For one reason or the other I haven't had the opportunity of racing this fun and well organized race in Kankakee IL, hosted by the South Chicago Wheelmen.
The forecast wasn't looking pretty on the drive down but dry or wet I felt ready to race and didn't give it much thought after that.
The Cobb park course is pretty straight forward, two tight corners and a sweeping right hand turn headed into the finish. The wet conditions did cause some hesitation around the first two corners and a serious avoidance of the manhole covers in the last turn (not a good line anyway).
The race started with a nice mix of familiar riders, not a big field but at least 3 teams had more than two riders so odds of a break staying away with the proper representation were good.
The first lap of the race was pretty slow followed by a number of predictable solo fliers off the front that were quickly brought back into the fold. I watched a couple of these fliers and thought to myself "well that was dumb" and no less than 2 min later I felt inspired and did the same stupid thing! Why would I take a flier off the front when the group is doing 30+ and has the whole road to chase me down? Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Side note: what’s the difference between a flier and an attack? (in my opinion) a flier is a half ass attempt to get off the front solo that both the rider and group know has a snowballs chance in hell of surviving. On the other hand an "attack" is a sold out, gut wrenching effort that makes the field think twice about whether or not they are ever going to see you again. One of these techniques I have mastered, can you guess?
Back to the race...
I have been fortunate to make the break in my last 2 races so I knew getting off the front was only going to happen with the right group of riders.
Finally, around 30 min into the race Dustin got on the front of the group and gassed the pace for half a lap or so just enough to string out the group on the narrow back side of the course (perfect). I was getting ready to make my best attempt at an "attack" since Dustin perfectly strung out the field and did it where the whole group couldn’t see the move. However, an Enzo's rider beat me too it (even more perfect) and attacked from a couple wheels in front of me.
Since the Enzo's boys have a lot of firepower in the ranks attacking with one will keep the others off the chase for hopefully long enough to establish a break. Three of us (Enzo’s and Bike Heaven) got a small gap off the front mostly thanks to the lack of immediate chase since I didn’t think were really pushing hard enough to get a good gap.
Two laps later it was down to a Bike Heaven (BH) rider and I. Here I was again, in a break that was barely off the front and holding a dangerously small time gap on the field.
Two options are now on the table, work work work and stay off the front with the help of my teammates blocking or play the game that the BH rider started immediately of sucking my wheel. Is it that flipping obvious that I am willing to kill myself to stay off the front instead of playing cat and mouse and getting caught? b/c the BH rider was acting as if I had “sucker” written across my forehead.
After getting my brunt requests for equal work stonewalled by BH I took stock of my legs and felt confident that I could do the work to stay away and still get a result.
With a few laps left a 6 man chase bridged the gap and got into the mix, however not a one of them was willing or able to put in the effort needed to keep the now 6-7 rider break away from the charging group. To give credit where credit is due, a couple of them did rotate thru even if they should have been sitting in for a possible sprint. So I was back on the front and pulling the group around as our gap was continuing to shorten.
Going into the last lap I was plotting my strategy knowing that it was very likely the group would catch us before the last turn. With that in mind I was planning to jump the field early and leave the break to be swallowed up by the group. Then a rider from the break beat me to it on the long back straight (this is good), I jumped on his wheel and let him lead out the group into the final corner all the while expecting one of the rested wheel suckers to jump the gun and go any second. After we cleared the last corner I knew it was time to gear down and hammer, I saw two riders go on the left and one go on the right. Once I dialed in my sprint gear I stood up and quickly over took the two riders on the left but the rider on my right was gaining ground.
By the time I realized the sprinter on the right was Mr. BH who I had just drug around for the past 30 min it was too late. I know I worked hard and it took some of the snap out of my sprint but the combination of poor gear and line selection I was over taken.
This is not something that has ever happened to me in a sprint; it’s exactly errors like these that separate winners from losers and seasoned racers from dumb kids. The more I race at this level the more I realize that the little things matter, the margin for error grows ever smaller.
To Mr. BH, it was nice to meet you after the race and I thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson in the only way that leaves a lasting impression… kicking my a$$.
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