Wow, I am long overdue in writing up this report. I can’t really explain or justify the delay, since I did reasonably well in this race…at least, to a point. Do you remember that old Kellogg’s commercial where a bunch of wind-up toys are shown winding down, and Wilt Chamberlain (I think) cautions kids that the same will happen to them if they don’t eat a nutritious breakfast? Well, today I was one of those wind-up toys.
This was one of the early Superweek races, sponsored by none other than Bicycle Heaven. It was a challenging, one-mile technical 8-corner course that featured a very tight right-hand turn coming out of a brief downhill, along with several “kicker” hills along the way.
Since my team was the title sponsor, I did some volunteer work in the morning before my afternoon race. I was at the course early to help set up barricades and put cones in people’s driveways (so they wouldn’t go driving out onto the course). Then I spent some quality time as a corner marshal.
What I saw as a corner marshal wasn’t heartening. I watched the Cat 4 race get blown apart within the first 2 laps. The field absolutely shattered very early on, and it was clear that it would be critical to stay at the front of this race. The riders who could get through the tight downhill & right turn at close to full speed could just drill it while the unfortunate saps at the back would have to hammer to maintain contact.
After my corner marshaling duties were over, I headed to the parking garage to get in a good warm-up in the shade, and then it was go-time. The Masters 35+ 4/5 field had five Bicycle Heaven riders in it, and since we were sponsoring the race we got individual call-ups to the line. I even had a small cheering section…Stephanie brought Ethan over to witness his first bike race, and her parents and sister followed along.
Our field was relatively small, with fewer than 40 riders. We were scheduled for 20 laps, and as soon as the whistle blew we strung out with Bicycle Heaven leading the charge for about the first three laps. Bryan hammered away at the front, and I stayed glued to his wheel. The pace was fast, but I was feeling good. The corner after the downhill was pretty challenging…in addition to the road narrowing down, the pavement was less than stellar. You really had to hold a tight line and hope that no one pushed you into the curb.
I was feeling good for most of the race. The hills weren’t presenting too much of a challenge, and I was able to hold good position. The long start/finish straightaway was a good place to gain any ground that was lost, and I took advantage of this several times. Plus, I received some good motivation from the cheers of my adoring audience. Although I’m pretty sure that Ethan was just looking at the pretty colors.
But, as has happened far too often this season, at some point my body just decided to clam up and shut down. Today, it happened after 13 laps. There was a brief uphill leading into turn 8, and it was here that I found myself going backwards at the end of the 13th lap. I lost contact with the field, and despite a valiant effort to grab onto that last wheel, I ended up by myself for the remainder of the race.
The good news is that I was still able to push hard enough that the field never caught me. I rode out the remaining 7 laps alone, but never suffered the indignity of hearing the pace car lapping at my heels or getting whistled off the course by the officials. And when all was said and done, I took 22nd out of 28 finishers.
So, I didn’t get the results that I wanted, but I finished the day with my dignity (and skin) intact. Lots of racing still left this year…
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