Frozen Flatlands Omnium by Dave Acheson, Cody Cupp & Keelan Christensen

Cody keeping pace in his first peloton

Dave Acheson - Finally! Last weekend it was finally time to get out and race on the road. I made my annual trek to the Frozen Flatlands Omnium in Cheney, Washington. The weekend’s events included a short time trial and a 24 mile road race on Saturday and a 50 mile road race on Sunday. Points are awarded for high finishes in each event and the rider with the most points at the end of weekend wins. This was the fourth year I had raced in this omnium and as usual I approached the weekend of racing with training as my primary goal. I wanted to ride a solid time trial, but I had no expectations of results in the road races. As a bonus, I would be introducing two of my Methow Cycle & Sport – Blue Star Coffee Roasters Cycling Team junior teammates, Cody and Keelan, to the world of road racing as this would be their first time racing on the road.

In all my previous visits to this race, weather has been a factor at some point and this trip was no different.  Saturday we awoke to temperatures in the upper 30s and sideways rain with high winds. By the start of my time trial, at least the rain had ended but the cold and wind was still in full effect. This year, the organizers had required that “mass start legal” bikes be used for the time trial which meant no specialized time trial bikes with aero handlebars.   Essentially, everyone rode their regular road racing machines. When the weather is crappy, it tends to dampen my enthusiasm and I’m a little slower to get my act together for my pre-race routine and thus my usual 45 minute warm up was more like 15 minutes. Despite that, my time trial went pretty well and I managed an eighth place in the Masters 40+ field.

The weather continued to improve and by the afternoon we had sunshine and dry roads for the weekend’s “short” road race of 24 miles. The wind was still howling and as the conditions had been identical last year, I was pretty confident of how the race would develop and where I would need to be when. Last year, the race broke up during the last 5 miles of rolling hills and crosswinds. I expected this year to be no different.  Unfortunately, some inattention on my part found me bridging to rejoin the main field as we entered the last five miles when I realized that the half-dozen riders around me were no longer attached to the main group. I rejoined the main pack soon enough but the damage was done.  As the pace hotted up and the wind and rollers did their part, I yo-yoed off the back a couple times and then was gone for good. I trailed into the finish off the back.

The “long” road race on Sunday was blessed with sunny weather and significantly lighter winds. Although it was another off-the-back finish for me (I’ve never finished the long road race in contact with the pack), I was very encouraged to have ridden comfortably in the pack for the first 40 miles to the key climb in the race before becoming detached.  The weekend had met my goals going in: a solid time trial and some valuable road race training miles which will serve me well as the season progresses. As for the weekend omnium standings, my time trial netted me enough points to finish 19^th in the Masters 40+ field.

Cody Cupp - The Frozen Flattlands Omnium, in Cheney, was a great way to start off my road racing career and an awesome first experience. I placed little past mid field in the time trial on Saturday. The time trial was hard but fun. On the way out there was a very strong head wind and it was struggle to keep myself going hard. When we turned around and the head wind turned into a tail wind and it was really fast and fun.

In the short road race, also on Saturday, it took me a while figure out how to ride in the pack but towards the end I started to figure it out. I managed to stay in the front pack and in the last 5 miles I moved my way up to the front. When a few of the leaders broke away I tried to chase them and keep up but I couldn’t quite catch them and ended up getting passed by quite a few people who were drafting off me right before the finish and I ended up just above mid field.

On Sunday, in the long road race, I tried really hard to stay in the front of the pack and place high but I used way too much energy early in the race to stay in the front. I ended up getting dropped on a climb towards the end and couldn’t catch back up. The last 6-7 miles of the race were terrible! I finished towards the back of the pack. I was disappointed with my placing but I learned a lot from my mistakes and hopefully won’t let them happen again.

Keelan Christensen - Being my first road race ever, I'd say I was more nervous for these three races than any other race in my life. The Omnium consisted of a time trial Saturday morning, a short road race Saturday evening, and then a long road race Sunday morning. I really didn’t know what I was doing in any of those races, but they were a fantastic learning experience.

                As for the time trial, I got 31^st out of 39. I was less nervous for this race because the strategy was simple, just push yourself super hard for 15 minutes. One thing I learned from this event was to not use so much energy at the start, getting up to speed. Besides that, overall fitness is the best improvement.

                The short road race followed the time trial about an hour and a half after I finished. This was just plain weird for me at first. The largest pack I’ve ever ridden in was four, but there were fifty two riders all crammed into one pack. Thankfully, the riding was pretty slow and easy for the first 10 or so miles, so I had time to become comfortable with pack riding. But about 15 miles into the 15 mile course I made my biggest mistake. The first descent came and caught me completely off guard. I was stuck near the end of the pack, and because of my junior gearing, I could not keep up with the rest. I was out of the draft lane from the beginning of the descent and by the end, I fell way back from the main pack, along with a couple other riders. With 10 or so miles left, I was utterly disappointed I lost the main group, so I pushed myself so hard, with no body to draft with, and passed maybe 10 riders who had also fallen back from the main group. I ended up finishing 35^th out of 52, a lot better than I had thought I had done. I was not too worried about my placement, just happy I was gaining valuable racing experience.

                Sundays road race is a course of 50 miles, with 43 riders. I knew what I did wrong in the first race, and managed to keep with the pack for the first 35 miles. Whenever a decent came, I managed to stay with the group, sometimes barely hanging along the end of the pack. But at about 35 miles into the race, the steepest climb came, and I was too exhausted to keep up. Many others also fell behind, as the leaders sprinted and the rest copied the leaders to stay with the group. Again, I was mostly alone, but I managed to hook up with two other riders and form a pace line, something Dave had taught me only a week before. In this pace line, we managed to pass maybe 3 other riders, and when the final kilometer came, I burst out of the pace line to try to beat the other two riders, but I broke out too early. Another rider sling shotted from behind me, and I was second along those three riders. Overall, I placed 35^th out of 43. I am just thrilled at how much I learned about road racing, and after many more miles on my bike, maybe I can improve my placement at the next race in early May.