Cascade Classic Stage 6

Road Race, 83 miles, average speed of winner: 26 mph

The final stage of the Cascade Classic is a tough circuit race comprised of a 17-mile loop ridden five times. The circuit has two significant climbs. The first is a gentle 1km rise to a false flat, and the second is known as "the wall." Needless to say "the Wall" is a ridiculously steep piece of road that is made even more absurd with every progressive lap. Temperatures in the 90's and five prior days of racing in the legs made this a grueling race for sure.

Things started off sketchy with two crashes in the first ten miles. Everyone was weary and touchy. Up the Wall the first time was chaos. The second time hurt. By the fifth ascent it was just one of those slow-motion dreams when you can't run away fast enough. We started the day with 142 racers. 45 of those didn't finish. On the second lap both Lunner and Turner succumbed to the unrelenting abuse of the course and they pulled the plug. Tuttle made it around with the dwindling group until the final climb up the wall when the whole race just came apart at the seams. Tuttle finished 63rd on the day which put him 77th overall for the week.

Of 191 starters at the Cascade Classic, only 97 finished the entire race. This was one difficult stage race. Mostly we're all just beaten down and looking forward to recuperation. Racing against teams flown in from Spain, former tour de france finishers, and the country's most talented pro teams was an eye-opener. It made the norcal scene seem tame. In a sport that takes years to master, getting utterly smashed every once in a while is a good horizon expander. We'll get some more stories and pictures up soon, but for now it's time to put the feet up for a little bit!