This weekend Oregon Club cycling team members Brian Fuentes and Daimeon Shanks race in the Tour of Willamette, known as one of the most grueling stage races in the United States. The race attracts national level competition to Eugene.
“This race brings a lot of protein and a lot of up-and-coming racers,” said Shanks, who is embarking on his fourth season of bicycle racing and his second attempt on the tour.
“To watch [the professionals] is amazing,” he said.
The Duck cyclists race in Category III, which uses the same courses as the professional women. Fuentes represents Paradise Homes team, and Shanks races for Hutch’s bike shop, both of which are based in Eugene.
For Fuentes, this is his first encounter with the tour.
“It’s the hardest race in the area,” Fuentes said. “I want to do it just to see how I do. Everyone who lives around here and bike races rally about it. It’s definitely challenging. It collects good racers and hard hills. It’s just perfect.”
At 10 a.m. Friday they attack their first and probably most challenging of the four stages, a 68-mile road race on Kill Hill, which starts in South Eugene and finishes on Spencer Butte and incorporates over 4,500 feet of climbing.
Saturday has two short sprint races, the first a time trial at 8 a.m. in Coburg, and the second
a criterium race at 3 p.m. in downtown Cottage Grove. The final race, on Sunday, is another road race starting in Camp Harlow and finishing on McKenzie View Drive, 61 miles later.
The climbs may be hard, but Fuentes expects the descents to be flat out scary, he said. He said racers frequently exceed speeds of 50 miles per hour.
Additionally, the race is largely on single-lane BLM roads, which are notorious for branches, pine needles and other forest debris that make for potential flat tires — and a chance of encountering logging vehicles around every corner. The tour is probably the American race that most resembles European race formats with excruciating hills and where rough, cobblestone roads and ancient pavement prevails, resulting in frequent punctures and wreckages.
The criterium and the time trials have their own set of challenges, Fuentes said.
“In the crit[erium], because the speed is so high, there will probably be some crashes when someone doesn’t hold his line,” he said.
Shanks explained that large amounts of strategy go into bicycle racing. Because he is not the greatest climber, he said, a major role for him in the road race will be to protect his team’s climbers from wind and chase down breaks for them.
“I’m a sprinter. They’ll help me out in the time trial and the crit[erium].”
Shanks will also try to help Fuentes, who is more of a climber and road racer than Shanks is.
Dry weather helps keep crashes to a minimum, as the rain will make the roads slicker. That the weather forecast calls for rain doesn’t excite the riders, but the race will be held regardless of conditions.
This week, Fuentes and Shanks will ride more than 400 miles, Shanks said. That far exceeds the normal training week of 150-200 miles.
Many of the prominent visiting racers use this race to collect General Classification points (GCs), and to train for European races. It is still early in the season, which runs roughly from February to October.

Water polo almost conquers tough waters
With the odds against them, the Oregon Club Sports water polo team (2-2 overall) mounted a formidable comeback Tuesday at Oregon State.
Outnumbered before they even jumped in the pool, the nine Ducks who suited up found themselves down 10-4 in the first quarter.
But even with the availability of eight subs, a talented Beavers team had a tough time holding off Oregon’s charge, barely pulling away late in the game for the 16-11 win.
“It was a pretty tough game,” team member Anthony Tran said. “It’ll motivate us to do better in the future, because we’re so close to them. With the exception of the first quarter, we were doing awesome.”Five Ducks — Tran, Ty Lunden, Ben Gottlieb, Ben Far and Jesse Grant — each contributed points Tuesday.