode well to finish in 9th overall. It was a great view from the top step of the podium and an unbelievable feeling after a frustrating season for me thus far. What a way to finish up a great team effort all week and for everyone to ride up to their potential.