^{PLACE & TIME:}  Elite 5 Men - 4th; Masters 35+ 4, 5 - 4th

I’ve been looking forward to this since my first time last year.  It was very hard 17^th placing … I was very close to being lapped!  But it was fun and I have an idea for doing better.  The crit course is a 1.2 mile loop around the downtown shops.  The first section is a short steep climb, following by a 1/2mi of flat and ending with technical descent to the finish stretch.  That first climb did me in last time.  After a couple laps I never saw the front pack again.  Since then I’ve tried a couple things:  being light & quick on the pedals, and “gluing” to another rider.

The best test was riding with Todd Allington one day.  He’s a stronger rider that I try to model myself after.  Instead of starting slow and conserving for the top, I just “glued” to his wheel from the beginning and had my best climb.  I’m excited to try it in the criterium.. be light & quick and “glue” myself to the front pack no matter what it feels like.  A likely outcome, however, could be frying my legs and getting dropped after a few laps.  That’s ok, I just want to know what it’s like up there with them.. how fast they go and if they ever slow down.

Ever since my “kryptonite” experience (like Superman’s complete power loss) last week at the Auburn Triathlon, placing 20^th out of 39^th , I’ve been sick and haven’t ridden.  But I felt better yesterday and did a practice ride with my neighbor, David.  I included some repeats up this little steep climb.  I found that the “light & quick” technique took only 1 second longer than the “mash-the-pedals” technique and I was less winded (lower heartrate) at the top.  This means I can keep riding strong at the top instead of falling back in the pack.

So it’s race morning and Lance Loveday and I are riding to downtown for some warm-up laps around the course.  Our goal is 10 miles.  The course is modified.  A new, tighter corner at the bottom awaits us.  It looks dangerous.  We try it a bunch of times but I never get a good go at it due to different interruptions… bystanders, cars, wrong line, other cyclists.  On our last try before the first race starts, I shoot down towards it my bike starts screeching like crazy.  Ugh.  Not smooth… and what is with that noise?! Lance says, “You better fix that brake”.

I loosen my front brake and we line up for the start of the Cat 5 race.  Wow, a lot is going through my head.  I’ve been sick and still feel week.  I have a stiff neck and hope it doesn’t hurt down in the drops.  I don’t know if I fixed the squealing problem.  What if it’s something worse, like my wheel falling apart? Robin’s parents are visiting and I want them to see an exciting race.  I tell them that if I get dropped, just keep cheering for the guys in blue Victory Velo jerseys.

Elite 5 Men

Go!  Fortunately we get a neutral lap because a tow truck is on the course.  This means I get 1 more practice in the descent…. “Sccrreeeeeeeechhh!”  Oh no, same thing, and my brakes aren’t even on.  Guys around me tell me to fix my brakes but that’s not it.  No time to figure it out, the motorcycle pulls off and the race is underway!   Light and quick, up the hill.  Yes, I stay with the front pack!  I tuck in with them across the flat.  I don’t want to negotiate that crazy downhill corner while in a pack and with some mechanical problem, so, 100ft before the descent starts, I sprint to the front.  No one seems to care.  I fly down through the Cherry Ave corner (my favorite) and do my best through the High St corner.  All the while, my bike is screeching.  I start up Lincoln Ave, the finish stretch, surprised to see I have ~100m lead on the pack!  I ride by the bike shop, Robin, the kids, the family, other friends…  leading at the end of lap 1.  People are cheering.  But of course in bike racing it doesn’t matter if you’re leading early on, that might be the strategy of the pack.  Are they just getting ready to blow by me?  Am I making a mistake?

The pack catches me as we go back up the hill.  A few get ahead of me and I tuck in for the flat section.  Near the top, our friend, Courtney and the kids are cheering on the riders.  Well, it worked last time, so I sprint to the front again and dive into the descent off the front.  Looking down I figure out that my rear free-hub is not so free anymore.  Something is binding, causing it to squeal and push my chain into a heap, dangling dangerously close to the spinning spokes.  I wonder if I should drop out and not risk hurting myself or others.  At the bottom, again, I come out with a good margin and try to recover a bit as the pack catches me on the climb.

Each loop goes the same way!  Every finish stretch I can see Robin and family getting more and more excited.  After a few laps, I made a plan for the screeching downhill:  as I drop in, I shift to my biggest chainring and biggest cog in the back.  This holds the chain taught, eliminating the dangerous slack and the screeching!  Thanks, God.  The problem with this plan is that I can’t pedal in that low of a gear with the high speeds.  I try the first time, after exiting the bottom corner, and almost fall off my bike due to the lack of resistance on the pedals.  From here on, I shift down in the descent, shift back up 10 gears in the middle section to pedal, shift down 10 gears for the final descent, and then back up at the bottom.  That’s a lot of shifting!

 After about 40 min it’s been going great and there’s 1 lap to go!  The pack is moving fast across the top.  With another big effort I get to the descent first and go as fast as I can through it.  It’s a thrill feeling the G-forces in the turns.  At the bottom I sprint towards the finish but the others are coming up fast.  I hear the wheels overtaking me.  I put my head down and push harder than I ever have on a bike.  I finish 4^th!  A very close finish!  I’m amazed considering I was thinking more about not getting lapped than being so close to the front.  Cooling down I hear a couple racers comment, “That was the safest Cat 5 race I’ve been in”.  Immediately I remember my prayer at the start, that God would keep the racers safe on the new treacherous course.

Anna's Race

We have a great family breakfast together and then watch Anna do her first bike race in the free kid’s event.  It’s so cute and special, Robin & I are almost crying watching.  Anna has her Victory Velo jersey on that Aunt Hilde and Uncle Bill gave her.  She loved the whole 3 laps of it.  She gets her medal and is very excited.  Everyone goes home but I stay to watch some more racing.

Anna's Race Video

Then a crazy thing happens.  Dan, the bike shop owner, talks me into racing again in the Masters 35+ 4 & 5’s.  I figure I’ll probably have to drop out part way through, but at least the mass start would help give me credit for moving up to Cat 4 some day.  It’ll also be neat to ride with Todd Allington, Dan Tebbs, other teammates, and our friend, Kayden (on his 3^rd race in 2 days).  Chris, from the shop, comes out and  tells me my screeching freehub is fixed and ready to go.  Well, no excuse now.. I’m racing again!  Robin quickly comes back to watch, even though I tell her I’ll probably be too tired and get knocked out ½ way through.

Masters 35+ 4&5 Men

Go!  Same thing.  After a neutral lap, I’m able to stay in the middle.  At the top, I haven’t yet figured out another plan for “sitting in” so I decide…. It worked before, do it again!  I sprint to the front and go down first, opening up a good gap at the bottom.  The race goes the same as the first one, except they have 2 primes, which are intermediate races  within the overall race.  I try to sprint for each prime but get beat out by another guy near the line.  After a while, the pack is catching on to my strategy.  When I go to sprint to the front at the top, they call out, “rider going on the left!” and someone tries a counter-attack.  A few times I have to go down behind others.  Once, in the bottom corner, someone gets crossed up and 4 guys almost go down.  No one is hurt and we have to sprint up to the others.  I like it much better being in the lead.

After a while, I’m pretty tired.  One time, in the finish section, Brian Rouse (Auburn Bike Works) comes by and I ignore him.  Dan yells from the bike shop, “Get on his wheel!”  That awakens me to pay attention.  I jump on and get back into the group for the climb.

On the final lap, I make a good move at the top from about 6 back and edge the others out for pole-position into the descent.  I come out at the bottom and give it all I have to the finish.  Brian rouse (Auburn Bike Works) comes by with another (which I thought was Kayden) and I jump on his wheel  and hold on for dear life.  I hit my max heart rate, 187, and keep sprinting to the line but one more cyclist comes around me just at the line.  Another 4^th place finish!  Wow!

It was all really thrilling but I give the credit to God.  It was a pleasant follow-up to last week’s difficult race.  Today’s course really worked with my strategy.  It was a dream-come-true to be at the front.  A cool experience I’m really glad to be a part of.

*Troy made our local Auburn Journal (=