In Your Travels

Seaford 2006 Race Story

Saturday was a four-corner circuit race/criterium, about 1.2 miles,20 laps=25 miles. It seemed like I saw a lot of Evo jerseys near the
front throughout the race, and that was great to see. It was really
raining hard throughout the race, and it was very windy. After turn
two there was a ferocious crosswind that drove everyone into the
gutter. I started at the back and on the first lap people were already
opening gaps between themselves and the other riders there so I'm sure
that turn/crosswind caused a lot of attrition amongst the field. I
moved up after a few laps and got good position, but after a few
attacks, I slid back. I felt a lot of self-doubt. You really had to
ride the wheels to conserve energy and stay up front, but all you got
was an eyeful of dirt and water for your troubles. If you were forced
to the back you'd lose so much speed in the turns, especially turn 4.
It was frightening, all the riders, the wet turns, the speed. Finally
I told myself that I could do it, that I could move up, that I had a
chance in the finale even though I felt so bad. At least, there
weren't as many attacks as last year, but the overall pace seemed
faster. Ted and Dave did a lot in the last couple laps to keep the
pace up, and by then I was in the first ten guys and their work really
allowed me to stay there without too much stress. Thank you two very
much, mates! I had a brilliant line through the last corner: first
rank, outside line, and found myself on Evo Phil's wheel. I wanted to
wait for the apex of the chicane to jump, but I either waited too
long, or my jump wasn't good enough, and Jon Raley (Artemis), Evan
Fader (Route 1) and Bo Lee (Whole Wheel) got the drop on me. I got in
Jon's draft and held off someone on my right to finish fourth. On my
day I would have won the race for sure, as I was right where I wanted
to be, but I just wasn't fast enough. Mike Bradbury (11th) and Phil
were rather active in the race, and Chris W. (Squirrel) was up there
in the last couple laps too, but couldn't quite finish it off the way
he wanted. Mitch finished strong too.

Sunday was nice and sunny, mid 50s, and windy again. 75 miles or so to
ride. Telling the story of a 75 mile road race in a long paragraph is
tough, so I will cut to the chase, or rather, the key attack. Race
situation: two riders off-the-front, with perhaps 30 seconds, no more.
NCVC and DC Velo. Chris W. chasing in no-man's land. After hanging out there for a long time, he started to come back towards the pack.
Showing acute timing, Mitch Ferro led Mike Bradbury up to the front,
and Mike attacked into a turn, and took about half-a-dozen riders with
him. Amazingly, Squirrel caught onto the back of the group. For about 20 minutes there was a furious pursuit between the 2 leaders, the chasers, and the pack. At this point, my right foot (broken in 2001) had been mostly
numb for about 2 hours, my neck and shoulders were killing me, my left
thigh is super-tight and flirting with cramping, and so I'm just trying to survive. I got dropped a couple times, but fought my way back across to the back of the pack with a few others who are on-the-ropes. Finally a selection was made with a group of 7 firmly away. Now, the race was an omnium, 10 places each day, tie-break to the better road race finisher. Only one guy in the break scored points on Saturday: Evan of Route 1 Velo. So it was totally worth it for me to hang in and do my best sprint from the field. But I just wanted to quit. I thought of how I’d like to be playing with my son, or be with my wife. But like the Energizer Bunny, I just keep going, as one other rider commented. And so does Squirrel: Amazingly, after being away solo, Squirrel stayed in the break. Meanwhile in the chase, Mitch is really active, showing what a
great rider he is. He’s not chasing down Mike and Chris mind you, just
doing what he could to go with counter-moves and such. Then, to our surprise, we get to the finishing extension, and we’re stopped by a train.
The break is there too, also delayed by it, but so are the officials, and they let the break go after the train passes go, then hold the chase pack up, and let them go 1 minute 38 seconds later. Some guys from the pack attack and dangle off the front of the pack but I ignored them. I just tried to maintain good position 5-10 guys back. I didn’t mark anybody in particular, didn’t try to key off anybody or follow anybody - a point I emphasize because this is a common tactic. Thanks to the team we had looked at the finish prior to the race so I knew it. You come around a fast left hander with a pothole in the apex :( and then it is slightly uphill with a strong crosswind and about 500 meters to go. I got a great line through the turn, no brakes, and I stood up and started sprinting to cover an
early move by an NCVC on the right. Then the guy saw the finish,
realized he had gone way too soon and he gave up. I saw Rob Hampton
from Rockville Harley way on the left side of the road, in front of
me, as the road curves slightly to the left. He had attacked with about 1km to go. I realized that if anybody had gotten on my wheel that early, even though I was ahead of everybody but Rob, I’m was so far from the finish that that person would come off my wheel out of my draft at the end of the sprint and beat me. So I dove left, underneath Rob, and almost rode onto the shoulder. I used him as a pick (as in basketball) to keep anyone off of my wheel. Now I was at 200 meters to go and my legs were on fire. They’re aching, with hot spots flaring through various muscles. At this point I was sitting down, churning the gear over, and the finish is very slowly coming. I’m not going super-fast by any means, so I wondered if I would be passed. But by then everyone was so tired that a long powerful sprint from the front seemed to be the right move, even if it wasn’t very, very fast. I told myself that even though time (and my bike) seemed to be going very slowly, and though the pain was great, that it would soon be over, and that if I just kept on going for a few more seconds I would win the field sprint. I drifted over to the right to ease the crosswind’s effect on me, as it was from the left. I was challenged on my right by Bill Davis but I hung on and threw my bike forward as I crossed the finish line, and won the field sprint by half a bike wheel or a bit more. That made me 8^th. Mike was second - he got away from the break with Evan but Evan ‘ripped his legs off’ in the sprint. Mike did look a little bit shorter in the parking lot after the race- but not that much. Squirrel came in behind Eli Hengst (who won the race overall last year) for 4^th. Mitch came in with the chase. We had 16 Evo teammates start but 11 dropped out so you know it was a hard
race!

Now onto the math: I scored 7 points Saturday, 3 on Sunday. That
tied me for second with the winner on Saturday, but the tie-break went
to me so I was second for the weekend, Mike was 4th. Chris W. (Squirrel) was 6th. I was really glad to see Mike get away, and do such a fine job in the finish to boot, and quite proud of Chris W. as well. Also, Mitch really earned my respect. He was smart, strong, and selfless; I hope that soon he'll have his day. I felt very humbled by my result, to finish second from amongst such a large (75-100 guys I guess) and talented field. Mostly I attribute it to guts. I was simply tenacious - refused to give up no matter what, and it paid off for me. Even though I wasn't at the top
of my form I made the best of it and got a great result. And it was a
great day overall for the team, too.

Thanks for reading.

posted by Mark @ 10:00 AM