After Nationals in mid-June, Uhl and I decided to race in the Elkhorn Classic Stage Race, held in Baker City, Oregon on June 25-27. This is an awesome stage race. It has four stages in three days: two challenging road races, a 10 mile TT, and a crit. Nathan and Claire Hobson do an incredible job as promoters of this event. Uhl and several of his teammates from IMT/BOC Sports Medicine competed in the Pro/1/2 event. This was Uhl’s first stage race in the Pro/1/2 field.
The first stage was the 73 mile Oregon Trail Road Race. The first half of the race was flat with some rollers, but the last half was mostly climbing with a descent and flat finish. Uhl hung in with his group. A break of six got off and gained 2 min on the next group; Kelly Williamson represented IMT/BOC in the break. Uhl finished in the third group in 40th place 4:28 min back. The women had a group of 40; they started the 1-2 women with the 3-4 women. The pace was so slow the first 37 miles; everyone was saving up for the climb. I pulled a few times, but I was afraid of getting dropped. There were basically four of us on the front keeping the pace going. We hit the climb and everyone who wouldn’t pull on the flats took off. There was a lead group of eight over the climb. I got dropped quickly on the climb. I worked like mad and picked off a lot of women, but we couldn’t catch the front group. I was frustrated because I did a lot of work and no one else seemed motivated to work really hard. I attacked over the last hill and got off, but they caught me with 2 km to go. I attacked with 1km to go and then lead out the sprint to keep the time gaps down. There was a group of eight up the road, and Julie Browning won the sprint for 1st. I finished 10th 2:44 min back. Uhl rode to the hotel after his finish and then returned in the car to watch my finish. He was at the top of the last hill. He saw me attack and took a photo and yelled for me. I never even saw him. He then followed our group and saw our finish. I was demoralized after that race. It is so frustrating when you want to race hard, but your body just doesn’t have the strength to meet your demands.
The next day I woke up really sick. I decided it was time to stop digging myself into a hole, so I didn’t start the next stage. The next stage was a 10-mile time trial. Uhl rode my beautiful and fast Javelin TT bike and finished 26th, only 1:43 min back from the winner. Later that day Uhl rode in the 60 min downtown crit. The pace was fast and late in the race two riders got away and stayed off to win. There was a crash with a few laps to go, so the officials shortened the race. Uhl rode well finishing mid-pack.
Sunday was the Dooley Mountain Road Race, a 100-mile race with a lot of climbs and finishing on the top of Dooley Mountain. The real attacks started at the bottom of the eight-mile Dooley Mountain climb. Kelly Williamson finished 3rd on the day, which put him 4th overall. Uhl ran out of water before the climb, so he was dehydrated by the top. He finished in 37th place, which moved him up to 35th place overall. That was an awesome result for his first Pro/1/2 stage race.