Portland GP

I coerced my dad and brother to come with me to Portland for 2 days of insane cross racing.  It's well known that Portland is one of the most fanatical cycling communities in the nation and their cross scene is pretty epic.  My brother Brendan flew up from Medford Oregon to meet us and we scored a great rate at Hotel Modera in the heart of downtown.  Friday night we strolled over to the race headquarters at Hopworks brewery where the common folk had a chance to shoot the shit with the national cross gods like Tim Johnson or Jeremy Powers.  They served up a wicked ale! It was so good that Brendan and I decided to take a growler back to the Hotel, put dad to bed and guzzle some beer by the outdoor fire pit until 1 in the morning. Beer led to whiskey and then more beer ... the next thing I recall is my alarm going off at 7 in the morning telling us all that we had to get our asses out of bed and over to the Portland International Raceway for some muddy racing.

I raced both days as a Cat B in a field of 75 riders.  Since I registered late, I was pretty close to the back which suited me just fine as it would take at least 5 - 10 minutes to work off a subtle hangover.  The course was a sweet mix of technical twists, grinding mud stretches and fast straights.  It t tossed everything at you and kept your heart redlining for the full 40 minutes.  My dad and brother were all over the course cheering as they harnessed the cross spirit and when all was said and done, I crossed the line in 23rd place.

After the race my brother took a nap (he works graveyard as a deputy and the 7 am wake-up call was rough) and we wandered from the Hotel to the Farmers Market up near Portland State for some delicious grub before the pro race started later that afternoon....those dudes were fast!

Saturday night we took things pretty light while watching the Huskies thump the Cougs and followed that up with some spicy ass Thai Food.  With more rest and less beer, I felt good going into Sunday's race.  The course had dried up considerably and it was a super fast race from the gun.  I once again has to work up from the back and steady passed riders to cross the line in 20th.  My weaknesses in cross are starting to turn to strengths and I feel pretty good that I'll have some good results down the road if I just keep racing and improving.

On the way to the airport, we went to the McMenamins Kennedy School.  If you ever roll through Portland, you've got to check this place out.  It's just a huge, odd and amazing place to have some fun.

The Portland GP is a must on next year's race schedule and perhaps I'll get to introduce my soon to be nephew, Liam to his first cross experience.  Things change fast and this trip offered a rare and rewarding opportunity to spend time with both my dad and brother....good times!