Hurdling the log run ahead of JimmyE (Svelte) and Mr Hamel (Joe's Garage). Yes I saw the thin rideable line on the right but at this point in the day the sideboard had not been pushed back so far and the right pedal hit it. Plus there was a stake lurking in there. So we ran.
Around the food table. Good place to recover. No close encounters with Benji or any other small, unattended humans this year.
Slaying the famous Putney runup with the proper around-the-head-tube shouldering technique. Photos and contact lenses courtesy of EyeFNBob
Where did we leave off? Don't remember, but I almost missed the start, ending up in the back of the field. Tried to take the wide line up the hill, but others could not hole the inside and drifted way out. This still got me into the right onto the grass on the inside, and that worked out for a few spots. But I was back there, and one dude proved difficult to get around. A gap opened. Then he bailed on the pump track, and I squeaked by. All the way around the cornfield to close the gap. Passed a bunch of guys in a group. That may have been on the second lap. Turns out they were 35+ backmarkers, and I was not as far up as I thought.
Spent the race in a group with Timmy, Jimmy English, and Ed Hamel. May have been other guests coming and going. I'd get away but then get reeled in when I tried to recover. Then Timmy went with me second wheel. So I went slow and he rode away. I knew this was a gamble as there were other guys up the rode and if we did a slow lap we'd really have our work cut out for ourselves to catch them. But I was suffering and the lap cards read 5 to go so I sat up and then sat on. Eventually Jimmy brought Timmy back, but never once did I take a pull on the long dirt road or in the cornfield.
With two to go (I think) somehow I got a small gap after the cornfield barriers, so I really drilled it. This got me to the road with nobody on my wheel, and I lit it up. By the top of the runup I'd rid myself of the group and it was time trial time. In the cornfield I reeled in a guy from the 45+ (there were lapped 55+ out there too, so it was confusing). Exiting the cornfield, up ahead I saw the black Hup United skinsuit of ...Baker. He is my number one Crossresults victim. He is not supposed to beat me. In fact, I not-so-secretly consider him to be my Grim Reaper. Chip is a good cross racer but he does not race road and could stand to lose a few kilos (that's free Nega-Coaching there dude). This was going to hurt. I'd been in solo attack mode for over five minutes, and now I'm sprinting up the dirt road. At the turn before the runup, I had his wheel, but was already throwing up in my mouth a bit from the effort. I run well though and had to give it a try. There are two lines up the runup. The right line was steeper and harder, but shorter and generally faster. The left line was longer but easier, and I could make it work for me. Flying up with my head down, BOOM! Little did I know my man Garabed from the 55+ was trudging up with the flashers on. End of progress. Chip remounted first, returning the favor of my victimizing him all season long. Good job. I slumped across in 11th, with tire tracks all over both arms and legs from race-long full-contact running up the cliff.
For an old times sake cooldown I bundled up and rode over to West Hill and up the old finishing hill from the road race. As I alluded to earlier, the Tour of the Valleys was a special 100k, single loop Spring classic road race back in the day. Today's riders are spoiled by nearly instant results and online reporting down to last place the very next day. Well racing in the dark ages was not like that. Very few races had finish cameras. Even those that did only picked and posted the top six or ten riders. If you were fortunate enough to place, you might see your name in fine print in the back of VeloNews a month later, gaining some notoriety. Putney was always different though, and with the slo-mo hilltop finish they'd pick and place each and every rider, with finish times. A few weeks later we'd get typewritten full results in the mail. Maybe I'll scan one and put it up soon.
The usual Putney hijinks of burritos, cider donuts, beer, and wool clothing expenditures in the shop ensued. The weather was awesome. We came, we raced, we saw, we heckled. Sorry this took so long. Thanks for reading
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