I just got back home about midnight from Mas O Menos, but I couldn’t resist getting up the next morning to race with the TEAM (www.capitolsubarucycling.com) at Cherry Pie. The CP is one of Oregon’s early road races and this year the course was right in my back yard. Running on caffeine and “what might have been” we rolled out into a cold but amazingly dry February afternoon. I race CAT 3 on the road and we had three other riders in the group. Unfortunately, about five minutes into the race a breakaway formed and while we worked hard, we could never bring it back. For me, it was a tough race. I had only one gear in my legs and whenever there was a jump, I was struggling. Then as we hit the finishing climb, I discovered that the chain I had hastily robbed from my TT bike that morning was too short for the ‘cross bike I was riding. Needless to say all I could do was finish mid-pack (26th) once I got going again. The other guys and gals on my team did great so I was just happy to get out and race with them!

Skibowl is the best course in Oregon. Always well run races by Petr Kakes and nice mix of technical trails, ridiculous climbing, and beautiful scenery. Erik Tonkin (Kona) and I showed up with our big bikes and faced off here like so many other times. Luckily for me, Erik had just come off his best result ever at a NORBA national in Park City the day before. I wasn’t going that well and a flat tire for Mr T on the second lap was the break I needed. Riding my 6+ inches of Ransom plushness, I cruised to another win in the cold mist, high on Mt Hood.