FLCC> Bristol race report - from the back

[Sandy and Don Fitterer]

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, it was cool and windy, which makes any race tough. Add to the mix that Stevie Moto, the Rhino, Ernesto, and the Hawaii kid (aka Glenn) all signed up for the 45+. My goal quickly went from dreaming of a "in the money" finish to stay with the lead pack for the first lap. The race start-finish line was changed to a park used for the ESG race  located on the original course but now on a straight away after a pretty fast descent. 

I loaded up for 50+ miles of racing by carrying 4 water bottles and 4 GUs, wanting to make sure that I didn't bonk or cramp. I looked over the competitors in my group and realized that all these guys were serious about bike racing and winning. The promoter does not provide any food and our race had no pace car or wheel car. It is a far cry from the feeling and spirit of Hollenbecks. The course itself is excellent, containing some difficult hills and long exposed flats. 

My group took off 20 minutes after the 1-2's and we rode at a Sunday ride pace for about a mile before one guy took off. No one got too excited but eventually several guys went to the front and closed the gap down on our solo rider just before the 1st hill. Again, the pace was not too bad and I was near the front ready to slide back and hopefully maintain contact. Egypt Hill Rd was a different matter. It is about 3 miles long with some steep sections that make it easy to shell people. Sure enough, when Glenn and another fellow went to the front I was off the back of the lead group. 

I had company and there were 4 of us that started to work together to try and catch back on. One of them was a friend of mine named Tim who I rode with at Bloomfield two weeks earlier. I figured that I'd stay with these guys and that we'd hook back up on the flats. No joy there. I was having a tough time just riding in the pace line. I could draft fine but the turns at the front were coming too quickly for me to recover and I finally just let them go rather than just suck wheel. Once we started up the hills I was more comfortable. I am not sure if it was because I slowed down or how riding up hill was less boring than riding on the flats. 

My first clue  that less effort was why I was feeling better was when the Cat5 leaders went by. In that group were 2 masters riders and I hooked up with them. Again, on the flats, at the start of lap 3, I couldn't recover after my turn pulling. Again, I let them go. Now I was bummed. I never get dropped on the flats! I almost turned around and rode back to the car instead of finishing the last lap. I rationalized that this was now training time and even though I wasn't going to finish well I could still salvage a good workout from the experience. I had 11 miles to ride so I drank as much water as I could hold and ate another GU. I started counting pedal strokes to pass the time and to stop thinking about my discomfort. I then changed the numbers to letters, spelling out the names of my competitors that weren't racing and how I was going to be stronger than them because my efforts now. E-D-D-I-E-L-U-B-A-N-M-A-R-K-S-H-E-N-S-T-O-N-E-M-I-K-E-T-E-R-S-E-G-N-O, etc, etc! 

I am not sure what happened but two more masters riders caught me just before the big hill on the final lap and I let them go. As we started to climb I caught them pretty quickly. I noticed that both were breathing pretty hard and I wasn't. I increased my pace and one rider disappeared. The other stayed on my wheel but did not pass me. As we crested I shifted up and started to cruise. The guy on my wheel traded pulls with me and we caught up to another masters rider. We worked together and as we went up Egypt Hill Rd those two guys fell back. Up ahead were about 10 or 15  riders struggling up the steep pitches in front of me. I steadily picked riders off and then noticed that I was catching the two masters riders that had dropped me on the flats. I pushed hard past the first one to make sure that he wouldn't jump on my wheel. He didn't. I tried the same trick with the 2nd fellow (an OCC rider) but he hooked right onto my wheel. I held a steady pace until the final pitch and then jumped hard to see if he would go with me. Success! I got away and now it was time to go fast on the flats. I could see one more rider ahead of me and I did my best to catch him. I felt great compared to how I felt on the first two laps and was just a few seconds behind my rabbit as I crossed the line. 

I wish I could figure out why I felt so bad at the beginning of the race and how to convert some of that 3rd lap surge to anaerobic efforts on the 1st lap to stay with the main group. Oh well, it is still early in the season. Hopefully Glenn with write something about what the race looked like from the front. Steve hung on and didn't cramp this time. Bill had a good race but was just behind the lead group. Bill said that Ernie went into a glycogen depleted fugue and was last seen riding past the finish line heading towards Buffalo. Cracker Jack Rueckheim stayed rubber side up in the CAT5s and was almost a non-competitor because of a lack of an annual license. Peter Blenkiron was a leader of the chase peloton and was able to organize his group into an efficient pace line. LiLynn did well and was able to stay with a group. Li sacrificed herself and pulled in a Mission in Motion rider that crashed after a wild Australian sheep dog (named Millie) escaped and ran across the road and clipped the MiMo's front wheel. LiLynn even let the woman sprint by at the end of the race to avoid a possible lawsuit. 

Oh, and by the way Don Sproel finished 2nd in the CAT3 race or the 12 race, I am not sure which. Doug Carlson (or Carl Douglason, he'll answer to either) also race but I am not sure how he did.

I was asked later that day whether I had fun. I have thought about this question for quite a while and it is not an easy answer. I enjoyed the time I spent with Bill and Glenn in the car and I enjoyed the fact that my Zipp wheel did not fail at 50mph and I enjoyed the last 15 minutes of the race. The rest I did not have fun. Even though the promoter used timing chips results were not available below the top 10. I realize I am not a competitive enough cyclist to do well at this race and since it is so oriented towards results I probably won't race Bristol again. 

I hope others will write about their experiences.

Cheers,

Don
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