That being said, I am home from the battle fields of Eastern Oregon, more specifically Baker City. There were no bakeries to be found, so I imagine that the city must be named after some dude named Baker. The 8th annual Elkhorn stage race is complete and I feel quite proud of how I did. Looking at the official results you might get the impression that I am really bad at bike racing, that is an accurate impression, but I still did better than expected.
Most importantly, I had the best criterum (crit for short) results that I have ever had. I took 45 out of 62 races, but most importantly I had held onto the field until almost the end. I was close enough that I wasn't pulled out of the race early. Had I avoided the pile-up a few riders in front of me on four laps remaining I would have finished in the field and score the same time as the top 43 riders. In a crit during a stage race, the only thing that matters is that you finish with the main group, so 43rd was just as good as 1st.
If you are wondering how the rest of the stages went, I survived and did good enough to maintain my bottom of the pack finish. Most importantly, I finished. Now that I am back in Portland and extremely tired, I think I will have a little snack and head to an early bed. Photos can be found here.
