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Making The Jump to Pain-Space

We had a great day to race bikes last Saturday. The recent heat wave relented and we were able to race in temps ranging from the low 70's to mid-80's.

We traveled to Grand Rapids the night before the race and burned Hilton points at the Homewood Suites in Kentwood. We loaded carbs at Noodles which is fast becoming one of my favorite places for such things. This was a last minute change to accomodate the possiblity of having BB ride in the men's cat 4 race which had a 1030 am start.

I really wasn't sure about entering him. The coach in me said yes but the father said "no". That field is so fast and so crazy. I kept visualizing a pile-up with James at the bottom. In the end, I bit the bullet and entered him. It was a rough race for me but not for him apparently. Both James and Alexey did well. They are really starting to blossom into bike racers. They ride hard, use tactics and don't give up. Many thanks to Mark Lovejoy for getting me to re-think this. Tony W., Zach M., Scott G. all helped cement my decision at the race. Thanks loads guys.

The boys hung on for most of the race before getting dropped. They avoided getting lapped by crossing the finish line just feet in front of the charging field sprint. That was a tense moment
they cleared out of the way to let the high speed sprinters get by. They finished with several large adult riders in their dust. Magnificent job boys!!

Rob Iser put on quite a show in the 30+ masters race going on a long solo break for what must have been 15 or 20 minutes. It looked brutal. A Spout rider did manage to bridge up to him and get on his wheel by the last lap. That last lap was a nail biter but Rob pulled out the "V" in the sprint. Awesome job Rob!

My plan was to "sit-in" the masters 45+ and watch for an easy opportunity to exploit. I learned something about myself this day. I can't do that. I just can't. I do not have the discipline to let folks ride away from me. This is a sure sign of some kind of deficiency. I got this sense that the field was vulnerable and they were on defense. The 800 pound gorilla in the room was Ray Dybowski who is legendary in Michigan racing circles. He is a large man and he churns out big gears a la Jan Ullrich. I don't think anybody had a clue who I was which was to my advantage I think. (This was the first time I have ever raced this field).

I threw down a couple of attacks early on to see what kind of response I would get. It didn't surprise me when there was no reaction. No one was concerned. Ray was still there so why bother with this unknown dude. So now I could sense they were not worried about anyone other than Ray.

The pic above is me on one of those early attacks. This one did seem to generate a little reaction as the field is strung out. Ray probably moved up and indicated he might chase. I have other pics of this little skirmish that show the field all bunched up behind me. That could have been me giving up resigned to go back to the field and plot the next move.

When I was back in the field I kept a sharp eye on Ray. I was confident nothing big was going to happen unless he was involved. When he did go, I wanted to be with him. I got my wish. I think it was after turn 1 somewhere that either Mark Cahn, Ray or myself opened up a little gap. By now we were into the last third of the race and the field was really ripe. We formed up this tasty little break that just dangled for a lap or so. I think we were increasing our gap slowly during this time but it was very slow in building. After a while we lost sight of the field and I knew this was the winning move and I was in it with and against two of the big dogs in this field.

I have never had the pleasure of riding "Big Ray's" wheel before. It is quite an experience. He is indeed a large man easily 6'3" or more. He cuts a large profile through the air and he uses insanely big gears and just motors. When he dug down just hanging on his wheel hurt. After suffering like a dog on his wheel it was my turn to hold the pace. It was some of the hardest riding I have done all year. Mark and I were doing our share but make no mistake, this break owed its life to Ray. He is a locomotive out there. After the race he told me he could sense the field might be reeling in time when we hit the straight after turn two. It was then that he would go to the front and just hammer until the top of the hill after the chicane. He went so hard that after some pulls he needed to sit out a rotation but it was those massive efforts that got us firmly away. Our gap just kept increasing the whole time

With one lap to go, we were still working to stay away. After the chicane Ray made the decision to just blast his way to the line and drag race Mark and I. He was going to just overwhelm us with brute force and he darn near did it. I knew if I was worth anything this race should be mine. Here I was getting pulled to the finish by Ray. Mark was in a sweet spot also being able to make the jump on me. The problem was we had all gone really, really deep and Ray was just throwing down massive watts to the line. With less than 100 meters I made my move jumping into the sprint. I didn't see Mark beside me so I knew I beat him to the sprint. Now it was just a wrestling match against this mountain of a man. I pulled even with him as the line was coming within 10 meters. Ray let out a primeval, rebel yell that would have frightened me in any other situation. I threw the bike at the line and got the big man by 8 whopping inches! Now I screamed! I later regretted this screaming fist pumping celebration and apologized to Ray and will also apologize to Mark next time I see him. Ray deserved better after doing what he did but that's bike racing. Both him and Mark have my respect for the effort they put in. Truth is, they both deserved to win. I was just in the right place at the right time.

The scream was a mixture of pain release and celebration and came from deep inside. It was a major effort to get to that place.

Cat 3 Race Re-cap to follow...I have to go back to work now!

Now, I had 40 minutes to recover for the cat 3 race. When I rolled to a stop by my wife, I told her I didn't think I could race again but I would get some recovery fluids going and see how it ended up. Man, I was a-hurtin'. I rolled over to the gas station party store adjacent to the course and bought a chocolate milk. From there I went over to Starbucks and purchased a dopio, (that's two shots of espresso). Then, I rode back to my car to change into my skinsuit and my cat 3 bib. I began to feel a little better. I decided to give it a try but I knew my best efforts were behind me. This is where Doug interviewed me and if you listen to my voice you can hear the fatigue. Check out this pic Jean took of me as I waited to start the cat 3 race:

So, I decided to get into this race knowing I would have to sit at the back and just figure it out. I did this to myself. I changed my pre-race planning all around and was now going to sit-in what was going to be my main race.

Predictably, the race was fast for a few laps until everyone got a little winded then it slowed. Every crit seems the same. I sat at the back while Tony was riding aggressively at the front. When it began to look like he might get off I moved up and started obstructing. It was a nice little piece of work by Tony.

I noticed a lot of the strong juniors were hanging out with me. They finished their race right before the start of this one. Man that had to hurt. When you look at the results, check out all the juniors that abandoned.

I learned a few things this day and one of them is I can't have my cake and eat it too. I can't whip it up in one race, go super deep then expect anything good in the next one. But you have to understand, I don't think rationally when I race. This is a defect I think. Here's what happened. At a time when I am usually watching my rivals like a hawk and covering them, I was sitting in the back waiting for the pace to slow. Meanwhile, Nate Williams, Luke Kyle and Zach McBride, (there may have been others, I don't know), flew off the front and the field, including me let them go. I didn't even see them go I was so far back. I promise you, under normal circumstances I would not have let this go unopposed. I would have done everything I could to join them. This was the dream break of the race and I was licking my wounds at the back. I was powerless to do anything about the situation.

When I realized what had happened and that I missed the break, I went to the front and tried to organize the chase. I yelled and cajoled but to no avail. No one wanted to seriously chase. The best efforts were being put forward by Scott Kroske's Wolverines. Alan, Scott and Cory would get going but no one else would help. We managed to bring it back to 27 seconds from 34 seconds but then a prime blew the whole thing up.

I admit, I was disgusted and wanted to quit at this point. Very mature, I know. This was super frustrating for me but after thinking it over, I realize now that it was all my own fault. I wanted to be a player in two races and I didn't have the legs for it. I knew it going into the cat 3 race but I still wanted to be there in the end. I did it to myself. Those guys could have chased that break down if they worked together. As it was, Luke and Nate, (Zach blew up and abandoned), nearly lapped the field. They put on a clinic; an amazing show of strength.

The race became a group ride with an occasional prime sprint then the field sprint at the end. There really wasn't anything for me to do because I experienced a first for me. Full, complete leg cramps. It started in my calves, (usually the first to go), with about five laps to go. Then my groin muscles went in both legs. Finally, both quads quit. While the rest of the field was sprinting, I just sat up and coasted in for 15th place and I was lucky to get that.

Somewhere after the break got away, Tony crashed out with Chris Brinkman and a Spout rider. There was some "argy-bargy" goin' on that probably needs to be addressed in a later race. I don't want to get too deep into it but we are going to have to do something to discourage senior racers from taking advantage of Tony's size. I am not saying I am going to knock people over but words of caution may need to be given to certain riders who think they can try and intimidate. I felt bad that I was separated from Tony when this happened and couldn't do something about it. He picked up some more rash and a bump or two.

I very nearly escaped a crash in the masters 45+ race when a Cisco racer tried to move up in the gutter on my left with not nearly enough room. Crazy thing was, there was no reason for it. It was early, we were all together and there were ample opportunities to move up safely. This field doesn't want to crash. At our age, a crash is a very big thing. When this guy made his rather boneheaded move, the field responded by shouting at him. One guy yelled, "That was your fault Cisco!!" I thought for a moment they were going to throw their water bottles at him. for all that aggressive riding, this guy abandoned! He got popped!

Make sure you check out Bikeboy's latest post on suffer-faces. It is his best stuff yet!