Verge NECCS #10 Cycle-Smart International Race Report

Elite
Saturday 20th/52

So what was left today? After a night spent in Cambridge where I reloaded calories and took an ice bath, it was back to the scene of the crime. It’s hard to say whether I was actually fatigued or whether I was just trying to convince myself I was; a perfect alibi for a lackluster performance. Fact is I was not superpsyched to race. But the weather was phenomenal and course conditions were as pristine as the day before so at the very least, I told myself it’s a great day for a ride!
I spun a few laps again. The course had a similar feel but the sand trap and off-camber climb were significant fixtures this time. We rode the entire length of the sand and it was difficult not to get bogged down by the end. The climb was totally rideable. But a cleverly placed s-turn just ahead of it limited your ability to get good speed heading into it. I planned to drop to the middle ring. The legs felt OK, but my warmup was lackadaisical aiding me in my plan to use fatigue as an excuse.
The big question was, what was the start going to be like? To my surprise, it was set up exactly the same as yesterday. I joked with Adam Craig at the line (he was a row behind me, again!) how he missed the previous day’s wreck. He said he wanted to talk with everyone before the start and stress to chill out. Well, before he really got the chance, an announcement was made there was a $200 preme for the first lap leader! So much for rational thinking. Throw money at some starving pros and it’s a dog eat dog world. Thankfully I was not wearing my milkbone kit!
Sure enough, the whistle blew and it was a gongshow. I was 2nd row in the middle with my hands in the drops ready for powerful braking. I had some room and just worked my way through the gears. I heard some commotion but never laid eyes on what occurred. Colin has the video from the crash. Everything must have went down right behind me because as I rounded the first turn desperately trying to hold on the Sexual Camel’s wheel, there weren’t too many blokes behind me. I couldn’t believe my fortune! In fact, I was so elated I forgot there was a race going on and I was missing out on the train ahead of me. Crap those guys are fast! I was quickly the caboose and gaps formed out of every turn. Whether it was lack of legs, cardio, or bike handling, I was going nowhere but backwards. I think I was actually telling myself to go into conservative mode rather than capitalize on my start and bury myself for a few laps.
Either way, despite the encouragement from Nathaniel Ward to “close that gap,” I was soon in no-man’s land for the first couple of complete laps. At some point I connected with Wayne Bray and I rode behind him but never close enough to benefit from a draft. This was really dumb riding on my part. Then I started noticing a colorful trio in the turns. John Burns (unlucky DNF the day before : read fresh legs!), Dave Wilcox and Colin were working to reel us in. apparently we all ride the same speed because the names were all the usual suspects from the day before! I checked their time gap for a couple of laps and realized they were closing. Wayne must have sensed this before I as he virtually sat up and let me by. At this point I made a commitment to go hard and see if I could at least maintain my distance solo. At my time check in the upper section they were even closer so I knew the gig was up. I wouldn’t say I let them bridge up, but I will say I couldn’t go any faster. So I hopped on the train. Burns did his share of work but it looked like Wayne was really the strongest of the group. After the climb with a few to go, Burns Wayne and I put a bit of distance on Colin and Dave somehow. I spurred the boys on but it was not meant to be. Colin and Dave were right back on. We rode around as a pretty fluid unit for the remaining laps and minds started shifting to how the final lap would play out. I felt pretty confident I would have something if it came down to a sprint finish as the group riding was a bit easier than my solo efforts. The monkey wrench in my plans was the sand pit. I lost touch with the guys every lap. I consistently entered it way too slowly and exited barely turning the pedals over. Colin I knew was killing it! My only hope for earning a gap to the finish was for some kind of entanglement to occur that didn’t include me. Thus, my plan was to run the pit the final time. I dismounted right at the entrance and to my delight watched Wayne go head over heels! He righted himself quickly and was still out of the pit ahead of me, but had bike issues and I got by. Unfortunately, my plan was slow and the trio got ahead of me eliminating me from a sprint possibility. Colin capitalized on his advantage out of the sand and went on to finish first in our group followed by Wilcox who rode Burns’ wheel until the last second. I was content to have won my “sprint” out of the sand by beating Wayne by one spot for the 2nd day in a row.
I was thrilled to have made the top-20. I felt a little regret for not having delivered a better finish to coincide with a good start. But once the results are in, who knows how it came about and who cares?! I’ll take the points and $ and run, err, ride!
Got a couple of weeks off, then I hope I can squeeze the Sterling races in around Drake’s hockey tournament. Until then, I’m enjoying the nice fall riding, but really starting to hate the training!