event background
the tour of walla walla is a cycling stage race that has been running for over twenty years in and around walla walla, washington—a region famous for its sweet onions, french-style wines, and small liberal arts college named after marcus whitman, an early settler of the area.
the race consists in four stages over three days (june 4–6), three of which actually take place in waitsburg, wa—about 20 miles outside of walla walla. this year’s edition opened with a time trial and short road race on friday, hosted a criterium on saturday in downtown walla walla, and then concluded with a longer road race in waitsburg on sunday. the sequence was due mostly to the need to fairly sub-divide the field of sixty riders into two groups of thirty in order to comply with washington state covid restrictions.
for the event i was joining premier racing’s zach gudwin and teddy schwartz who—along with a host of other o.g. seattle-area hitters—are stoked to let me race with them in the pnw while i sort out my long-term location. heading into the race we knew we didn’t necessarily have the numbers to control the general classification, so our plans (such as they were) were to go for stage wins.
june 4 am // wilson hollow time trial
the tour opened on friday morning with a 6.8mi, out-and-back, merckx-style time trial with some ripping winds. i was aiming to complete the course in about 16 minutes but was not prepared to spend nearly 10 of those 16 on the outbound section. i was doing on-target watts and holding pace with the guys ahead of me, but was worried about the pace. after the turn things picked back up. on the downhill sides of the rollers i would run out of gears and it became hard to hold target watts without taking my cadence so high that my heart rate would spike. i just kept it steady and tried to hold the pace of the guys in front of me until the last 2k, and then i emptied the tank to the line.
i was one of the first ten people to race the course that day, and as it went on, the headwind began to die down a bit. times started coming down for the day, but the top finishes stuck. some impressive rides were posted by the lux u19 development boys, along with owen wright of st. alphonsus cycling team of idaho and sean hollenbeck of team oregon.
i was happy with my ~16 minute time, but a little perturbed when the preliminary result put it at 21 minutes. that cued an hour-long investigation with the head referee, after i ran back home to take some calls and wrap work for the day. but we got it sorted before the start of the next race, and it didn’t affect the field we were in because teddy got us into the b field with a scorching sub-16 tt.
june 4 pm // waitsburg road race
the overall p12 field was split into two groups after the time trial, ostensibly based on the fastest-finishing team member in the time trial. this was supposed to keep team members together while retaining balanced competition between each field. in reality though, the b field ended up being very fast and competitive. it’s not easy to say whether it was more competitive than the a field; but if finishing time in the first road race was anything to go by, the b field finished the 33 mile circuit fifteen minutes faster than the b group.
the fight to that finish was brutal. it was a “peak all time” heart rate kind of day. weather was hot and windy, course featured lots of three to seven minute climbs with tail or crosswinds that were great for trying to split the group. the third turn in the circuit opened up into one of these climbs, and the lux boys let it rip. i was sitting third or fourth wheel and responded to one of these opening moves, but just a second too late. i had a gap of about two bike lengths that i was struggling to close, and then another lux rider flies past me for the bridge. i try to respond, but don’t have the legs. i end up getting popped out the back of the chase group, humbled and a bit surprised. i rolled in to the finish with the grupetto wishing i hadn’t spent so much of the late morning and early afternoon stressing about work and having to figure out how to protest my tt result.
fortunately, zach and teddy stayed in. unfortunately, a surprise turn into the course’s new gravel section took out teddy and his di2 lever later in the race. zach held on until just about the end when a small group broke away. all in, it was a hard day. but we figured out who the hitters were and how we would race the crit and road race.
june 5 // walla walla downtown crit
saturday was windy all day. like 20+ mph steady gusts. we weren’t racing until the late afternoon so i drove my cheer squad to balboa winery for some tasting while i sipped my efs pro and cranked away on some spreadsheets.
when our time came to line up i’d already seen the way a few of the prior races had gone down. early breaks got away and either lapped the field or just stayed off the front with the wild wind. the start / finish straightaway was the least-sheltered by buildings but it was also a tailwind, and the opposite side was a little more sheltered and angle such that it was a bit more of a cross-head. it was also shorter, because the course was rhombus-shaped.
teddy, zach, and i figured that we would want to make sure we positioned well in the early laps to be in that move when it went—assuming that it could well stick if it had the right guys from the major teams, including lux and gene johnson.
i was top ten wheels for most of the time, responding to a few early moves, and then a lux kid rolled off the front and someone from gene johnson bridged up pretty quickly. no one chased, and their gap grew a little bit bigger each lap—30 seconds was what we kept hearing from the sidelines. we were about fifteen minutes into the race, so there was still plenty of time left to reel them in, but i was also aware of the possibility that they could lap the field after watching the fount ladies do that in the last race. they were short laps after all; only about a 0.6mi loop at an average of 28mph.
i decide i have to try and bridge, so i position five or so wheels back to try and jump across on the other side of the road coming through the start / finish. i get a gap, no one follows, i put my head down and keep drilling it for a few laps, but i have to stand up and sprint again each time i go through the tailwind at start / finish. as i’m chasing i start to notice the gene johnson guy fading, and then completely coming apart. i pass him, but realize i’m not gaining fast enough on the lux guy and now with their guy out of the break, gene johnson would organize to close it down.
i sit up a little bit and slot back into the top 10 wheels when they catch me on the opposite side of start / finish. we then spent the next forty minutes or so in the race with five gene johnson guys on the front rotating and two lux guys and me sat behind them to cover any moves. a few attempts go, but every one is caught and the same dynamic settles in until we’ve got seven or so to go. i’m feeling good at this point—VLA systems open, unlike the previous day. one of those days when repeatability feels bottomless. i definitely can follow the move that i’m sure will go within a lap or two.
and it does. an unaffiliated rider makes an attempt through the tailwind section, lux and i follow. the unaffiliated rider burns out and sits up after a bit though and lux counters. i follow. inexplicably, he pulls me across the remaining five second gap to his teammate, we rotate a few times, and then the guy who had been off the front for most of the race burns out and it’s just me and lux’s luke feurhelm with two to go and a ten second gap or so. i sat on the entire 2nd to last lap, he’s yelling at me, i’m yelling at him that he’s got seven guys behind him who could win the race if he sits up (i’m kind of bluffing here because i didn’t know if i had the legs to attack him if he tried to sit on).
we come into the second to last corner, i check behind me, and it’s clear we’ve got it. out of the last corner, he stands up to sprint and i follow. i take 2nd by a wheel length or so. somehow i thought we were racing for 3rd and 4th though, and so i wonder if i’d been a bit more motivated to send it had i known the top step was at stake.
either way, it was a great race. good to feel like myself after getting dropped the day before.
june 6 // kellog hollow road race
the final stage of the tour of walla walla would feature about 7k of climbing over 93 miles with more wind on open, exposed farm roads outside waitsburg. as joe holmes (who was ds-ing for lux) put it on friday, the race would promise to be “a blood bath.”
and yet, mercifully, the first lap was entirely chill. the lux kids sat out in front the whole time, keeping it stretched out in the flats and stretching across the road on the climb. they had colby simmons in the leader’s jersey, so we were happy to let them set the pace and see when they would open things up.
the fireworks started popping once we made our way into the first tailwind climb on the second lap. after about four counter-attacks that zach and i covered, a selection looks like it was forming off the front with about 4 guys and representation across the board. teddy puts in a big uphill bridge and they hold about a minute gap for a lap.
but the gc composition in the break was just too risky for lux. if it got too far away and their gc guy in the break didn’t win, they could lose the leader’s jersey. so they reeled the break in and we get a little respite for about half a lap—including a pee break on the tailwind climb where the attacks had gone on the second lap. the group lets daniel lincoln (former olympian hurdler) roll off the front but keeps things calm with about a twenty second gap until kent ross of wildlife generation pro cycling starts attacking. sean hollenbeck counters somewhere in there and rolls off the front himself, holding about a thirty second gap for over fifteen minutes. when kent puts in a big counter-attack about halfway up a climb, colby simmons and i are the only ones who stay with him. we roll turns and super-tuck the descents to bridge to sean.
but colby puts his hand up to summon the squad, who could still see us on the climbs, and soon enough, we’re swallowed up with about 20k to go. kent tries one more time, colby and i are there again, but it doesn’t stick. lux decided they want it to come down to a field sprint.
we roll into 10k to go and i’m feeling good. i beat up the legs a bit to fight off cramps and make sure i’m ready to fight for position as we head into a descent and left-hander at 1k to go. we take the turn and i’m about eighth wheel, but guys stand up and start attacking and i’m late to respond. the finish was flat to slightly negative grade, with a tailwind, so it was very little time between 1k and 500m. when it was 300m the sprint had already started and i was probably tenth wheel. with little space to contest the move and road running out fast, i knew the race was over.
while i was a bit bummed at my lack of killer instinct to realize that i’d have to fight for position and do some big pre-sprint watts to even have a chance at contesting the finish. i haven’t been in a bunch sprint in a long time; most of my sprints are from significantly reduced bunches, with max five or six people. this one was closer to twenty. i’m excited to get more practice with that because the intensity and focus required are a ton of fun.
overall
we had a great weekend, got a pro podium for premier, learned a ton, and got to race with some serious athletes at a marquis event. i’m excited to see what the premier squad brings to baker city the rest of the pnw circuit.