The morning of Apple Pie was very wet. We left the motel early and headed down
to the race course for a nice early start.
The junior race was the first race of the day at 8:00. When we got there it was
pouring, so we set up the awning that was in the back of the van to put our trainers
under. I met up with Ben, my new teamate on AMD Discovery Channel and he came to warm
up with Heath ( my Alta Alpina teamate ) and I. About halfway through our warmup we
were already wet from the wind and the leaks in the awning. The only good news was it
was somewhat warm out because, after all, it's California.
Junior roll-out, one lap of the course, then to the startline. When the whistle
went off it was a typical junior start, meaning the first three laps were the speed
of a Pro 1,2 race!
Coming out of the first corner there was an attack from Taylor and Alex, ( both
Davis Bike Club ),Ben and one rider from Team Swift. You would think that on the first lap of a 45 minute race the first break wouldn't hold, plus I had my teamate
in it, so I just sat and waited for the counter from Davis when it came back.
But they actually ended up staying away. By two laps they had 12 seconds. By the end of the fourth lap they were out of sight around the next corner. As soon as we couldn't see them anymore, Zack and Edon ( both Davis ) started taking turns attacking the group to try to bridge up to their teamates up the road in the break.
The chase group had been whittled down to a few guys, three of them being Davis riders. I knew I wouldn't get much help from the others in the group so I had to chase down the attacks myself. It's really hard to pull back a rider off the front, then have another one rocket away and have to do the same thing over again.
Back and forth they went over and over again, just wearing us down, while up ahead Ben was getting screwed. Davis was taking turns attacking Ben and the Swift rider. Ben told me after the race that after chasing down the attacks from Davis, the Team Swift guy attacked the group. Obviously after covering Taylor and Alex, he had nothing and so got dropped.
Dad yelled at me from the sidelines that Ben was off, so I pretty much finished myself by getting to the front and getting to Ben as fast as I could, so as to not have him out in the wind. We got up to him and , of course, there was a counter attack from Zack. Heath helped to bring him back, then Ben and I started rotating to
try and get the break back which was like 37 seconds or so.
Zack wasn't getting to the front to try and stall our work but he definately
made me work to grab Ben's wheel when he came around me. I would go to move in and get pushed back out. Everytime I finished at the front I would have to fight for that wheel. He really made me work for it.
After a couple of laps of that, ( we still weren't gaining ground on the break )
Zack put in a really hard attack. I was totally done and Ben had to pull it back. I tried to chase in the wind, so I thought I would wait for them to come around again then jump back on.
So 20 seconds later here comes Alex and Taylor working together perfectly and flying. Crap! All that wasted effort just so they could lap us.
When they came back around I got back on and pretty much sat the rest of the race.
Davis Bike Club had made a leadout train for 4th place and were all at the front so I just stayed at the back for the last couple of laps. I did try to bring Heath back up to Ben's wheel for the sprint when he got gapped but he couldn't stay and I was hurting all over, so I was just looking foreward to finishing.
After the last turn they started sprinting and I was popped. Ben killed them for fourth but you could tell they didn't care. They had got 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th and 7th.
It was fun but really friking hard. It really emphasized the importance of team work. Davis worked perfectly as a team and they scored the win. We were definately
out numbered and worked but it was a learning experience.
Did I mention it was raining the whole time?
No comments:
Post a Comment