FLCC> Cookies dominate as teamates sacrifice themselves

[Sandy and Don Fitterer]

Straight to the good news... Ernie Bayles wows the crowd by winning the combined field of 123's and Masters. Don Sprole finishes 2nd and is the 1st 123. Bill "Rhino" Erickson is 2nd in the Masters field and Mark "Marko Shenstoni" avoids the carnage on lap 11 to finish ahead of local talent Scotty "Pile driver" Hannon. LiLynn is making progress in the women's field and stayed in contact with the peloton significantly longer than last weekend. LiLynn attributes her success to the long rides she does on Saturdays.

I survived. My bike did not. This ends a multi-month discussion with Sandy about whether or not I should buy a new race bike. For the record, I was the one on the fence as to the purchase, not Sandy.

Fortuitously, for Ernie he started his breakaway on the same lap that several riders decided to convert their relatively safe horizontal velocity vector to a far more dangerous and short lived vertical line with gravity providing a very strong influence. I'd been marking Mark most of the race, going to the front of the pack just before the one small hill on the course and then sliding back through the pack conserving energy until Mark would pass me. I would then increase my effort to stay close to Marko. This worked well until the 11th lap when just before the descent metallic noises and shouts of panic emanated from the riders directly in front of me. Marko moved to the left side of the road towards the double yellow. I bore right intending to ride into the grass if bodies started to fly. This was the wrong choice. The rider directly in front of me fell to the right and landed flat on his back with feet pointing towards the edge of the road and his head aiming at the yellow line. Bunny hopping was not an option and I didn't even try to brake. I unclipped both feet, put all my weight on my arms and watched my Zipp wheel slam into his side just above the hips and below his ribs. The bike lost 20mph of forward motion causing the head tube to separate from the rest of the bike. 

I have been swimming lately and was very comfortable being horizontal and hovering over the asphalt. My goal was to reach the grass and minimize road rash. The Total Immersion swimming lessons came in handy; extend the arm, keep head in line with the body, push down on the lungs to raise the hips, lead with the elbow and bring the trailing hand down past the goggles, twist the hips, extend for the wall and execute the flip turn. Bam! I made contact with my back as I rolled, left knee down and then standing up, no worse for the wear. Meanwhile Scotty was creating his nick name by flipping over his handlebars and landing right on top of his 125lb team mate! No road rash for Scotty and his buddy now understands the definition of the WWF pile driver.

The guy I hit lost some flesh on his arm and a 123 racer broke his collar bone. There were pieces of rear derailleur on the road but I am not sure whose bike they came from. Meanwhile, Ernie has 2 companions on a breakaway and I shout encouragement from the sidelines. The main group comes by and slows down to gawk at the carnage. I am sure our delaying tactic contributed to Ernie's win. Scott jumped back into the pack and I clopped along a 1/4 mile to the car. Ernie shelled his two companions and was now on a solo break away. I waved my front wheel and handlebars to show him what happened and earned a smile in return. Again I am sure this contributed to his success by keeping his mind off his own pain.

Don S attacked at the bottom of the hill on the last lap and made it to the finish line seconds behind Ernie and only 2 seconds ahead of the pack sprint. Rhino was only a few places behind Don. 

Mad Dog, Say it ain't so Joe, Stevi Moto and Charles will have to fill you in on their earlier race. Sounds like they had a great train at the end of the race that only needed a few more watts to get them over the line first. 

Please feel free to send checks and money orders to the Fitterer Frame Fund Foundation. All contributions are tax deductable and I promise to register as a charitable organization. Ernie was so impressed with my sacrifice that he was the first to give me $100 (or maybe it was a $10 for gas) and a new set of tire irons.

Cheers,

Don
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