Adventure time with Team NOW-MS: Cascade Cycling Classic take 2

Hello everyone,

This is the Sleece report for the Cascade Classic that took place in Bend and ran from July 19th to the 24th.

The race began on a Tuesday with a short, 2 mile prologue. In order to avoid having concrete legs for the first couple days of racing, we decided to travel up on Saturday. This meant that all the guys had to stay the night at my house on Friday so we could pack up the trailer and head out early Saturday morning.

After an uneventful, 14 hour trip to Bend we arrived at the house of Steve and Kathy Minar. Steve and Kathy were our gracious hosts for the duration of the trip and we were very thankful that they opened their house, or at least their trailers, to us. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect setup. They had a very nice espresso maker. Enough said. Also, big thanks to the moms who cooked dinner on multiple nights and the trailers we slept in worked very well.

After a couple days of prep, we were ready to begin the race. The prologue turned out to be short, very fast, and moderately technical. As expected, time gaps were very small. It was daunting to see that there were over 200 riders in this race all within a small amount of time.

Stage 1 brought misfortune to a number of riders as there was a huge crash on the long descent that started the stage. It was caused by some sort of pothole and it ended up spreading across the width of the field and stopping about 2/3 of the riders. Danny and Cory went down and were able to continue, but crashing always take a lot out of your body. Going over the first climb I was in the 3rd large group and the lead group was in sight. We had to work throughout the descent and finally caught on about 7 miles from the base of the finishing climb. I couldn't hold the pace of the group of the on that climb and ended up finishing 3 minutes behind the winner.

Stage 2 was an out and back time trial that I have raced on a number of occasions. I warmed up well and raced hard and again finished 3 minutes behind Mancebo.

The 3rd stage was another point-to-point road race that started in Bend and began with a difficult climb. The field began attacking from the moment commissaire ended the neutral and we hit the climb hard. The field strung out and riders couldn't close gaps as we got closer to the top. Just before the final pitch, I and about 20 other riders lost contact with the main field. Fortunately, only a few caravan cars got between us and the field and we were able to catch on the descent. Throughout the long flat section before the final climb the race was very aggressive as the teams forced Realcyclist to work. On the final climb, however, all was together. Again the field shattered on the climb and I fought my way into the large second group that finished about a minute behind the winner, Cesar Grajales.

Racing is always more exciting and fun when there are spectators, and the downtown crit drew a lot of them. The whole course was lined with people and the final corner and finish line were simply packed. I sat in the middle of the bunch for most of the race and saved my legs for the final stage.

Stage 5 was the 84 mile Awbrey Butte Circuit race. I had raced the course 3 times before for nationals and the Cascade Classic last year. It is one of my favorite races and I had been looking forward to it all week. Again the racing was aggressive from the gun as teams both pressured Mancebo and also fought for sprint and KOM points. Around on the 4th lap of 5, I tried to get into a breakaway and went with moves at the front but did not end up getting away. Mancebo ended up burning his entire team but only just before the final climb. A breakaway escaped and the remnants of it held on to win the stage. I finished 24th on the day again about a minute behind.

My final GC result was 41st. This was a major improvement from last year's 72nd. I was happy with both my fitness, and the way I rode the race.

Bend was, as usual, a beautiful and enjoyable place to live and race for a week. Thankfully, the weather was amazingly nice. It was great to drink coffee and watch movies (two common downtime activities) with the guys during our last major trip of the season, and I again experienced NRC racing as highly competitive, exciting, and fun to be a part of. I look forward to continuing to develop and improve my racing ability and hopefully be knocking for a stage win someday. For now, though, it's back to the long miles and the hard training.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Stephen Leece