Tulsa Tough

Tulsa Tough was a race that our team, OKC Velo, had placed an asterisk next to on the calendar as it was a high priority race. It would take place the weekend of June 7th and 8th. The race attracts the largest Masters field each year in the Central part of the country and given that it is in our team's back yard, our presence was required.
 
Saturday's race was on a relatively flat course but the high temperatures and stiff winds would make for a difficult race. Starting the 3rd lap a solo move went up the road and very quickly began to put time into us. That move was made by a 40 year old rider from the "Elbowz" team, a semi pro team that had been winning some of the Pro 1,2 races in the area. It took about twenty minutes for the next move to get up the road with four of us. One guy, in particular, was very strong and he was intent on establishing the break. Without looking back he put his head down on some of the more difficult parts of the course and literally rode the other two guys off his wheel. It was down to just he and I and we proceeded to try and catch the Elbowz rider. While we put a dent in his lead, it became apparent we were racing for 2nd place. With one lap to go my breakaway companion began to try various things to drop me, none of which were effective. I won the sprint for a tough 2nd place.

The next day is known as the "Riverside Crit" and is a very difficult course with a steep climb every lap that takes a severe toll on the field after several laps. The climb is known as "Cry Baby Hill" and is packed with crazy spectators ringing cow bells and screaming encouragement to the riders. It has a very "Euro" feel and is a really fun place to race. Fortunately, I was able to stay in the front up the climb and just let attrition whittle down the field . Towards the end of the race there were only 5 or 6 guys together out of the 70 starters. One of the riders in the front group was Janne Hamalainen, a two time National Champion and climber extraordinaire. With one lap to go he hit Cry Baby Hill with everything he had and dropped all but two of us. On the flat section following the climb he sat up and I was able to recover for about 10 seconds before attacking with everything I had into the 2nd to last corner. I immediately had a large gap with neither of the other two guys really chasing hard. I sprinted to the last corner and hit the finish straight with a 50 meter gap for what was my best win of the year, and perhaps, the best win in many years given the competition. Tulsa Tough is appropriately named and a really fun place to race a bike. I will be back! Thanks for reading.