By Ryan Parnes
Ryan Parnes takes 3rd at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Prologue
It turns out I like short fast prologues. Who’d have guessed? It was pretty much dark by 8:52 when I started the 4 mile course, and the constant rain on the oil-slicked PIR motor speedway made some of the corners pretty harrowing. Earlier riders finished with two seemingly contradictory things to say, “A couple of times I felt my wheels slipping out,” and, “I wish I’d gone faster in the corners.” Tyler gave me a last minute pep-talk while Haldane swapped wheels for me. He said, “The first gnarly left-hander has a pit lane on the inside, making it look a lot tighter than it really is. Its an optical illusion. You can rail it. No guts, no glory.” So with that advice in mind I lit out. » read more
