Race at the Lake 2

April 29, 2006

Another nice Saturday morning. Temps are in the 50's and we're racing at the lake.

Don and I arrived at about 8:30 while the women and juniors were racing, and there were about 16+ women and about the same number of juniors, which are pretty large for what I've seen. So we're expecting a larger turn out than last week.

Snakebite has 1 in the 35 strong cat 5 field, and we're looking at 8 in the 4 field. Jason, Brett, Ryan B, Jeff C, Brian S, Mehul , Don and myself. Rick Adams also showed up for moral support.

The plan for the day is to have Ryan and I sit in for the finish. Jason would try a break and I was going to attempt at least one prime. Last week we did well, let's see if we can repeat with better results. I'm doing positive thinking this week. I will do well, and I will drive it all the way to the line. It's all about learning from last week.

Racing

45 or so line up the race. 15 laps of 2K each. They announce 3 primes and payout to 8 places. They will also announce they'll be pulling lapped riders since the field is so large. We're off and immediately lined out.

Either we're moving faster this week, or I'm a bit blocked cause this is work! Not much really going on, I'm just working on holding my position about 15-20 back which is pretty far down for me, but since it's mostly lined out I feel comfortable here. Every time we hit the hill, the field compresses, and I make up a few spots. I stay far enough up front to stay out of most of the mayhem.

On the second or third time coming down the hill, an unattached rider comes by and dives a bit tight into the corners. Out of the corner a couple of StarkVelo guys warn him to "hold his line", and he starts to get defensive. I supported the Stark guys on this one and tell the guy so.

Riding in the field is a crazy experience. You put 40 bikes in an extremely tight space moving an average of 25mph going up and down hills and through tight corners. For some reason, this race is about as bad as I've seen a field react. There are four 90 degree turns, and lots of sweeping turns. The field invariable will push guys off the road, and pinch guys out through turns. Crazy stuff. When you're in the field you have to think link an amoeba. Know where other riders are and ride smooth straight paths through the turns.

Laps are counting down, 10 to go, 9. When are they going to call the prime? Mehul is out with a mechanical on the side so we're down one! They've got to fit in 3 primes and the finish. Each prime will take 2 laps, so that's 6 plus two for the final. They better ring the first one soon! Finally, 7 to go they ring the bell. We catch and lap Don on the hill, so we're down to 6 in the field now.

I'm really far back. I've got to get to the front if I want this to work. Around the back, I push up and get into the top 10. Up the climb, I'm on the inside and I follow a Summit guy right to the front. Perfect. I'm second row at the top of the climb. The Summit guy looks at one of his teammates, who gives a nod, and the guy jumps. I'm on his wheel so I jump with him, as does a guy from Pista Elite. The Pista guy tries to pressure me off the wheel, but I'm not budging. Down the hill, and the summit guy is pulling both of us, then he falls off. I fall in behind Pista as we enter the first of two corners heading for the finish.

I'm in good position, second wheel through the turns would be perfect. I'll jump into the sprint after the turn and take this. Through the first turn, and Brett jumps up the outside of the turn! OK, teammate has a dig, I sit on this guy and have him pull me around. If he catches Brett, then I'll jump. If not, Brett has the prime. Brett opens a nice gap as we come through the last turn. I'm through third, and I see Brett won't get caught, so I sit up. Brett takes the prime nicely.

At this point I must have fallen asleep, or the effort of the last lap caught up with me. Some how I'm back to 10-12 back, and a group goes off the front. The chase is on, and I get a bit further back. As we come through the final turn again, two guys go down, and the field is braking to get through a one lane turn with two guys on the ground! Once through, one of the guys is back up and on his bike. The other guy is down. Back to the chase! And they ring the bell for the next prime!

Lots of us are hollering "Rider Down" as we go through the line. This is nuts! There's a break of about 10 up the road, and the field is strung out behind because of the wreck. We're moving to get back together, but how? Coming through the turn again, the StarkVelo rider that went down is still down, so they slow riders down through the turn and call the race neutral, though it took another lap or so to figure that out.

7 laps later they've got the Stark guy in the ambulance. Sounds like a broken collarbone, and a pedal to the head as guys were going by. They stop the field and inform us of the plan. At the bell there was a break of 6 a chase of 3 and the field. They reset the break of 6 and give them 5-10 seconds. Then the group of three is given another 10, then they let the field go. Oh, and we're only doing two more laps.

2 very short laps! This is going to be a long sprint. I'm in the field. We've got 1 in the break of three. It's Jason who won last week, but it's still like putting 1 into the money. At first we contemplate pulling him back, then Brett says let's just let someone else bring the groups back, and we'll try to get to the front to get into the finish. I'm line up on the front line of the field for the restart.

At the whistle, I sprint for the corner and end up in third or fourth wheel. I'm sitting letting the other guys pull us back up. I can see Jason sitting on the chase group as they reattach to the break on the climb. We're closing also, so it looks like it all be back together. We regroup as we're coming through the start finish... gruppo compatico and we're set for the sprint.

I'm still about 12 back, which is not good. Jason is up ahead, and I'm pretty sure Brett and Ryan are close behind. I figure I'll move on the hill. Coming around. I come up on the inside. Not the best place to be, but it will have to do. I move into the second row or so, and then the field starts it's drift inside. I'm literally holding the next to me from running me off the road. I'm here, and I will not move. It's work fighting for position! And this race is all about position.

Down the hill, and I'm about 10th into the corners, as it's lined out. Pretty far back, but it's were I was last week, and hard as I try I'm not moving up on the approach. Out of the corner, I'm digging for the line. I see Jason take the sprint, but I'm not bringing much back. I end up coming through 9th, with Brett on my wheel for 10th, and Ryan right there for 11th.

Post Race

Overall a weird race. It would have been nice to have the prime laps spread out a bit, though I'm not sure if it would have been any safer. They paid out to 10th, since the skipped the two prime laps, so SnakeBite got the only prime, the win and 9th, 10th and 11th place. Pretty good results.

Two more weeks of this crazy race. I wonder if they'll get any saner?