Andrew's Knights Ferry Road Race Story

Knights Ferry Road Race
3 laps of 27 per lap (finish was 8 miles before start line, so about 72 mile race)
Cat 45+ 1/2/3: 22 riders in race
CoreTechs Riders: Andrew (me), Daryoush, Devon

The 2012 season has officially started for me and you know what that means (for you new to the team, you will realize soon enough that these so called race reports are really just an exercise in time miss-management in an effort to avoid child care duties or work duties; depending on what duties I am avoiding at that moment). It means a report full of introspection, self aggrandizing, sometime self loathing and a fair does of belly navel picking. So, you have been warned if you feel the need to read this full story, let the picking begin.

I leaned against the doorway in a bit of confusion. Catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror I looked paler than usual, and yes smartasses, that certainly is very pale. The internal debate raged; should I use the toilet with my top end or bottom end. Top end won first followed soon after by the bottom end. Leaning that close to the toilet, it also occurred
to me how disgusting a seven year old boy and five year old boy can be. Do they actually ever pee in the toilet, or just get as close as is reasonably possible while still being in the bathroom?

It was now 3pm on Friday and the thought of any food would send me scurrying back to the bathroom to resume my debate. Not a great way to do race prep. Oh, I should mention, I signed up for the Knights Ferry Road Race the next morning at 8:00am. I had a rough time even looking up. I crawled into bed. I laid there till about 7. I was in misery. Chris Scheetz stopped by about 7:30pm. I could only sit hunched over staring at the floor. I made my way over to the computer and sent a cryptic message to the boys racing with me the next day…"I'm out".

I wake at 4:00am. Hmm, I actually feel pretty normal. Sure, my stomach feels like it had a workout, but no nausea. There is a chance! I venture to the kitchen and take a drink of juice. I contemplate my navel. The juice stays down. I try a piece of toast. That too stays where it belongs. Ok, back in business. I can make it! I throw a bunch of stuff in my bag, put air in my tires and throw the bike in the car. I'm off for a two hour drive to attempt an 80 mile road race. Sure, I have not eaten (other than two slices of toast) since noon the day before (and all of that I put nicely back in toilet), but I do feel well rested.

Four paragraphs in and I still have not gotten to the race story. Ok, let's get to it.

It is cold. It does not look cold from inside the confines of a well heated car; it looks awesome! Sun is out, no wind blowing, just perfect. But I reiterate, it is cold. I guess about 31 degrees to start the ride. My teeth are chattering. I warm up quickly though as the attacks happen early and often. The 1/2/3 races have a pattern to them. In most races that have some element to break them up, i.e. distance, rollers or a hill the first 10 to 20 miles are attack after attack. Once the two or three largest teams have a member up the road in an attack, they muck up the chase. The break then gets enough time for the pack to almost give up and the pace drops to very slow. Then riders do their best to bridge. The teams with riders in the break sit on those bridging riders wheels. The bridging rider, not realizing that the guy on his wheel has a man in the break, signals for the guy on his wheel to come around and help. When the rider does not come around, the chaser gets discouraged and pissed and sits up to yell at the guy on his wheel; "why don’t you #$$%$ help?" The answer of "sorry, I have a guy in the break" usually does little to mollify the rider, but this is bike racing. They then drop back to the peloton and start the process over.

It is fun to race for a teammate, but I do have to admit it is hard mentally. You are sacrificing your chance for a top five by just sitting in the pack and letting the race get away up the road. Still though, I like these guys and it is fun to play team games and pretend that we are big time and to race as a team. So race as a team we did. Break attempt after break went in the first mile of this race. Devon, Daryoush and myself covered all of them. Finally Dirk (Team Echelon, well known noon rider, and a teammate of two others in the race who are both very strong), went and Daryoush was on him. One other rider joined and the three were away. Devon and I went to the front. We, along with the two teammates of Dirk (Cale Reeder and Hunter) did our best to muck up any bridge attempts. We either covered every break or we did not pull through on the front. The break gained enough time for most in the pack to concede.

The course is an out and back of 27 miles per loop. We did the loop three times. On each end of the out and back there are a series of rollers. The finish is 2.5K from the turn around. On lap two, just before the rollers (these rollers are comparable to the "climb" on Arstradero) a VOS rider takes off. I know this rider and know he is not a threat, so I drift to the mid pack and let others chase if they want. This was the mistake of the race! I did not pay attention to Dirk's two teammates. They launch a vicious attack on the hill and get a decent gap on the field. The pack chases, I am relieved that the pack is doing Devon and I's work for us. We head down the back side of the hill and I see Hunter. Phew, that was close but at least we caught them. We ride another few miles and Hunter rolls next to me. "You should have gone with Cale." Oh man, you mean we didn't catch ALL of that break. Turns out, Hunter hammered himself to help get Cale away and then slid back to the pack. Well crap.

Since you can see the break coming the other direction, I see that Cale and the VOS rider caught Daryoush's break. Now there is five in the break and we are all racing for sixth. This sucks!! Man did we blow it by not paying attention. Well, nothing we can do now. One thing about being sick before a race; it gives you lots of mental excuses. I had a lot of self talk going on about how weak I was feeling, this was nothing but a training ride now, blah blah blah. It is all just excuses and softness creeping in. If you are going to race, then race.

We are on the third lap now and about 1k to the rollers/hill. One rider breaks, but again, I don’t worry about him. Then Hunter jumps across. Well, not again, I make the jump from the peloton. I am gaining, but my gaining is slowing down. I may not make the bridge! Then from behind I hear a comforting voice. "Come on buddy, we got this." It was Devon riding by and taking a pull. He too had made the jump and it was just he and I. We worked together to make it up to Hunter and the other rider. Once we caught them, the four of us worked hard. We knew the pack was chasing with all they had left.

We crested the hills and headed for the 180 degree turn around. 2.5K to the finish, 74 miles in and the pack is within 300 meters. The finish is on a climb. It is not super steep, but it goes up for 1.5K. We hit the 1k to go and Hunter attacks us. I got a good jump and caught his wheel fairly quickly. He then apologizes and promises not to do it again if we all work together to the finish. This was our second mistake. We had dropped the fourth guy and it was just Devon, Hunter and myself. So two against one. What should have happened is I should have attacked and Devon should have sat on Hunter's wheel. When Hunter jumped to catch me, Devon would then be poised to jump and pass Hunter to take the sixth place we were fighting for. I say should have happened because none of that did happen. Instead, I think we were all pretty worked by this point and we all ended up waiting till about 100 meters to go. It was then a slow, uphill sprint and Hunter nipped Devon and I got to trail in just behind them. Devon got 7th overall and I got 8th.

Turns out that Dirk sat up in the break to wait for Cale's approach. This left the only two guys working in the break, Daryoush and the other original breakmate. This sapped Daryoush of his strength, but he was able to make sure that the break stayed away. He ended up with a 5th place. Great result for our first race of the year. CoreTechs places all three of our riders in the top ten. Some good lessons learned and room to improve. I do have to say, it sure is fun to have good guys as teammates. They are good riders and good guys. Great start to 2012!

Next up is Copper Town in two weeks. Look forward to seeing many of you there. Now if only I can get the kids to actually pee in the potty all will be well with the world.

Andrew