El Bobo de Pueblo

A Simple Sign (the wrong sign) Proved My Tragic Undoing Tonite

OK folks, we had two Lake Travis Cycling members out at the Driveway tonite (3 including me). How about that, race fever is catching.

Confidence-wise I didn’t have alot going for me at the Driveway tonite. I’m coming off the worst week of form I’ve had on my bike this year. I was late getting out of the house, I left my water bottles in the freezer (Holly gave me a freebie just before my race), I thought I left a part of the PA system at home (turns out I didn’t), it was the super-short top course (which I can’t stand) and it was 103 degrees. I had mentally resigned myself to the fact that I would certainly be dropped by the pack and hoped to keep from getting lapped by the leaders. Boy thats the mind of a winner ! I was warming up constantly asking myself “am I up to this”, “can I hang tonite”.

I started on the outside front row and quickly slotted in at 3rd. The 4/5 race was by far the biggest field of the night. Rode about 2 laps in 3rd wheel and passed the no. 2 guy in a corner and beat him back to the front wheel to slot in at 2nd. Was actually feeling really good. The line was stretched out single file so people weren’t sneaking up to go 2-3 wide in the turns. About lap 5 the puller wanted a break and I wasn’t going to the front, so were passed on the start/finish stretch by about 5 riders. I slotted back in, after some work to find a hole (no one was giving anything), and stayed in the drops and maintained a short draft whenever I could. On this lap, on the start/finish stretch I heard a scrape and a crash and knew someone went down. I didn’t know how many and I didn’t know that the accident had caused a split in the field. By about 21 minutes into the race I was still positioned in the 1st 15 and in, what I didn’t know was, the lead group, gaining spots in the turns and losing them back at the end of the short straights. This is where I spotted the 1 to go sign.

Now I thought, hmmm. 22 minutes racing, one lap to go, I’m in about 15-16 and I feel pretty OK (I’m at about 182 bpm). I’m gonna really push this lap and try and get some points. So I stood thru the start/finish and got to second wheel, but outside and not in the line. This gave me an inside right turn, but an outside on the 180. I got punked on the 180 and lost about 6 spots to guys slamming it on the inside, I didn’t have a wheel and was pushing air. Stood again thru the crowd section and hit the frontside S’s in about 8th-10th. Came out of the turn and ducked my head and buried it and lost one spot to Brad at ATC.

I thought, man I think I just scored some points. I sat up at the finish and everyone rolled by. Then they started cranking thru the next corner all still in a line. I was thinking, what’s going on, it’s over guys. I started soft -peddling and the another pack came by me. I still hadn’t snapped to the reality the race was still on. I rolled back to the start finish and yelled, “it was one to go, why are they still racing”. The Judge yelled back, it’s still 2 to go, see the card. You looked at the wrong card”. I had looked at the wrong card. There is big card at the start/finish that says “1″, but it has something to do with the race cars. I looked at that sign instead of the real sign. What a moron. Chalk that one up to pure stupidity.

I rolled off the course as the race finished, feeling like the idiot I was. More foolishly, I was working pretty well all race. I still don’t think I would have been top 10, but certainly a top 20 pack finish and with different groups all over off the back. So….. I AM a moron, but I take from this night the fact I do have some of my form back and was comnpetitive for what I thought was the whole race.

Also, I’m beginning to like the short course. After so many nights racing at the Driveway this year (13), my cornering skills are much better, add to that the Zipp tubulars and I am passing like crazy on the inside line on almost every turn. If it is single file, I’m able to cut the turn tighter and still continue peddling thru the turn, so that I don’t have to stand and deliver coming out to stay on the wheel. So I’m getting more rest than I had in the past when I had to jump out of the turns and dig for a wheel. Folks, tubulars do turn better than clinchers. No doubt about it. They hold a magnificent line and maintain speed thru the turn better. That combined with the light weight of my bike (14.7 lbs.) allows me to hang with guys stronger and better than me. Though to win, you need to have an engine, equipment can be a bit of an equalizer for the mid-packer.

Ezell capped his 1st Driveway showing of the year by pulling his AT&T boys (and the whole pack) back to a pretty solid break in the 3/4′s. AT&T finished 3 in the top 5 thanks to James strong effort. Nice debut !