guest post: Joe wins again!

rockin' the race shirt. Go, Joe!One great thing about competitive cycling -- one of the many, many great things about competitive cycling -- is the t-shirt, like the one pictured at left.  You're looking at the photo and thinking, what?  What's so special about a gray t-shirt with pink letters?  And here it is: there're only five of that particular shirt.  Only five.

In running races every participant gets a shirt.  Hell, you don't even need to show up -- just pay the registration fee and you still get the shirt, so you can rock the "I was there" later on when running down a street or trail.  But in competitive cycling, only winners get the shirt.  It doesn't just mean you were there: it means you were there, you kicked ass, you crossed the line in first place.

The shirt, therefore, means something.

It means, Yeah, that's right: I won.  It means, for Joe, that's right, I won Regalado 2012, Masters 1-2-3.

That's so much specialer than I was there, right?

Joe worked for this one, naturally, but also benefitted from another great thing about competitive cycling: it's not only a highly strategic team sport but also courtly in a way little else in this world is anymore.  The team went out to Regalado with the goal of positioning Joe for the win, but Hans, Hans giving up his wheel in the first lap to keep Joe in the race -- that act, so typical for cycling, was really and truly selfless.  And Scot working at the front of the race to break down the competition, clear the way for Joe's win, again, such selflessness, such service to the greater good of the team.  It's such a great way to be, such a great experience to have, and there are so few, outside of competitive cycling, for us to do this for each other just in the course of our regular, daily lives.

Each one on the team, in a race situation like yesterday, each one gets to be a hero in his own way, one of a band of brothers united by a common goal.  It's freaking profound, I'm not kidding.

And to think that people were pressuring me to pressure Joe to give up racing last year after his last and worst crash?  Why would I want to do anything to remove this regular opportunity for greatness, not just greatness of physical ability but greatness of spirit, from his life?  That would be madness, indeed.

To tell his own story, here is Joe himself, with a little ghostwriting assistance from me.  Congratulations, honey.  And congratulations, too, to the whole team.  I'm so proud and blown away, again, by what we can do together, so many acts of courage and grace, so much strength and also sweetness.

* * * * *

Race Report: Regalado/Warnerville Road Race

Category: Masters 45+ 1-2-3

March 25, 2012

I love you, Hans. 

What a pleasure to race with guys willing to work selflessly together!

Pre-race Hans said to watch Chris Courtney and Clark Foy, SJBC, Mike Vetterli, Olympic Club, and Stanley Terusaki of Morgan Stanley, and they turned out to be all the players other than Iron Data.

The plan was to try and shed people in the gravel section, jump on breaks and set me up for the sprint.  Scot was also maybe going to attack early on the first lap to give us an idea who was going to do any chasing.

Scot did attack first lap. He quickly had 20 seconds and it seemed to just hover there for a while, then slowly it just kept growing.  Irving, Hans and Dan were patrolling the front to jump on any bridge attempts, and I just sat 10 to 15 guys back not taking any wind.  Then the dreaded sound of a tire deflating quickly, then the squishy feeling of a rear tire gone awry. I flatted at this race last year and thought, “oh well, my day is done here.” Then I hear Hans behind me say, “I’ll give you my wheel,” and I say, “No, come on, go.” But he insists and says, “this is your race.”  We come to a stop and I do a lame Cat-6 wheel-change and start chasing.  I went as hard as I could go for about 7 miles before I started catching guys that were getting dropped.  Fortunately one guy from Folsom Bikes had some juice left and we worked together for another 3 miles and got back on.  When I got back, Irving was still covering attacks, and the moto told us 1 minute 20 seconds to Scot. 

At this point we were coming up to the mile or so stretch of gravel with puddles and potholes the size of small ponds.  Courtney and Foy ride hard through this section (this is Courtney’s home town) and right at the end of the gravel, we catch Scot.  I thought for sure somebody was going to attack when we caught Scot, but fortunately it didn’t happen because I would have popped.

I think everyone needed to recover because we had a little lull before Vetterli attacked and got a gap of 30-45 seconds.  I just stayed 3^rd or 4^th wheel and was waiting for San Jose to try and bridge but it didn’t happen.  Then to my surprise Scot goes back to the front and brings most of it back.  We just let Vetterli dangle off the front.  After a series of small attacks, it’s all back together again before the final gravel stretch.  I make a point of being 4^th or 5^th wheel going into the gravel, which turned out to be great because again Courtney rode it hard through there and knows the best line.  A few guys took bad lines and gaps were forming, then it was Courtney, Foy, and me.  Fortunately Terasuki got gapped off.  I wasn’t sure how far back he was, but I knew he’d have to work to get back on.

Once out of the last gravel stretch I knew it would come down to a sprint and was relieved.  There were several attacks but everything was covered so quickly that no one got any ground.  With one kilometer to go, I was 3^rd wheel when I saw Scot coming up on my left side and gave him the nod to go on, go through, and keep the pace high.  Then Clark Foy went and I knew that would be a lead-out for Courtney.  Then Courtney went with a pretty good burst but I was able to bridge and get a moment’s rest.  Then I went with what must have been fewer than 75 meters to go.  As soon as I did, I could really feel the long solo effort I’d done to get back on and felt myself losing momentum.  I could sense someone coming up on my right side and fortunately I had just enough to beat Terasuki by one foot.  Had the race been 5 more feet, he would’ve won.

It truly was a team effort and I really have to give props to Hans for encouraging people to ride better than they think they can ride, for doing whatever it takes for the team, and for knowing exactly how this race was going to play out and who was going to be a factor.

Scot was awesome.  Dude, the pressure you took off the team for 1 ½ hours by being off the front was HUGE.

What a great weekend for Iron Data.  Can’t wait to read other race reports.