Summit Freewheelers Fall Challenge - 9/9/2007

The Fall Challenge is typically my last road race of the season. It's the roll over from road to 'cross season. This is also my second 1/2/3 race, and with the longer hill on Quick road, I was sure it would be a test of my racing ability. My goal for the day is to push past the pain and do as well as I could, while learning how the best in the area race something like this. In other words, I did not expect to get to the podium, but I really want to finish with the main group... whatever that happens to be. A lot happened on this one that I think is important, so it's going to be a bit long.

On Saturday, the forecast for Sunday is rain, and it seems to be that attendance will be down. I'm going, cause it's all training for 'cross, and bad weather is never a good enough excuse to stay home. As I roll out, I call a few of my team mates to see who will be there. Chris B, and Gary are both racing in the cat 4 field. Impressive since it was REALLY coming down when I left the house at 8. The course report was it was drizzling at 8:30. Dave S decided to stay home, and I couldn't reach Ray, so I figured I'd be on my own in the 1/2/3 field.

Getting ready at the parking lot, Ray shows up... surprise. So do quite a few other guys. In the end we had about 25 in the 1/2/3 field. RGF had Bob Martin, Dave Chernosky, Jeremy Grimm, and Cameron. Brent and Thom were representing Color-Me-Safe, Tris and Brian from Torrelli, Quinlan and Pandy from MVC, COBC had 2. Then a bunch of singles from all over, Kirk Albers from Roadhouse and guys from Spin, Savage Hill, Mind and Body... I'm close to remembering everyone. Scary.

There were about 15 in the cat 4 field and maybe 20 in the the master's fields. Lots of guys were getting flats, so I begged a spare wheel set from Rick for the wheel truck. I hate the idea of a flat ending my day... so now I'm covered. It also gave Rick the "participation" part of being at the race, since he couldn't turn the pedals in anger, he could give me confidence that I could hurt myself for the entire distance today.

Because of the rain, I took a very easy warm up. I suspected the pace to be relatively easy on the first lap, then open up on the hill. At the line the race was shortened to 6 laps from 7, instructions are given on where to watch the pavement, and we were off.

From the parking lot, Brent ups the pace and we're strung out. Half way through the first lap, and the first break goes. Thom (CMS), Batke (Torrelli) and an RGF are gone. Brent sits up once the break is off the front, and no one takes over. Quinlin takes a couple of digs to bridge, but the field is all over those. So we head into the hill for the first time with the break at about 500m. No one is working yet, and Ray sets the tempo up the climb. At the top no one takes over.... Well, it's not like I expect the participating teams to pull it back... but we almost stopped. I made my way to the front, and started doing a little work. Not loads, cause there were still some big guys in the field, but at least some tempo.

Coming into the start finish the first time, Albers attacks the field on the right, and Quinlin goes with him, I'm close enough on the left to go in pursuit with Brent. Brent pulls off, and I end doing the bulk of the work to close down that attack before we get to Steels Corners. It causes the field to split, and as Kirk floats to the back, he shouts for us to continue the work. We did some work, but soon the field is back as we head down Haas. A few more semi-attacks and we're going up the hill for lap two. I'm doing pretty well at staying near the front heading into the hill. Ray again does the pace making up the hill, and I'm doing a lead and fade. The break of three is still up the road, but barely in site.

Second lap, attacks go and are brought back... or come back on their own. None of the big guns are given enough space to make one stick, and the attempts that get space come back on their own. Heading into the hill for the third time, I see Kirk checking his wheel... at the bottom he pulls off with a flat.

Third time up the hill, I'm again near the front at the base... but as I fade, the guns are fired, and the pace picks up. At the top I'm off the back with about 200m to close. No way is my race ending half way through... so I dig in, and work like crazy to get back on. It takes a little bit, but I make it back... and move directly into the field and back near the front. Now there is trouble. The group that I'm in is now chasing another group of 4 or 5 up the road.... Tris, Quinlin, Grim, Chernosky and Brent are in pursuit of the first 3. As I come past the guys in my group, they look like they are dead. I think this is the point where a group gives up on the race... So, I go into organizing mode. Someone has to get these guys working. I take a long pull, and I yell when I come off.. "pull through"! Ray is still with, as are the two COBC. The Spin, Savage Hill and Mind and Body guys are here. So I'm trying to get an organized chase going and we start rolling through. If there's a space, I fill it. If Ray gets to the front, and it seems to me he's pulling to long, I yell to the guy behind to pull through. I'm hoping we can get back to the first chase group and maybe get some kind of result.

It's not easy whipping a group into working. I told the Spin guy to pull through, his response "I'm dead"... My thought is... "then go home! Don't interrupt a chase by sitting in second wheel and leaving someone on the front when your group is trying to get back to the race!" It's obvious I'm having some anger issues today. I don't say any of this, I just get back to the front and pull. And then the Spin guy attacks the field! This sends me off. I pull next to Ray and tell him to stop working. My goal is for me to work this chase with whoever will work, and I'll send Ray to chase the jerks that attack us instead of work with us.

Unfortunately, I don't get a lot of chances to let Ray know this. I only tell him to sit. I take another pull, heading to Steels Corners, and the COBC guy attacks as I'm coming off... as he goes, I yell at Ray and push him (literally) into the chase. "Go get him!" and then I sit. The guy comes back shortly, and Ray stays off the front for a bit. So I gave the COBC guy a bit of my mind... "There are at least 6 places up the road... don't attack the chase... work!", his response is classic. "But we're not working together." Funny, I thought we were before guys started to attack!

I let the two COBC guys, and Spin guy bring Ray back. I'm not happy with how long he stayed out there, but I wasn't going to work to bring him back. I kept thinking... it's COBCs fault he's off the front, so COBC needs to bring him back. Once the catch was made, I went around Ray so they didn't stick him on the front, and got back to chasing the front groups.

Back to the bottom, and fourth time up the climb. I'm near the front at the bottom, and off the back at the top. On the third climb, I jokingly ask Don, the moto driver, for a water bottle pull... he replied he didn't have any bottles. I didn't give up, and caught back on. This time, I just asked if we had done this before... at the top of the climb, I had to chase again. I came around Matson from COBC and called, but he waved me on... flat. Damn, I could have used his help. Then I caught Cameron from RGF, and the two of us went to work. I kept encouraging him, and we worked together well. He did great... as we got to within 50 feet, I told him to "hang on and go right to the front, don't stay at the back" and slowly started a sprint to get back. I hope I gave him enough warning, but I don't think I saw him again.

It took forever, I think it was on the downhill before the animal shelter, that I caught back on, I went straight to the front, taped Ray as I came by, and took a "short" pull, then started trying to organize a chase again. I found a complete reorganization of the race while I was off the back. I wasn't sure who was up the road, but Thom had switched places with Brent, and I think Kirk had found his way to our group by chasing back on. Batke, Hopkins, Grimm and Quinlin were gone with Brent... and a few others were missing. I didn't really pay too much attention, I was now in the "work for Ray" mode. I'd chased back twice and didn't think I could do it a third time. So to the front I went and started to work to see what I could do to get the race back together.

I kept telling Ray to rest, I would work... but Ray really wanted to get back to the front, and there were quite a few passengers in our group of 10ish. On the rollers, the wheel van passed us. .. which, at the start, we were told meant we were out of contention. I didn't really believe that, cause I'm stubborn like that. Heading into Steels Corners again, the wheel truck stops to service Grimm... in the middle of the road. They have doors open on the right side of the van, and Jeremy near the gutter... so the only place we have to go is left of the van... single file, and head into the corner. Craziness there!

Down Haas road, I'm telling Ray the he MUST win a place. I'm killing myself for him, he can not let me down. (Such the motivational speaker). I will try to get back after the hill, but I don't know if I can. At the bottom of the hill, we see the front 4. How did we catch them! I don't know, but Ray tells me to go hard to close the gap before the climb... so I do my best to bring him within 100m. At the base, I say finish this! Ray responds... "those guys climb so fast!" and I say... "So climb fast! Get on there!" as everyone passes me again. It didn't really occur to me that Ray has led his group up this climb every lap so far. As as the moto comes by again, I ask Don if he thinks I can do it again? He says I've done it pretty well the last two times.

Over the top, and one of the women that we passed at the bottom of the hill catches me.... she sounded terrible. I'm thinking I should really lighten up my bike, cause I don't know WHY my climbing is this "bad" when I've still been able to chase back on. The Savage Hill rider is also right there. So I dig in, and as I come back up to them I call... and Savage Hill and I go to work in pursuit. Up ahead, I see Thom just off the back of the group, with maybe on more guy ahead of him. It is a painful chase, but we work together. Over the rollers, Thom is about 500m ahead... and staying there. We soon loose sight of the group, and then of Thom. The bigger rollers are killing my legs. Through the start finish, one lap to go. Can we get back? It's been really long now.

When we got back to Haas road, I could see nothing, and I really hurt all over. So with about a half lap to go, I pretty much cashed it in. I sat up, drank, and had a gu. The Savage Hill guy opened a bit of a gap while I refueled and he signalled for me to get back on his wheel. I closed back, and we went back to work. My heart wasn't in it though, and my legs were toast, and we still had one more climb. Going up Quick, the SH guy opened a big gap again, and that's when I notice I'm still carrying my seat pack with extra tube, tools... and a feakin' tail light. By definition, this race was now a training ride. Damn! I wonder if that would have given me enough to at least stay on the main group until the last climb?

Once over the hill, I tried to close the gap to the Savage rider, thinking about the chasing in a cross race. The difference was this was at 2 hours, not 1... and he held the gap all the way to the line. Race over for whatever place I got.

I was not thrilled with my result, but I was happy with the work I did for Ray. Turns out that the front 4 had sat up to wait once when Quinlin went down in a corner, and had also been held up by some crazy slow traffic on the rollers after the fourth time up the hill, which was why we were able to bring them back. I don't know where Chernosky, Grimm and Albers where when I was chasing on lap 5, but they ended up getting into the regrouped race, while I fell off the back. Ray continued to work in the main field, and ended up trying to take the 1 mile to the line flyer. He popped and was passed by everyone in his group. He still managed to come across in 10th, for the last money spot. I still don't know where I finished, but figure it to be about 15th.

So then I get all philosophical... What makes a successful bicycle racer? Being fit and strong enough to go the distance is obvious. You have to be smart enough to use your energy wisely and courageous enough to take chances to make things happen. You need to have concentration to either see what is happening around you, so you can react, or to be able to just push yourself further than anyone else. The last piece is to have the experience to know when to use which tool at your disposal to obtain your goals.

How did I do? Well, my second 1/2/3 race, and I feel good about my fitness level racing against the best in the area. I'm happy about working early in the race, trying to effect the race instead of sitting in and doing nothing. I'm glad I continued to chase when others were giving up, and laying it down for Ray to get a result when it was becoming obvious that I would probably not make all the climbing necessary. I'm a pretty frustrated that so many others benefited from my work, but I think that's where the experience part comes in. I'm also frustrated with the seat bag, and my climbing. It's possible I talked myself out of doing that climb well, but I'm not really sure.

Being the first cat 3 season, I expected this to be more learning and getting totally shelled by the cat 3s. Instead, I've been hanging in a the 1/2/3 races... maybe not at the front, but I'm happy with how these have gone. So I've surpassed those expectations.... which has as much to do with my coach as it does with my own ability. Thanks to Brent Evans with Endura Solutions for all his help.

So, road season for me is officially over. I may be able to do a few more Westlake Worlds before the end of the season, but my focus is now shifting completely to Cyclocross. Cap City number 1 next weekend in Columbus is the first on the agenda, then the Michigan UCI race! Ride through mud!