FLCC> Tuesday Night As

[mgarcia at borgwarner.com]

I was going to post a race report but Glenn beat me to it,
so I'll just throw in a few comments.

> Visiting bike-god Danny T floated up to them, and I 
> figured I 
> better get on that bus, so I motored up as fast as I could 
> get there. Jake 
> suddenly vanished leaving Ano and me with Danny. Ano noted, 
> "Hmmmm...I've 
> played this scenario more than a few times."  Danny makes it 
> look so easy 
> that you tend to kill yourself trying to keep up with him. 
> This has led 
> more than a few guys to their deaths as they go too hard and 
> blow up. Ano 
> and I stayed within ourselves (just barely) forcing Danny to 
> wait if he 
> wanted our company. 

I felt like this was a familiar scenario - getting in a break
up Ellis Hollow (or Hurd) with Glenn and Danny (or Trevor) and 
then hanging on for dear life to the finish.  So I perused the 
list archives and found at least three old race reports with very 
similar plots.

http://icycle.org/pipermail/flcc_icycle.org/2007-June/003851.html
http://icycle.org/pipermail/flcc_icycle.org/2006-September/003082.html
http://icycle.org/pipermail/flcc_icycle.org/2006-July/002790.html

> Ano's one 
> functioning brain cell misfired at the turn-off from 79 to 
> Ellis Hollow the 
> 2nd time and he rode straight by it.

In fact my one functioning brain cell was remembering one of those 
aforementioned scenarios from the pink slipper a few years ago when, 
in a similar situation, I blew up (or gave up?) at the base of Snyder 
and got caught by the bunch right before the finish.  I resolved to 
stick with it this time and try to hang on up Snyder ... except 
we weren't finishing up Snyder, we were finishing up Ringwood!  
Oops!!  Exit fantasy mode, enter reality. I slammed on the brakes, 
thinking I was going to be riding by myself now.  Luckily for me, 
Danny and Glenn were generous enough to let me catch back on before 
ramping the pace back up.

I was a little bit demoralized, knowing we had an extra climb 
or two to go before the finish.  But I couldn't bail now.  
Still no one in sight behind us.  Now it was just a mind game 
with myself to keep the effort level up until the end.
Kind of like the movie "What About Bob?" (you youngsters can
google it if you haven't seen it) ... baby steps up 
Ellis Hollow ... baby steps up to the bridge on Ringwood ... 
baby steps up to the top of Ringwood ....

> I was a bit uncomfortable, and even considering 
> that If Ano 
> played his cards right he might score a victory on the 
> Observatory Slopes 
> and overcome his mental barrier. But as we rolled over the 
> top and into the 
> final dip and climb Ano let his head take over and said 
> something to the 
> effect of "leading you guys out", meaning that he had already 
> lost in his head. 

Well I did notice that Glenn's pace slowed a bit up Midline but
I thought it would be kind of unsporting, not to mention dorky,
to try to put in a little attack when 1) Danny had clearly slowed
to our pace the entire ride and 2) he and Glenn had waited for me
after I missed the turn.  Not to mention that I sucked wheel pretty
much the whole time on the flats. Playing fair or defeatist 
attitude?  Maybe a little of both.  I never get accused of being
over-confident, that's for sure.  Let me know what you think.

Anyway, third behind Glenn and Danny is no shame to my mind.
This is the first Ringwood night this year when I have found the 
tenacity and energy to push hard all the way until the finish, 
(or at least until the finishing sprint), so I got a much-needed 
self-confidence boost ahead of Empire State Games in a few weeks.
Hopefully there will be more good things to write about soon.

Good luck to those racing at Fitchburg and hope to be there next week!

-Ano