Pocatello, ID — We drove back to Pocatello last night for another race put on by the Idaho Cycling Enthusiasts. The course is a 25-mile loop that we did four times for a total of 100 miles. part of the course is very similar to the road course from the Gate City Grind stage race. But the difference is we go up the “Gap”, a small canyon where the road snakes and climbs for about 4 miles. From there there we descend, the turn and flatten out, then a gradual descent to the start/finish. Since this was the first year of the race, the field wasn’t that big, but there were some heavy hitters. This was also the first road race that I have participated in with primes! One on the first lap and another on the third.

I got into a break of about 7 riders in the first half of lap 1 and going into the prime, I decided to go for it. It was basically a drag race between Jeff Morgan, another rider and myself. Jeff is new to cycling but has incredible potential. I got a small lead at the beginning of the sprint and held it to the line. No quitting in that sprint! We eased up so we could regroup with our breakaway companions, but I think they were annoyed we sprinted. But hey, $25 bucks is $25 bucks!

We eventually got caught and then more attacks came. Each time up the climb we would lose some riders, but we still had a decent sized group for the final lap. It was hot and getting feeds was very important, especially for me since I drink so much. At one point I tried to get a feed and dropped the bottle. Can’t tell whether it was my fault or the feeder’s, but either way, I was without liquid for a while. I was eying other people’s bottles seeing if anyone had some to spare but most people were out…except for Gardie. He was nice and gave me a couple swigs of his, but he made sure I knew he wanted most of it back (in his typical humorous way). It was a good thing the promoters decided to put two feedzones as I was so glad to get the next one. Heather was there and handed me a bottle of “stuff”. I think I drank it within 2 miles!

Jeff Morgan was off the front at this point, and had been for a while. We all thought we would catch him but we never did! The last time up the climb, John Osguthorpe made an attack with a couple others and got a gap. This gap stayed for a while and the group I was with was chasing pretty good. It was one of those “they’re just right there!” kind of deals. I felt like I was starting to dehydrate so it was real hard for me to pull through. I took some pulls towards the end, but it didn’t look like we would catch them. But I think because of some cat-n-mouse in the group ahead of us, we were only 10 seconds back by the line! I tried to sprint since the group I was with was sprinting for 5th, but I had nothing. I ended up 7th. Still not bad for a somewhat hilly race and winning that prime was an extra bonus.