Winning

15 years, 9 months, and 7 days. Prior to this past Saturday, July 10, 1994 was the last time I won a mass-start USCF race. Sure, I have won a few time trials, a duathlon overall, some running race age group stuff, and even two training races at Wompatuck to keep me motivated over the years, but a "real" weekend race win had eluded me. So naturally I'm pretty happy about winning the 45+ race at Ninigret this weekend.

The Cronoman gives me shit if I downplay the magnitude of races we do well in. But let's be realistic; Ninigret is only a notch or so above a training race. It's not like a downtown crit with lots of spectators that happens only once a year (as if we even have many of those left anymore). And the field Saturday was only 28 riders, about half what we had two weeks ago at the Chris Hinds race. The 45+ guys are fair weather I guess. A few of the strongest riders, notably Skip Foley and JONNY BOLD! elected not to race with us old derelicts, opting instead to do the more challenging 1/2/3 race. Nonetheless, the field was deep enough with high quality riders and this was a weekend race with prize money. It's a win, it counts to me. Ya-hoo!

The race report: This was the third time I've won a crit, and all of them have played out in similar fashion: fast early pace, a selection too big to be called a break moving off, and me slipping away from it in the waning laps to win alone. I guess that's my script. The last one back in 1994 was the Silver City Flyer. The other one was the Bike Link/Jiffy Lube Crit in Weymouth.

Just like those two, Saturday's race started out aggressively. Actually, this time I was the one who attacked at the gun. My reasoning was simple and two-pronged. One, keep warm. Two, if I didn't do it, someone else probably would. I'd had a good week of training, but Friday I was totally beat and just wanted to eat. I did not ride, did not stretch, did not go to the gym. I have been taking multi-week holidays from concentrated refined sugar, but Friday I hit the machine twice, once for Animal Crackers and once for a Hershey bar. Dinner was a grilled cheese. Not exactly training table food. I was weak.

Saturday was chilly but not as wet as forecast. Coach Cronoman was signed up for the 10:00 cat 3/4 race... The 45+ was at 11. I thought about going down early and warming up in the 3/4, so I pre-kitted with wool shorts, leg warmers, etc. But I did not get there in time, in fact I pulled in around 10:25, so I was pressed to be ready for the 45+. I almost just said f-it and pinned my number on my heavy jersey and went out there in warm clothes. Then I said to myself "you're never going to win that way." I put on my skinsuit, got on the trainer, doing the best warm up I could in the amount of time that I had. I knew I'd be cold in shorts when I stopped, so I decided right then to attack at the gun. One of the great things about Ninigret is you can park right near the starting line and hear the announcer. Paul was playing a fantastic selection of tunes as well, huge bonus. Thanks to Paul and thanks to Arc-en-Ciel for hiring him.

I rushed over to the line at the final call to staging and we observed a moment of silence in memory of the race's namesake, Rick Newhouse. Then we went. The only one who came with me was Dave Kellogg (Arc-en-Ciel), but the rest of the field was strung out, not just sitting there. Dave is on good form and I knew he was not going to commit to working hard with me unless he felt this was the right move, so I just kept pulling. I looked back and knew they weren't going to let us go but I persisted because I wanted to get warm, and also in hopes of wounding anyone who wasn't ready for a full gas start. But within a few laps we were reeled in.

Other moves went and I tried to sit on wheels. Eventually I could not and the Cronoman covered a few. I have trouble remembering the order of things but somewhere they announced there would be four prime laps in a row for Newport Storm beer. I sat on all the moves just in case they turned into breaks, but told myself "you are not here for beer." I really wanted a good placing, and wasn't going to chase primes. Then they had one for $20 cash, but that did not draw me out either. Like I said, I get the order messed up, but I was recovering near the back and the field basically split, with me and the Cronoman in the wrong half. I've been riding with Eric long enough to be able to tell when he's stuffed, and this was one of those times, so I bolted out to cross the gap. Very similar to Chris Hinds, although this time nobody came with me. It took me half a lap but I got cemented onto the group, and looking back it appeared that this was it. Two guys were struggling and disappeared. This left Kellogg, Thomas Francis (Bike Barn), Joe Rano (GearWorks), Bill Mark (NBX), John Stonebarger (Bike Link), Tobi Schultze (Fuji), Tyler Munroe (CCB), and me.

At halfway they had a $100 cash prime on offer. I was tempted, but before I really had time to think of a plan Tobi and Francis had us lined out at a speed which showed they meant business. I was riding my Race Lite Aero alloy wheels with clinchers pumped to 100 psi, on my cheap aluminum bike. After all, it's only Ninigret so I don't use my carbon wheels or frame. In the second to last corner there are a few big cracks that have been patched over and in the wet my back wheel was jumping over a good three or four inches if I went in there hot. Very disconcerting and the other guys seemed to be OK so it put me at a disadvantage, not that I can sprint well anyway. So those two rode off to contest the prime and I honestly don't know which one took it. And they kept going, holding a gap of at least ten seconds on the other six of us. By this time they were coming up on and lapping small groups that made up the shattered remnants of the main field. So even though these two were among the better sprinters in the lead group, they tried to hold us off, probably thinking they could get a little draft here and there from the lapped riders.

I had not been killing myself in the break, at first because I was recovering from the bridge effort, and later because the others were always positioning for primes and willing to do the effort. We were not under pressure from any chase behind either. But with Schultze and Francis riding away, I went to the front for some pacemaking to at least keep us level. Later we picked up a lapped Todd Buckley (Arc-en-Ciel) and of course being one of the the best motors in the field, he took his place at the front of the break and did the work for his teammate Kellogg. Eventually the lead duo threw up the white flag, but they probably spent more time out there in a wasted effort than they'd have liked.

Things got moderately confusing as we were lapping riders (who of course are entitled to integrate). By then race announcer Paul called out 5 laps to go. It got quiet but at 4 to go, Stonebarger and Rano made a move, but nobody was letting that happen. After a few more laps of shadow boxing we finally got the bell, one to go. I'd been looking for opportunities to get away but all these guys were good, and I wasn't sure what to do. And just like at Chris Hinds, I somehow ended up on the front as we took the bell. I did not want to have to follow the sprinter's pace through the second to last turn, as it was still wet and I was continuing to get squirrelly there. On the far end of the course, I was leading at a slow pace, like you would ride if you were on the front of a match sprint, except I wasn't looking over my shoulder. I went to the left (not normally the good line, but we were going slow) and gradually increased my pace in order to take away the jump of the others without totally gassing myself.

The backstretch was tailwind so I took it up another notch and I heard Paul Curley (Gearworks), who was lapped, on my wheel asking me if I was lapped. I glanced over my shoulder and was shocked to see that we had almost thirty meters on the other seven, who must have been watching each other. Time to check out. Full gas, tiptoed through the slippery turn, all out up the short straightway. On the homestretch I got to the far left edge (the wind was from the right) and emptied the tank. I'd looked back after the last turn and they were coming but my cushion was large. Paul just stayed on my wheel. At the end I sat down and spun for the line, getting in a second or two before Bill Mark sprinted across for second.

I'm still surprised they allowed me to slip away. But you know, that's bike racing. I've been on the other end of weird shit plenty of times too. And I was ready to take advantage of the situation. I am pretty happy with the way my form has been coming along. I try to continually refine and improve all aspects of my preparation, a lot of little things adding up. Sixteen years is a looooooonnnnnnnngggg time. I did not even own a computer back then. I think Winning magazine was still being published. Of course, I did not race hardly at all from 1998 to 2002. I was up over 200 pounds for a while. Since finishing night school in 2003, I've slowly and steadily worked my way back to decent fitness. I went back into my logs to find the date of the Silver City win. I sure as hell don't ride as fast as I used to, at least as far as the average speed of my training rides goes. But I've learned a lot. There is a lot more good information about training available today. I've also been fortunate to work with and train with a number of good people, both through friendship and professional arrangements. I've gone back to doing a lot of things that I used to do 16 years ago too, like more intense training off the bike. This goes against a lot of conventional wisdom, but I do it in addition to riding my bike, not in place of it. And it seems to work for me. It also meant a lot to me to finally win a race in a Team BOB jersey, in this my 7th year with the club. I have great teammates, including Eric and Timmy, who've been on all four teams I've ever belonged too, going back 24 years. Our team captain, Duano, could not be there Saturday because his mother had suffered a serious stroke and was hospitalized. I was relieved when he called me and told me she had improved a lot over the course of the day, and he was really psyched to hear about my win. It was too close to put my hands up, but I guess I should update the sidebar anyway. Thanks for reading.