Stage 2, Tour of Willamette
52 miles, 1 QOM, 1 sprint
Eugene, Oregon
April 13, 2000

Well, the rain arrived. I woke up this morning and thought, "that sounds like rain", or actually, "Damn, that sounds like rain." How right I was.

Today, we raced on logging roads, covered in moss, lined by pine needles mixed with wood chips, and walled by trees often hanging out into the way of the riders who were too far to the left or right. There was no need to think about the yellow line rule today because the roads were too narrow to have a centerline. The 3K long QOM came at about 2/3s of the way through the race. The finish was a 2K climb with a flat spot in the middle.

With the rain, we rode conservatively starting out. The slick roads were nerve-wracking. Finally, I made it to the front, a bit past the first climb of the day. Saturn was setting a steady pace protecting Lyne's jersey. Autotrader watched over the

The Big V This is from Pam Schuster. She rode an awesome race. Now of course Autotrader has aome work cut out for them. Read more on her site   "I thought for sure we would get caught on the climb but much to my amazement after Andrea and I traded off attacks we summited with Andrea going for the QOM clear by about 20 sec followed by Julie Hansen towing me and the others had fallen off. Andrea lit up the slick descent and motored on. Julie Hansen fought back hard bringing me up for a counter attack and I ended up soloing home for the big V." -- Pam Schuster

front, as did Timex, of course. Attacking started with all the teams being represented in each group that was off. I ended up in a group with Andrea Ratkovitch, Pam Schuster, Erin Carter (Elita), Karen Timewell (?), Odessa Gunn, Julie Hanson. The break was established with Odessa and Julie sitting on. A bit later Erin started to sit on. Andrea with teammate Pam working, took a few turns at the back. It was not the tightest group I've ever been in. Just the same, we made it to the QOM climb together and ahead of the group.

On the QOM Andrea got away solo. Next were Julie and Pam close behind with me leading the rest of us up. On the flats, after the mossy descent, the three groups merged. Just before this was happening, Pam attacked and opened a gap. She did get a gap. Karen got to the front to pull her back in. It was clear that Pam was really pushing hard and we were gaining no ground. Our group didn't work together. I tried to bridge up to Pam with no success.

On the finishing climb Julie made a go of it early on with no success. We all stayed together. I tried to leave the group at 500 meters with no success. Pam won with a good gap and beautiful success. I ended up 5th. The main pack was large, some large number of seconds behind our small group.

Our team rode well, ensuring Charles Schwab representation in every break. Catherine got a flat right before the climb and did a great job catching back on. I felt better than yesterday and made use of that by attacking frequently, staying up front, and finding the opportunity to get in a good break. Thank goodness a bad day only lasts a day.

I stand corrected. It was the great Toan Phan who said it. And what he said was "no legs power."