They say all good things must come to an end, but apparently
all bad things get to come to and end eventually too. So it was with the 2013 road racing season for
me. Compared to last season’s 61
starts, my 18 starts this year make it seem like I hardly raced at all. Of course, if you race 3 times as many races
in a season, you have 3 times as many chances for podium finishes, so the fact
that I hadn’t found my way into a podium spot this year wasn’t terribly
depressing to me. I thought about it,
but after suffering through the first few events of the season, I was well
aware of the fact that I was best suited to try to just survive races this year. And being in less than desirable shape, I
rode each race with the mindset of doing whatever I could do to help my
teammates early in the race because I didn’t figure I would be around to help
them in the end.
Up until September, the highlight of my racing season was
the
McKeesport Criterium. With 2 laps to go, the pace slowed down a little bit
as people tried to jockey for the right wheel or to set themselves up in an
ideal position. So I made a split second
decision and I went to the front and
lifted the pace going into turn 3 and dug deep and buried myself for as long as
I could. I wasn’t trying to breakaway
form the field but rather just string
the field out, thereby making it difficult for anybody to advance, if they had
made the mistake of staying in the back to draft their way to a podium
finish. I knew Jerry was in the top 5
spots so I just went as long as I could with a solid pull. When I finally
flicked my elbow coming out of turn 2 on the final lap, Jerry was sitting in 3
rd spot and the field was a 20+ rider long string. I tried
to stay on and finish with the field but I was seeing stars and unable to grab
the last wheel and just had to watch
them ride away to the finish. Jerry had
attacked the next corner, separated himself from the front and carried it home
to the finish for his first ever win on the road. While Jerry had to be in good
enough shape to win, I took a certain amount of pride just thinking that I had
increased his odds by putting some of the strong riders out of contention
because they chose the wrong strategy for THAT race on that day. m
 |
| Stringing it out for Jerry (sitting second wheel) |
And although I tried on several attempts during the rest of
the year to have an impact on the outcome of the race, it just never worked out. I was out of shape and was usually off the
back before we got to the halfway point, and almost always by the time they got
to the deciding moment of the race. I spent a lot of time riding to the finish
by myself. And given my competitive
personality, I refused to ever quit or even take it easy during a race. Even
being in DFL and minutes behind the peloton, I always pushed myself to continue
on at my maximum sustainable effort. I
always figured that even if I wasn’t able to race with the leaders, there was
no reason I shouldn’t feel like I had
raced with the leaders.
So when I signed up for the
Appalachian Bicycle RacingAssociation’s Appalachian Time Trial in Rowlesburg WV, I did so with a desire
to just finish the 16 miles and not get passed by my 1 minute man. As it turned
out, JR was short volunteers so I told him if he moved me to the last rider, I
would volunteer in the start area by being the holder of the bikes. So, as soon as he accepted my offer to help,
I had effectively guaranteed that I wouldn’t get caught. Yay me! And after the last individual rode
off, I changed my shoes, grabbed a drink of water, donned my helmet, and got
ready to ride. Without a proper warmup,
I decided to take the first mile or two easy and then pour whatever I had in
the tank into the last 14 miles. I got a
new Garmin since the last time I had ridden the TT bike and had forgotten to
update the mount, so I couldn’t even watch the miles tick off, monitor my heart
rate, or even watch my average and current speed. I was just going to have to
listen to my body and let it tell me what I needed to know. I pushed it when I felt like I was going too
easy and let up when my eyesight started to blur. I rolled across the finish
line and went for a short cooldown spin.
I got changed and headed over to the podium area to help Gina keep
things running smoothly. When results go posted, I went to check out how far
down I was and started from the bottom up.
I was starting to think that they had missed me until I saw my name in
first place, one spot above teammate JR Petsko.
Woot Woot! My first podium of the year.
Two weekends later, I headed out to Canton, OH to spend the
weekend with Teammate Billy Bearclaw. We
rode the singlespeeds on Saturday and headed up to Deerfield, OH to take part
in the final
Eastern Ohio Time Trial Series event. I was competing in the 40+
and Billy was in the 30+. He was also signed up to do the stoker category with
his daughter Addie Girl. After the recent success, I knew better than to expect
a miracle to happen twice. I warmed up but put the Garmin in my pocket and
decided to approach the race with the same frame of mind from the previous
race. I took it easy out of the block
and then ramped it up in the final 10 miles. I felt happy with my performance,
especially when I caught my 1 and 2 minute men by the turnaround. Upon finishing, Billy met me and begged me to
ride with a girl he knew who had planned on doing the 2 man team but couldn’t
because her boyfriend had snapped his crank off when he started. I was already tapped out but because she
needed her fourth and final start to wrap up the series championship. I agreed
if she promised not to be mad at me if I just let her ride off if I couldn’t
hang on. As it was, we were matched really well. It took a few rotations but
soon we were chewing up the real estate between us and our minute markers.
th fastest time overall.
I also had the pleasure of watching Billy standing on the top step in
his age division as well. He swept the series and was crowned champion of the
series. Then, he and Addie claimed the top time in the stoker division and
secured the series championship as well.
But the highlight for me may have been when the results were called and I was called to the
podium , tied for third place in the two man teams. We were the only M/F team to make it on the
podium so it was like we won the coed division if it had existed.
By the time we hit the turn, I was
feeling “IT” in a good way and was
taking longer and longer pulls at the front. I’d pull off at the bottom of the
climbs and follow her to the top but then forced myself around her and hammered
down the straightaways. I kept looking
between my legs to make sure I still had her front wheel on my back and I just
kept cranking if I did. Next roller, I would let her take her turn because
otherwise Id pull off from her without trying to. We rolled across the finish
and this time I was completely spent. I made it back to the vehicle and didn’t
even bother to cool down. I started
braking the bike down and putting it in the car so Billy couldn’t talk me into
riding the 30 miles to his home. NO CHANCE of that happening. When the awards ceremony came, I surprisingly
took the top spot again. I didn’t know anyone
else in my age division so I wasn’t sure how strong they were so I was shocked
when they called my name. I grabbed my team jacket and smiled for the little
birdy. I was even more surprised when the results were posted online that I had
the 5
I guess all those miles of pushing myself to keep chasing
the peloton during the rest of the road races helped me finish the season on a
positive note. It probably didn’t hurt
that cross season was under way and maybe a lot of those tough guys were
already off playing in the mud. That time would come soon enough for me but Im
glad I held off a few more weeks on the road and finished the season 2 for 2 in
time trials this season. Maybe the season wasn't as bad as I first thought, and I guess in the end it turned out pretty good, but unfortunately, it too must come to an end as well.
