Salty Cow Race Extravaganza

This years racing season came up really quick. Maybe because the last cyclocross race was not so long ago? Maybe all the epic adventure winter storm rides that seemed to break up the boring winter season? Probably a combination of both. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago in anticipating the rapidly upcoming season, I wondered realistically how our team was going to do.

I knew we had all put a lot of work in over the winter, but experience and race tactic wise, I thought we were still pretty much rookies. I figured at best we would get beat up pretty good early this year, learn as we raced and try to improve as the year went along.

The last weekend in February, Brian Parks and Rob Bell went up to do the froze toes race in Missouri. The pro 1/2 field was pretty big with some high quality riders. Long story short, Rob got in the race winning break finishing 5th. I figured after that race Robs confidence was pretty high as well as I think it gave the rest of the team a confidence boost, which I think helped in the Salty cow race.

So day 1 was the Cow Skin Road Race. About a 5.5 mile circuit with a long gradual climb and a shorter steep windy climb. We had been discussing our race strategy all week and we knew the competition was going to be tough. Sure enough the field was stacked with the fastest guys in this region and then some. We thought about marking riders and after thinking about it, there were more break a way threats than guys on our team. We figured Rob was our best chance on this course, so we tried to cover as many early attacks as possible and keep Rob fresh.

The teams represented were the Park Place dealership team (Ankney, Cagle,Waddel) The Tradewind Energy team (Tilford, Jensen) plus the Tulsa Tough team which had about 8-10 guys. Tyson had a few guys as well. We kind of made it a team goal to try to get a top 10 finish. The weather was nice- no knee warmers needed.


Things started off semi quick with attacks happening the first time up the big hill and through the new twisty section they added this year. I remember coming up to the last right hand corner going into the start/finish straight and I jumped on Steve Tilfords wheel just as he was attacking. Being the first lap and I hadn't taken that corner yet, it was pretty scary railing it like that the first time. The next 2 laps are a painful blur.
By the time we were starting our 4th lap I was hanging by a thread. I saw that a break had gotten up the road and all I could think of was that we blew it. I couldn't quite see who was in the break and as I was looking around I didn't see Rob anywhere. I found Jeremy and asked if Rob was in the break. When he said "yeah he's up there", I instantly felt 10 times better.

The pace slowed down a little because all the teams had a guy in the break except Tulsa Tough. Somewhere around lap 6 or 7 ( we did 12 total) the field started chasing and it got real painful again. The original break was Rob, Waddel,Cagle, and Jensen. Once we got within about 50 yards, Tilford and Ankney leapfrogged to the break. At this point I thought were just going to work Rob over and attack him out of the break, but Rob is strong and rode very smart. Things got a little strange in that teamates Cagle and Ankney got into each other and gapped off

So with only a couple laps to go, the lead break was down to 4. Jensen and Tilford eventually got away taking 1 and 2 and Rob ended up 4th behind Waddel.


I got dropped from the main field with about 3 laps to go. I just TTed it the rest of the way thinking I was the last guy in our race, but right after I finished, a group of about 6 guys finished about 20 seconds behind me. Jeremy got 13th and I got 19th. A great start so far! I must admit that I was a little jealous of Rob getting in the break and wondered what it was like and such. Little did I know I would get my chance the next day.

My co-worker buddy Andy Chasteen annihilated the cat 4 class with a solo break a lap and a half out for the win.

Our Super Sweet Storck team race bikes....

Sunday day 2 was the Salt Creek criterium. Driving out to the race, my legs were very tired. In addition to a hard race the day before, this was the last day of probably my hardest 3 week training block ever. So as we were warming up, we noticed a few new riders had shown up. The most note able being Jelly Belly pro Brad Huff. We figured Jeremy had a good shot today as this course suited him better

This race was kind of strange in the end, but basically started with a series of attacks that didn't stick. A bad freak crash on the 1st or 2nd lap gave Chad Cagle several free laps for some reason. Anyway, Jeremy got in a break about 30 minutes in. I thought it might stick for a while and I noticed Tilford about to try to jump and leapfrog up to the break, I was in the perfect position to go with him, so I did. When we caught on I thought great we have 2 guys in this! It wasn't to be as the break hesitated too long .
Sometime after this, I calculated we had about 35-40 minutes left. I had been just sitting in for a bit trying to save myself and just started to feel really good. An attack had just come back together and everyone was slowing down a little as we were going backwards towards the start/finish line. I had momentum going down the hill carrying me to the front. I knew there was a good chance the next break could be the one since it was getting late in the race. The opportunity was there so I took it.

I guess I thought a few guys would have come with me, but after about 20 seconds I looked down at my shadow and nobody was on my wheel. I glanced back and I had established a pretty solid time gap. I knew the chances of me getting caught were about 99.9%, but as I came through the finish line the next time through, we had 5 laps to go. I figured best case, a small group would chase me down, I jump in and get in the mix. It's nice to be in that situation with a power meter because you know what your threshold is and all you have to do is just keep it a little below that number. So another lap later, I see some riders coming and they are kind of strung out which tells me they're drilling it. As they get closer, I jumped to match their speed and got on.

The situation at this point is a 12 man break with 3 1/2 laps to go. This is when the race got very painful. The teams that had multiple riders in the break were attacking over and over. I got dropped a few times but clawed my way back in. It's very motivating not wanting to let your teamates down getting dropped this late in the game. In the end the break split in two and the second group got strung out in the last 2 KM. I sprinted a Tulsa Tough rider for 9th, however it ended up being 10th cause the guy who got all the free laps got moved up to 1st.

All in all, the weekend went much better than I expected it would. I think everyone on the team feels like we're definitely headed in the right direction and our confidence is good going into the season.