Mark Foster's CCCX (Winner!) and Burlingame Report

CCCX Road Race 6-25-11(one hour circuit race)
Class: 45+ Cat 4
Riders: 26
Team mates: Tom Rice
Weather: overcast 57 degrees

So the CCCX race is always fun. It’s a relatively safe venue and requires some brain power to be in the right place at the right time. The race went at a faster pace than normal. Usually we old cat 4 master guys go slow till the finish, so that we don’t strain ourselves too much and enjoy our evening cocktails without feeling too tired. This one was different. Maybe the non-sprinters wanted to do well. Or maybe we had more mid-life crisis sufferers than normal, but the pace stayed brisk. Tom and I tried to attack(not like Rich in the 1/2/3 race) and got a bit of a gap; but then Tom said to me,”Stop, this isn’t working”. We were successful in pulling the field for a while; but dropped no one(I think). So many of the riders took a turn pulling and I got much more of a workout than expected. The pace of course picked up on the last lap and especially so on the final rollers. Todd Munk of SJBC took the lead over the last hill and I moved into the third position as we began the descent. I know not to hammer too fast on the downhill or you’ll end up leading into the final turn. It’s funny because they all start yelling, “Go! Go!”; yet everyone is smart enough to know not to. Then as we approach the final turn, a Livermore guy takes off. Munk tries to catch him. I stay on Munks wheel through the corner but realize the leader has some steam. The surge starts coming around me as I wind up for the final 200 meters. I get Munk and some other guy but it seems I let too much of a gap build to catch the leader. He starts to fade as I build up speed; and I blow by him right at the line. He throws his hands up like he won the TdF and I think, “wow, that was close.” The photo finish showed me winning by a couple of inches. I get my money back plus a case of Gu. Nice!

Burlingame Crit
Masters 35+ Cat 4
Riders: 70
Team mates: Tom, Scott F.
Weather: beautiful, 70 degrees

I was feeling a bit fried from the day before. Apparently as we age, recovery takes longer. At any rate, it was only my legs that felt tired. As I warmed up around the High School I started feeling better. Then, with about fifteen minutes before the race, I ran over some glass and heard the ear wrenching “Hiss” of a blowout. Of course I had tubulars with no slime. I was about 1 mile out so I rode back on the flat until the road got rough and jogged in cycling cleats the rest of the way. I passed my team mates in the parking lot on the way back; so they helped me calm down. Fortunately I brought spare wheels. Everything was fine. I got a great start and was in the top 10 right away. I stay in the top five or ten up until the first “preem”. I committed about a quarter of the way down the final straight and got the guy at the line to earn $50(So I thought at the time) Yes! Scott came by me at that point and helped me recover, but I still faded back to about twentieth or thirtieth while I recovered from the sprint. After I recovered, I moved back up to the front( Scott was there too!) and managed to stay there in top five or ten for the rest of the race. I wimped out at going for any more “preems”, and there was one significant one( a set of new wheels) that had me considering going for it. I elected to concentrate on the race. Finally with one lap to go, I found myself following two SJBC guys. One of them pulls over. Now I’m in second place following Todd Munk again(like the day before). Then he pulls over, now I’m leading the race with two thirds of a mile to go….Oops. I don’t pull over. I keep hammering, but leave something left for when the surge comes screaming by. I manage to hang on to the lead all the way until we start into the final sweeping right hander into the finish. I start really hammering to grab a wheel as the surge envelops me. I get one. Now we’re on the final sprint for the finish. I dig as deeply as I can but don’t have the same power I had the day before. They crawl by me as we get closer to the line. I see Scott on my left. I finish eighth, Scott finishes seventh. Tom hangs on to the pack. Not bad. It was a blast! I went to pick up my fifty bucks after the race and they told me I didn’t win that “preem” lap. I said,”Yes I did. Show me the tape.” They erased the tape, and I elected to not start a conspiracy theory. I still had a blast and made it though the weekend in one piece. No complaints, it was a great weekend!