Being flexible, it's really helpful. I had planned on driving to Lucas, OH for the last spring classic at Malabar farms. Drive for an hour and a quarter. Do a 50 mile race, then drive the hour and a quarter home. We'd worked out that Dave and Dick would meet at my place at 7:30 and we'd be off.... at 7:30 I get a call.
Dave: "Have you looked at the weather map?"
Me: "Uh, yes. Why?"
Dave: "There's a big storm heading for Lucas. I don't think I'm going. Neither is Dick."
Dick is self described as being "Stupid" about riding in the rain, so when he bails it must be serious. I'm really tempted to go anyway... but there is an alternative.
Me: "OK, If we leave right now, we can make the Summit Freewheelers TOP race at 8:30"
Dave: "I'll be there in 2 minutes."
So, we're off.
Dave arrived, and we jump in the car. I don't have directions. I looked at the wrong date in those 2 minutes. So while I'm driving in the general direction, Dave calls his sister and brother-in-law. They check out the Summit Freewheelers site to get the race location for us, and then mapquest for us to get us there on time. I figure if I don't make any wrong turns (almost went West on 480!), we'll have enough time to signin, get dressed and jump in the field... if they don't start exactly on time.
We ended up making it, and Dave even had a teammate there. So 10 guys line up for the A race, 7 for the B's. Summit has 5 in the A's, there's one from Stark, Brian from Lake Effect, Jeff and Dave from Inferno, and me. The B race is almost completly Summit with one or two unattached. Off we go for a bit of neutral to get started. Good, I need a warmup... more than the short ride to the toilet.
The course is pretty nice rolling terrain, with no hills to speak of. There are three turns and two rail crossings. The finish is at the end of a long straight, rolling section about 200 meters before the last turn. We'll do 6 laps for about 38 miles.
Shortly after the first turn, we start racing. The pace picks up in spurts, as different guys try to go. Somewhere before the second turn, Noah from Summit gets off the front. I've been doing pretty well at sitting in and watching what's happening. I'm not concerned that Noah can stay away, so I don't react. I'm not 100% sure of Summit's tactics, but it looks like they are riding to let him go.
The second turn is really sketchy. It's about a 100 degree turn, with lots of gravel. First time through, we swing wide left, and I almost lose the back wheel coming through... and we were moving pretty slow! and it's not marshalled. We need to be carefull here.
So the first lap is just exploring the course for me. Where are we going, what's it like. We're puttering along with Noah off the front and the B race catches us. So now we're 17 with a boat load of Summit riders. We pull Noah back somewhere in the second lap before the first turn. For the most part, the A's are driving the pace and the Bs are sitting on.
After the sharp turn, Ed Delgros takes off and gets a gap. I'm a little concerned about this, so with a 200-300 meter gap, I go to the front and start pacing the group. Trouble is, there are only Summit guys on my wheel. I don't see anyone moving up to help bring Ed back. I work for a while, but no way am I going to do this alone so I ease up a bit, and so does the whole field. Ed opens the gap a bit more, and I get a little bit of a break, though still on the front, I'm watching my heart rate, and make sure I'm well under my sustainable HR of 165.
So this is pretty much the way it goes for the second lap. Brian from Lake Effect will take a bit of a dig, the field accelerates to stay on his wheel, he pulls for a bit, then slows up. I come around and ride tempo to try to keep Ed in site. Then Noah takes a dig, the field accelerates, then he slows, I come around and ride tempo to try to keep Ed in site.... repeat ad naseum.
Just after the sharp turn in the third lap, Ed has opened the gap quite a bit. Dave comes up with Jeff and says "let's drive this". So the three of us get on the front and start rotating through. I need to rest a bit as we start the line, so I let Jeff take an extra pull. It looks like we're closing the gap also. Every so often Brian comes up and gives a hand, then drops back. We do this for the complete lap. Though it's not a smooth rotation. I'm on the front as we head into the sharp corner again, and Brian almost takes Dave out by going straight! No harm done, just some yelling. This breaks the little rythem we had and it's pretty much the last I saw of Jeff.
Turns out we can't get organized after that. Doug from Summit keeps encouraging us, trying to "organize" the group, even saying that we were making up ground when we had the pacelin going. Of course, there wasn't much help from Summit. So we're back to me riding tempo, Brian or Noah accelerating and pacing for a little bit, then me riding tempo. Doug gets to the front occasionally and tries to wave us through, but none of the "non-Summit" riders trust that the Summit riders are really working.
I only see the Stark guy occasionaly, and never really at the front. Though I did overhear him offering to lead Brian out for the sprint. Interesting offer. I've got my eye on Doug and Brian now for the finish. It's not looking like we're going to bring Ed back. We keep picking up Summit riders along the road. Either we've dropped these guys, or they showed up late for the race and just jump in along the course. It confused some guys in the field thinking that we'd already picked Ed up. Nope, he's just motoring away up there... out of sight now.
With 3 to go, I realise that you can't see the finish until we're almost on top of it. With 2 to go, I remembered talk at the end of the Lucas race how Jimmy MacDonald looked for a landmark to get an idea where the finish line is. Since I don't know these roads well, I start to do the same thing. A "for sale" sign... is that 200 meters? Nope, to far out. There is a strip of new asphalt across the road about the right location. I check it with 1 to go, though only subconsiesly.
Ed is gone. We've dropped a few B's, but it's mostly all together. Naoh has taken a few flyers. Doug and Brian have done a little bit of work. I've been on the front a lot, with Dave. Dave has suggested that we give up on the chase and concentrate on the finish. I still end up on the front a lot, though I'm trying not to work real hard, I keep thinking that I'm not killing myself and I'm on the front, everyone else is trying to stay fresh for the finish, but the race is already gone.
On the last lap, as we come around the back side into the wind, Dave jumps clear of the field. Finally something to make Summit work a bit. I'm on the front again, and I just let him motor away. Noah soon jumps to bridge, and I follow fr a minute, then release him also. Then I sit in behind the Summit guys. I'm not sure if they are blocking or keeping it close. But I'm going to relax and watch what happens.
When Brian comes up, I tell him I will not chase if he wants to take a chance. He says he'll wait for the sprint, expecting Summit to chase him down otherwise. Just like he expects them to bring back Dave. Well, I'm not sure what they are thinking. It looks like they think Noah can outlast Dave... I like the odds with Dave, so I'll play the teammate game. I probably should have gottin in and interupted their chase, but instead I just sit in behind and save myself for the finish.
It doesn't take long for Noah to run out of gas, then Dave is alone up there... it's going to be close as we pass the for sale sign. Doesn't look good though as Dave is coming back quickly. So Doug is at the front leading the goup to the line. Then Brian, then Ted Ingraham from Summit, then me. Doug says something about this being the lead out, but it seems bit long. Then Doug pulls off and Brian leads... OK, thats the two guys I see as dangerous.Things get a bit weird, and some guys come around me. Then Ted jumps for the sprint, I think it's a bit early. I hit the pavement strip and goose it around a rider or two in chase, but it looks late. I have to shout warnings to Dave that I'm coming, as I shoot between him and another Summit rider with about 50 meters to the line. I'm probably 10 meters behind Ted at the finish.
I think Ted was in the B field, but since it all mixed together, I'll call it third place with plenty of work, though no big intervals. My max HR was only 173/182 so even in the sprint I wasn't going full gas. My race average was about 153, which is somewhere in the zone 3 area. I probably could have gotten second if I had a clear line to the finish and definitely if I'd have known the course better.
Overall a decent workout considering we didn't do the big race. A bit frustrating with Summit tactics, but after the race we had a couple of guys come up and talk about how some people treat this as a team tactics race, and others try to work it as everyone for themselves. It seemed to me that the strongest guys on the day were Ed and Noah. Noah was working for the team. Doug did some work, but was not consistantly working as a solo rider, so must have been doing team work. So for those of us that weren't Summit, it certainly looked like a Summit tactics training day.
The other rather frustrating part was that the weather was beautiful in Lucas. So we could have done that race, and gotten a real work out or been worked over from the race reports. Lesson from this, never check or believe the weather maps the morning of a race. Just bring clothes for anything, and go with your first intention.
Dave, I should have kidnapped you once we were in the van and just taken you to Lucas.
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