As is well known in the racing world, Left Coast Fred RR (LCFRR) which is also known to some as the Monster Cookie Metric Century was held this weekend in Salem, OR.

With a few hundred feet of elevation gain at grades up to 3% or so and over 60 miles total distance, the LCFRR is an event all elite racers aspire to conquer. Conditions this year were especially grueling. With winds up to 5mph and temps that broke 70°F, only a couple thousand people were brave enough to even show up at the start line.

A local team consisting of several hundred members was favored to win. This team normally dominates the course so its members have taken to wearing ostentatious hi vis kit to taunt opponents.

But metro area team took them down a peg. By organizing into pacelines that probably averaged a scorching 22mph on the flats, getting into the heads of their opponents by yelling at them to get out of the way, and using superior tactics (i.e. adding as little distance as possible to the ride by not giving other riders too much clearance), they crushed the competition.

As an LCFRR veteran, my only regret was not having the opportunity to offer a little coaching advice to the winning team. Whenever you're in a race where you see riders under the age of 10, people wearing tennis shoes, or a significant number of MTB's and recumbents, it is possible (but not probable) that some cyclists on the course have less knowledge of riding in groups than you do.

People at this sort of event race dirty, so you should count on them to block you at every opportunity while disingenuously claiming they didn't know you were there. It may hurt your standings for an individual race, but better to cut other riders a little extra space and lose a couple seconds that than crash out and wreck your season.

Also, you won't get to race with the same caliber of rider, but don't discount Monday night racing at PIR as a way to get your head wrapped around the brutal competition at the LCFRR.