Andrew's TS Stage Race Report 3/31/12 & 4/1/12

Andrew's Top Sport Stage Race Report:

45+ 1/2/3
CoreTechs Riders: Andrew Adelman and Devon Joos

A week late, but really, the mental damage of this race is just now healing. I am not going to go into a lot of detail since A) no one really cares and B) it is a bit of a fog to me. Here is what I do recall:

10 guys line up to race. All Cat 1 or 2's except Devon who is a 3. Now Devon being a 3 is purely by choice. He is a Cat 1 in a Cat 3 license. My point in all this is that with only 10 guys, there is no place to hide in the pack and there are no weak links! It is like racing in the break from the gun.

Road race started with a clear sky, howling winds and 55 degrees. 25 miles in (of a 75 mile race), the headwinds seemed to increase while the temps took a nose dive. Then the sleet starts. We are all dressed for 55 degrees and wearing just jersey's and knickers. No vests, no hats, no long finger gloves. Three minutes after the rain/sleet starts, everything I have on is saturated. My shoes are squishing about. I can't see through my glasses. Wow, this kind of sucks.

A VOS rider goes off the front and a few miles later a SJBC riders chases him down. Suffice to say that the rest of us watched the SJBC rider pedal away from us. They are gone.

Fast forward to four miles left in a 75 mile race. My teeth are chattering so much that I am constantly biting my tongue. I am bleeding from the mouth but I can't stop the chattering. I try to shift to my big ring and find I have no strength in my hands to push in the shifter (I needed the electronic shifting here!). I try numerous times, but just can't do it. I forget I am in a race. I have to constantly tell myself, "self, you are in a bike race!" We were all in misery and no one was talking. This had become a survival ride to the finish line. 4 miles from the finish we hit a Sandhill Road sort of climb. Devon "attacks". By "attacks" I mean he raised the pace from 5mph to 7.5 mph. I stand to follow him. My whole body locks up. Massive cramps in my quads and arms strike at one time. I almost fall off my bike.

I watch as Devon and two others get a gap. I struggle up to the top of the hill and do my best to chase back on. I don’t make it but I limit my losses. Devon and Joe (Landshark) "sprint" to the finish for 3rd and 4th. I roll across 30 seconds back in 5th.

Devon and I sit in my parked car, heat blasting, for about 30 minutes afterwards. Both of us shivering so badly that we are unable to talk. I have stopped biting my tongue, but it is starting to throb. For the entire drive home I talked with a lisp that made me sound like my favorite movie could be My Fair Lady.

Sunday: Circuit Race (Copperopolis Circuit -90 minutes) (GC to start the day: SJBC rider in first, Landshark rider in Second, Devon in third, Some other dude in 4th and I am in 5th)

We find out that the VOS rider had dropped out of the race while in the leading two man break. Turns out he is a doctor and felt he had hypothermia. I would guess the rest of us had that too, we just did not know what the heck that was.

In this race we realize that our only hope of a win is attacking the hell out of the SJBC rider who won Saturday's road race. Between Devon and I, we attacked seven or eight times. Each time the SJBC rider pulled us back himself. Really have to give him some credit. That was hard and he manned up each time. I think I would have given up and curled into the fetal position on the side of the road.

We did drop the "other dude" who was in 4th. Otherwise it was status quo. Knowing nothing would change, Devon and I changed our tactics to try and win this circuit race. Since Devon has a better sprint then I do, I thought it made sense for me to launch early. Then Devon could follow the wheel of whoever chased me and if they caught me, he could counter for the win. That is just what happened, kind of. I launched with 800 meters to go. Got a slight gap but the chase was on me pretty quick. With about 100 meters to go, Landshark comes around me followed by Devon who starts to go around him. What we did not account for was Anders who was out of the GC by this point (due to a flat tire in the RR). He came by Devon on the line for the win. Devon got second, Joe third and I took 4th. We all finished within a tire of each other and thus were given the same overall time.

TT (GC standings before the TT: SJBC is still in first, Landshark in Second, Devon in third and I am in fourth)

I busted out my 10 year old Kestrel with TT bars and a funky helmet. Devon busted out…the same bike he raced the last two races, without aero bars. We were an intimidating duo for this TT. SJBC and Landshark have all the gear. They look the part of bike racers doing a TT. Devon and I look the part of extras in "Breaking Away". Devon needs to make up about a minute on Landshark to take 2nd. Turns out I needed to make up about 40 seconds on Devon to catch him.

10 miles of bumpy roads. Five miles out into a headwind and five miles back with a serious tailwind. Turns out, I don’t like TT's. They hurt, there is not a lot of tactics (other than hurt a lot) and they are boring. I catch my 30 second man within the first three miles. He then catches me back half a mile later. We ride within site of each other the rest of the way. On the way back, we hit some major speed. During this stretch my left aero bar comes loose and scares the hell out of me. I give a good wobble but regain composure and continue on.

SJBC wins by about 1:45 and Landshark is within a few seconds of that time. I end up getting Devon by 44 seconds to take third in the TT and thus third overall. Had Devon had the funky helmet, no doubt he would have held those seconds.

Looking back it was an epic experience. I would not do that RR again in the dumping rain, but it is a fun story to tell. Not often you keep biting your own tongue and come away saying it was a fun event.

Like a woman who goes through childbirth, only to have another kid a year or more later, I will be back.

Andrew