Dave’s Cold Spring Report
Posted on 03. May, 2010 by ernesto in Uncategorized
This was my first ever race, so my goals were pretty modest. I wanted to finish and not die in a 40 bike pile up of my own creation. Some one else’s crash is okay, as long as I didn’t cause it. Hao would never let me live it down. I had pre ridden the course the week before and felt pretty confident I was ready for whatever the race might bring my way. At the rollout I was up front with Ian, Yan, and Hao and as usual, although I clip in with no problem a thousand times, when it’s on the line, I kicked my pedal on the way in and by the time I was going, I found myself back in the back with the other newbies. This is definitely NOT where you want to be as we had our first incident in the neutral zone. For no reason I could see, every one performed a “brake check” complete with locked up tires and swearing (me). As we got going in the race, I could find no good way to the front – too many bikes, so I floated back to the back to stay out of trouble, hang on and see what developed later. If I missed a break, so be it, I lost it at the roll out. Given the course, an early break probably wouldn’t last anyway. I found the ride at the back to be like an easy spin. No effort at all to keep up, and I got to see some fairly stupid people that make me look like an expert. First time through the hills, I found I could move up any time I wanted and I watched as people blew out the back pretty much constantly. After the second time past the finish, things had thinned out considerably and I could see Hao drifting backwards. I thought, “How cool would it be to finish ahead of Hao in my first race, and then relentlessly haze him about it?” About the same time, I saw gaps forming where I could move up to just behind the lead group. I decided I would use the last set of hills to move up and either run off the front on the flat part and make everyone work, and maybe help the team, or save it for the last hills and see if I could be in it at the end. My legs felt great, and I had plently left in the tank. Next hill, the gap opened up again, and I took off. Now, you can sprint, then shift, or you can shift, and then sprint. I chose another route. I stood up, shifted to the small ring, and jumped on the pedals in one motion that blew my chain off in spastic convulsion of ineptitude. Fortunately everyone missed me, including Ruberti in the follow car. Thanks James, nice of you to honk. It did happen right as I passed Hao, and I’m sure he had nothing to do with it. Really. I got the chain back on in one smooth motion, but left it in the big ring and couldn’t get going on the hill. By the time I sorted it out, the pack was gone. I rode wide open trying to catch, and was making up some ground but not enough. Then Yan put the hammer down and they were gone for good. Ended up 45th and feel pretty good about the effort. Would have liked to have been there at the finish, just to see how I measured up and maybe help with the team victory. Congratulations to Ian for a fantastic race. I never saw him or Yan after the rollout. He was at the very front all day. In the end, I wanted to take the measure of my training, and hoped I was fit enough to belong in the race. I felt great and didn’t come close to my limit. So many guys went by me backward wheezing and crying that I think I belong. I’m looking forward to more training and will try again at Chappel Hill. Thanks to James, Hao, Ian, Sean and everyone else for showing me the ropes and your words of encouragement. Like Ian, I look forward to the ride on Sunday’s and hanging out with a good group of guys.
PS: Embro rulz! I don’t care what Hao thinks.
