Tuesday night at the races

“At that moment, you have to want it more than anything else”

Tuesday night at the crits started promptly at 5:30p and we had a mixed group of eight riders for the first one. How’s this for a group: A 13 year old State Champ road racer who will be killing us all in a few years, three 40+ Masters guys, and three late 20’s dudes with coaches and high aspirations. That makes 7….check out the 8th guy.

As we came around the start/finish line on lap two, a guy appeared to the right side and I said “hop on!” – as I came around him and he slid on the back I noticed three things of importance. A carbon Scott with full Dura Ace and a sweet Power Tap setup, Landis Cyclery socks (not as in the rat Floyd Landis), and he was overdressed with long tights, a Gore-tex riding jacket and he had a commuter mirror on his helmet. Who is this guy?

As the laps ticked off it was me and JB slugging it out again leading the group, until the guy with the Scott bike took a pull like I haven’t seen before. He led for ¾ of a mile and shelled everyone except for me and JB – we were both hanging on by the gums of our teeth and couldn’t even pull around until he eased off. Sitting behind him at redline, I barely could make out his work badge – D. Miller, WL Gore……this guy is a former pro racer – holds the record for the Snowbowl ascent (27:12 compared to my pedestrian personal best of 38:00) and it turns out he was on his way home (bike commuting) and saw the racing and just decided to hop in. Tail light dangling, seat bag swaying, the whole 9 yards. The three of us came around with one to go and I made a mistake and ended up reluctantly leading out the last lap….D. Miller sat up, and JB made me pay for it and took the sprint. Damn.

D came out with Bodhi and watched race #2 – her observations were spot on regarding bike fits, who was instigating, and who was just surviving. She got a kick out of the testosterone fueled fun-fest and it was cool having her there. I could see her laughing as I came around and I knew she was doing her own Paul Sherwen / Phil Liggett commentary with loads of sarcasm and wit. How could she not, with out hodge-podge group of guys strung out in a A, B, and C level groups as the laps went on. "Oh he's in a spot of bother!" "He's pedaling squares".

Round two started shortly after, and right from the gun I took a solo flyer hoping somebody would bridge up and we could just ride away. Well, you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out – so the guys just followed the pro…. and after 1.5 miles of solo work dangling only 150 yards off the front, I wasn’t gaining any ground. 15 minutes left in the crit – no way I could keep that pace up, so I sat up and waited for the group. They swept me up like a commercial vacuum, and a couple of other guys took pulls while I watched JB closely. Wrong guy to watch - as the pro attacked from the back and was 20 yards clear before I could say “shit shit we’re f*cked!”. Me and JB took off and turned ourselves inside out to catch the pro. We got to within 10 yards, he looked back and surged again - I deflated as fast as a popped balloon….until I saw Aram.

Aram was dropped a couple laps back and as the pro went by him, I screamed ‘drill it!’ – Aram did as soon as we caught on, and he put in a 30 second max effort that put us back on the pro’s wheel. Totally not happenin’ in a real race, but for the sake of survival, we needed the pull. I tapped Aram on the back out of thanks – shit I would have given him a big man hug if I’d have had time. So, there I sat until three laps to go when I set myself up properly to beat JB to the line. The pro gave a half hearted attempt at the sprint and coasted in behind us. He wasn’t going to pip us at the line his first time out he said – cool move I thought.

The pro upped our average pace to 25.5mph, and overall jacked my aerobic output by 5%. Shit, I thought I was already on the limit the two or three weeks before. It’s incredible what you can do if you are pushed and if you want it more than anything else. D. Miller is a totally humble guy. He said he appreciated the work, and would come back again. He doesn’t race anymore and he could fry us Cat 3,4,5 guys after maybe a couple weeks of training – hell, if he really wanted to he could smoke us next week if he just showed up without his commuting clothes. It was awesome though, to see a 150 pound dude just shell most of our group. I gave everything I had to win race #2 and felt damn good last night as I passed out.