It was bound to happen sooner or later: the old three guys
pass you at the finish line after you hauled them around the course trick.
Bicycle racing is not like life. In life hard, aggressive hard
work and leadership typically pays off in the end; in bike racing hard work at
the front typically results in watching other guys pump their fists in the air. Who can forget TdF 2014 Stage 15:
In bike racing the mantra is: he who does the best is he who
does the least.
Oh I’m sounding bitter.
Truth be told, the MFG South Sound Super Prestige (AKA
Stillicoom, AKA MFG #2) was an awesome race on an awesome course. Zac and Terry
deserve major credit for putting together what I consider to be stellar course
work.
My race started at a fairly reasonable pace and I hit the
hill feeling strong. I was with two guys
from Leavenworth, a guy from Bellingham, fellow Islander Dodi, and an unknown
fella who was riding strong. I followed
Bellingham and Leavenworth #1 up the hill expecting to be dropped at any minute,
but as we approached the final kicker at the top I passed Leavenworth #1 and
hit the downhill in second position. I
felt confident on the descent and moved into first.
I hit the downhill single track at full speed and nearly
took out a lady jogger and her two golden retrievers. It must have been mayhem behind me. Shortly thereafter another jogger/walker
appeared from the woods, I let loose with a huge yell which must have
penetrated her headphones as she quickly ducked back into the bushes.
Down on the flats I was passed by the Leavenworth boys. These guys are definitely road racers and this
was a road racers course. They rotated
leads through the tape working hard to drop me.
I figured I’d let them do some work and just hung third wheel.
 |
| Chasing Leavenworth #1 at Starcrossed |
A man’s gotta know his limitations and my limitation is the
sprint. Basically I don’t have one. The course had a quarter mile paved finish
and I knew that if it came down to a drag race I’d be eating dust, so I figured
that I had to create some space. My
three companions were strong going up the hill, but didn’t seem willing to bomb
the descent so I planned make a move at the summit, get a gap and then try to
hold the empty space till the line.
In hindsight this was a bad idea as the top of the hill was
only about one third of the way through the lap, and frankly if I’m strong
enough to ride second, third and fourth off my wheel I shouldn’t be in the Cat
4 race.
At first, however, the plan worked perfectly. I took a few chances on the tight descent
turns and came into the flat hairpins with a bit of a gap (I think that I had a
gap, it’s hard for me to look back during a cross race). At the barriers I was nearly passed by one of
the Leavenworth guys. Now there was my mistake,
I should have relinquished the lead and followed his wheel, but I was feeling
cocky.
I hit the final two turns hot figuring that this might give
me a bit of a lead, and then it was onto the pavement. Dang that finish line was a long ways
away. I tried to temper my efforts,
knowing that I had to leave something in the tank for the line. Perhaps this was another mistake. Perhaps I should have thrown down hard early,
gotten a gap thus forcing the other three to play catch-up. One of the Leavenworth guys came by maybe
fifty feet from the line, I thought, okay cool hold his wheel and come around
at the end. I made my move to come
around on the left and ran into the mystery man passing fast on the
outside. Oh no, the tears were already
in my eyes as Leavenworth #3 passed me on the right. I fought and thought maybe there was a chance
for third, but no dice.
In the entire race the only time that I was more the two
places off the front was in the final two seconds. That stings.
Good thing that there is a race this weekend.
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