Last Wednesday I gave the A race a try for the first time. I got to Ault early to warm-up with the guys in the B race and I was excited to watch and root from the sidelines. They had a strong representation with Alex, Matt, Brown, and Moore mixing things up. Alex scored enough points for the night to take second place overall. They showed some real team work out there and Matt Bell gave a strong lead-out on lap 5, rocketing Alex into 1st place.
By the time the A race started, I was a ball of nervous energy and couldn’t wait to get this thing over with. It started out fast and pretty much stayed that way. It wasn’t as smooth as I was promised either and there were countless gaps that would open, causing lots of surges (herkey-jerky) in the pack. Chip later concurred and said that he didn’t think that was typically how things play out. Anyway, I was feeling pretty gassed and praying for forty laps to feel more like twenty, but without much luck. I was also oblivious to all the usual questions: what lap, who’s in front, was there a break? What I like to call my “race situational awareness” was totally absent and my only concern was staying in the race.
And like an answered pray my rear tire blew on the back side of the course on lap 8(?). I hurried (walked) back to the start area, only to be berated by my many supporters (sarcasm). Alex shouted, “Check his tire…make sure it’s really flat” and Bill Lorenz just stared at me and said, “Aren’t you supposed to be in the 20K?”
Matt, who interrupted my sign language and incoherent mumblings, hurried across the course and gave me his wheel (funny back-story: his rear tire got a flat during warm-up and I gave him a tube…and he later lent me the same wheel/tube. Now that’s teamwork).Thanks Palerider!
I rejoined the group a lap or so later (on the sprint lap) and before I did, I was given strict orders by Bill not to contest the sprint. Right! No chance in Hades, I promised. I managed to reintegrate without any problems and eventually settled in. A couple times I tried to get behind Chip or Dan but that was ridiculously harder than I imagined and forget about getting in front of Dan, that man is strong. So strong in fact that I later learned Dan got into a break and stayed away for some points, while Chip made a valiant effort on the front, to slow things down. I on the other hand, had no idea what Chip was talking about a few laps later when he was telling me all about it.
That was pretty much the story of the race. I sat in and got a really good interval work out and about 10 minutes after the race, I rode to the back of the course (to pick-up my water bottle) and threw-up the entire contents of two water bottles and multiple sport gels. I only say this as a cautionary tale: hydrate the day before the race and several hours prior to the event, not the hour before.
By the time the A race started, I was a ball of nervous energy and couldn’t wait to get this thing over with. It started out fast and pretty much stayed that way. It wasn’t as smooth as I was promised either and there were countless gaps that would open, causing lots of surges (herkey-jerky) in the pack. Chip later concurred and said that he didn’t think that was typically how things play out. Anyway, I was feeling pretty gassed and praying for forty laps to feel more like twenty, but without much luck. I was also oblivious to all the usual questions: what lap, who’s in front, was there a break? What I like to call my “race situational awareness” was totally absent and my only concern was staying in the race.
And like an answered pray my rear tire blew on the back side of the course on lap 8(?). I hurried (walked) back to the start area, only to be berated by my many supporters (sarcasm). Alex shouted, “Check his tire…make sure it’s really flat” and Bill Lorenz just stared at me and said, “Aren’t you supposed to be in the 20K?”
Matt, who interrupted my sign language and incoherent mumblings, hurried across the course and gave me his wheel (funny back-story: his rear tire got a flat during warm-up and I gave him a tube…and he later lent me the same wheel/tube. Now that’s teamwork).Thanks Palerider!
I rejoined the group a lap or so later (on the sprint lap) and before I did, I was given strict orders by Bill not to contest the sprint. Right! No chance in Hades, I promised. I managed to reintegrate without any problems and eventually settled in. A couple times I tried to get behind Chip or Dan but that was ridiculously harder than I imagined and forget about getting in front of Dan, that man is strong. So strong in fact that I later learned Dan got into a break and stayed away for some points, while Chip made a valiant effort on the front, to slow things down. I on the other hand, had no idea what Chip was talking about a few laps later when he was telling me all about it.
That was pretty much the story of the race. I sat in and got a really good interval work out and about 10 minutes after the race, I rode to the back of the course (to pick-up my water bottle) and threw-up the entire contents of two water bottles and multiple sport gels. I only say this as a cautionary tale: hydrate the day before the race and several hours prior to the event, not the hour before.
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