M7 Racing Team

2010 Fort Davis Race Report

Posted on 14. Apr, 2010 by ernesto in Uncategorized

This year, we had 4 racers competing (Adolfo, Yan, Dan, and I).  Adolfo was in the 40+ and the rest were in the 35+ 4/5.  Among the 4, only Adolfo and I devote ourtraining geared solely towards bike racing.  Yan and Dan call themselves triathlon Ironmans.  In fact, Yan has never been in a sanctioned bike race.  Of course, as a good teammate, I offered Yan my wisdom on bike racing and preparation.

We all arrived at the Hotel Limpia (Dr. Jones House) on Friday afternoon.  We proceeded to do a light spin before picking up our packet and eating.  Adolfo told us what we eat is important as our fuel for tomorrow morning; not necessarily the breakfast.  Well, after we picked up our packet, we realized that everything closed.  We found a store attendant leaving and begged him to let us in.  We ran around the store to buy food for dinner.  The store attendant estimated the food cost and we paid in cash with a small tip.

After our delicious sandwich, we began our preparation.  Yan decided to fix his rear derailleur by bending the arm straight following his crash earlier in the week.  He also changed cassettes after us telling him that a 11-23 would not fly with a 17% gradient climb.  This whole time, Adolfo would not look at us.  Dan too began fixing his bike.  (I know what ya’ll are thinking – damn triathletes).

Saturday morning was a beautiful, 50 degree and sunny start at 9:15 am.  I instilled more wisdom before we started by telling them don’t crack in the climbs but ride within your limits.  I was going to shepard them through the climb.  The first 10 miles were the warm up with only rolling hills before the foothills and 6 miles of climbing.  I thought to myself that my poor triathlete teammates would suffer tremendously. 

At the foothills, we began to climb and I saw Dan and Yan going backwards.  I said to myself, oh my poor friends.  After the first climb I saw the leading group about 20 yards in front.  I felt good and said hell, I will just ride up to them.  As we started the second climb, I was moving along when all of a sudden, my heart spiked and it felt as if my lungs would explode.  I said to myself, oh shit, I’m cracking at which point, I slowed down, naturally.

Low and behold, I see Dan pass me.  Then, I see Yan pass me.  As I was struggling to breathe and hyperventilating, Yan tells me something like “this is tough” as he was riding past me.  All I could remember is wishing that I had something to throw at him.  I started seeing them becoming smaller and smaller up the climb.  I kept thinking why didn’t they slow down and pace me back up like Lance in Paris-Nice?  After the first stage, the triathletes got 4 minutes on me.  Okay, the race is on now.

Then, came the 16-mile TT in the afternoon.  I was prepared this year to be aerodynamic.  My rear wheel had covers.  I had a front Zipp 404.  I had an aero helmet (thanks Gore).  I even had shoe covers.  I had the best TT ever, passing 4 guys.  I though that Dan and Yan was not going to get a lot of minutes on me and I could make it up on the 3rd stage.  Well, that went to hell.  Both triathletes got 5 minutes more on my as they finished around 42 mintues.  At this point, Dan was in 12th overall and Yan right behind him.  I was a respectable 34.

The last stage was a 34-mile climb route back through the Observatory down the canyon and back out.  My legs felt good and I was going to make back 9 minutes on them.  I thought of Floyd Landis.  The only problem was that I only had Rapid Recharge (protein powder) and other legal substances.  We started the 10-mile warm up and now I see Yan in the middle of the pack, talking to other racers as if he has been in the peloton for years.  Dan was stuck to his side.  At the foothills, we began our climb and the Ironmans began to pull away.  I was not going to crack again so it was a bad groundhog day.  I found 3 other guys and finished the race.  I heard Yan pulled away from Dan and make up the 40-second deficit to take the lead.

Yan ended up 10th, Dan at 12th and me at 26th.  Yan called the race a “girly ride.”  I propose that M7 membership should only be for pure bike racers and not triathletes. It was a lot of fun and I am proud of my fellow teammates.  One racer said that we surprised him because “guys from Houston aren’t suppose to climb well.”  Dan and Yan are definitely billy goats.