Tour of Walla Walla

Team Bobs-bicycles.com warming up for the crit. Left to right: Jeanne Rumps, me, Sarah Brown, Kimberly Turner, Ally Stacher, Sarah Barber, and Mike Gaertner.





Mixing it up in the crit. Blue and white Bob's kits throughout.

One stage race down. The Tour of Walla Walla took place over the weekend, and it was a great weekend of racing. The race has gotten huge over the years, seeing about 550 pre-registrants this year! And, that is without junior and masters categories, which surely would draw even more racers.

Our team had 7: Sarah Barber, Sarah Brown, Jeanne Rumps, Jenni Gaertner, Ally Stacher, Kimberly Turner, and myself. It was our first weekend of racing as a team, and it was a great start. After the time trial we had four ladies in the top 11, giving us the lead in the team competition. Personally, I was not thrilled with my time trial; I wasn't so much unhappy with the placing, as I was with the effort I put out. My power output was, for whatever reason, not at all where it should have been. For a 6.5 mile effort, my output was significantly lower than what it has been for the local weekly 10 mile tts I've been doing. Still, my in Walla this year was far better than last year!

Saturday afternoon we had a 60 mile road race. Poor Jeanne flatted early on, leaving her to chase solo. Sarah Barber attacked and kept the pressure on the first time we raced up the climb, causing the field to split. After the summit, we had a group of maybe 15, including Jenni, Ally, Sarah Barber, and me. The pace was not kept high, so most of the other ladies caught our small group, which left the race to the final climb. Sarah again threw down some attacks, which were countered by other teams. Sarah, Ally, Jenni, and I all finished within seconds of each other, leaving us with 3 in the top 6 overall after stage two, and maintaining our lead of the team classification.

Sunday we had the crit. Both Jenni and Sarah Barber had riders who were very close behind them on the overall results. With time bonuses available in the crit, we really hoped to keep Sarah and Jenni in their respective places. Our plan did not work flawlessly, with Jenni being leapfrogged in the results, but we were one of the most aggressive teams out there.

Overall it was a great weekend for Bob's. We ended up with 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 18th in the 1/2 women, and 4th and 10th in the cat 3 women. We also held on to first in the team classification. Not bad for our first weekend of racing as a team. We worked well together, had a lot of fun, and showed that we will be a force to be reckoned with.

Ted's time trial wasn't what he had hoped for. It didn't help that he had a stretch where he could not get into his big ring, so he definitely lost time there. He got in an early break in his road race (within the first couple miles), and they ended up staying off for about 30 miles. The guy he was with was super strong, and Ted basically worked until he had nothing left. He said he barely knew his own name because he had ridden so hard! He ended up calling it a day, but was happy to have tried the move.

We, along with Mom and Dad, had some great meals in the Walla Walla area. Friday we went to Whitehouse-Crawford, which was good, but not as great as in the past. Saturday we went to CreekTown Cafe, which was really good. Finally, the best meal of the weekend was after Sunday's race. We had a late lunch in Waitsburg at the Whoopemup Hollow Cafe, which is definitely worth a visit. Make sure to get dessert if you go there.

This weekend we're heading to the western side of the state to visit with Ted's family; his parents will be visiting his sister. We'll probably throw in a race or two for good measure.