Alone in the Wind

***Warning! It's been a few days, so this one is going to be loooong.
You might want to go pop a bag of popcorn or something before continuing...

I looked down through the cloudy eye shield of my time trial helmet and made a mental note of the distance. Only half a mile into the 4 mile time trial, riding directly into a 25 mph headwind, I was already considering sitting up. This was not good. Motivation was lacking, aerobic capacity was already exceeded, and a lingering frustration from the earlier road race seemed to be holding me back like a badly rubbing brake pad.

I'd driven up to the Rocky Mount Stage Race with Mark, arriving in plenty of time for some unhurried warmup before the combined 45+/55+ road race on a nice hilly circuit that I knew fairly well. My history on that particular circuit, however, had always left me just a bit disappointed. This year, although I was old enough for the 55+ race, I'd entered the 45+ class more or less by accident, but since both groups were combined for the Road Race and Criterium I figured it wouldn't matter much anyway. So we head off on the road race around noon with the temperature still quite cool by my standards, and after a short neutral section we start to race. Almost immediately, it seemed, Geri Atrix rider Philip Sladek rolls off the front and starts opening the gap at an alarming rate. With four strong teammates in the group, plus a number of 55+ riders who had no reason to chase, it was pretty much me and a couple of others to do something about this. So I start pushing the chase along with Bo and a couple of others, and at one point, near the top of the longest climb on the loop, I pull us up to within 15 seconds of him. I ease over for someone to come through and -- screetch -- everything slows down again. That's about when I threw in the towel. Philip ended up riding the whole race solo and finishing about two minutes ahead of the rest of us. Since he was riding 45+, that left only one hot spot place up for grabs on the next lap, so I figured I'd better try and save a little something for that. I just love it when the hot spot is at the top of a climb, and I felt good sprinting for it but hesitated just a moment too long, just missing out on that last 45+ bonus. Damn.

Most of the next lap was punctuated by numerous attacks and counter-attacks by the Geri Atrix guys, and a few by the lone Oklahoma City Velo rider, and it seemed that there were only two or three of us who were responding to them. Well, maybe just 2.5 of us. Anyway, I was doing a lot of work, but I was hoping to get in a little break with one or two of the Geri Atrix guys in order to help compensate for the lousy time trial I was already expecting to do that evening. With maybe six or seven miles to go George Heagerty attacked and I instinctively reacted, pulling the group up to him a short time later. Within a mile or so he attacked again and as I started to go after him I heard Tom say, "Come on, Randy, he's riding 55+. Let him go." Of course, he was right, and as hard as it is for me to let anything go, especially for the second time in the race, we were too close to the finish for me to risk making such an effort for nothing and then being vulnerable to a counter-attack by one of the guys who was actually in the same race as I. So off Tom went on his way to a solo finish.

The end of this road race features a nice stair-step climb that's about a kilometer long that delivers you about 200 meters from the finish line at the top of Rocky Mount. My legs were still feeling fairly good and as we approached the climb I found myself in a decent position. The moment the road tilted up, Bo Bourne attacked hard down the left side. I thought, "waaay too early for me," but of course the front of the group had to respond anyway. I was being careful to stay protected, though, because I'd blown this finish more than once in the past. Sure enough, Bo blew up about halfway up and the two guys in front of me pulled ahead. For a little while I was riding right on Tom's hip, keeping him boxed in behind another rider. I knew that if another jump happened too early I'd probably blow before the finish. As we hit the stair-step the pace at the front eased and someone jumped from behind, which started the final sprint. By then I was basically hanging onto Tom's wheel, quite unsure about whether I should jump for the line or not. Well, I should have, but didn't, and ended up finishing 5th in the 45+. Guess how many places deep the finish bonus went. Yep, 4 places. Damn again. My NOBC teammate Mark finished right behind me, so at least we both got pack time.

Later in the evening we get to the time trial course and the temperature is getting cooler and there's a brutal wind blowing straight down the course from the turnaround. I was already thinking bad thoughts. I'd already missed out on all the bonus points in the road race, and now I've got to deal with a windy 4-mile time trial against a few guys who are easily capable of blowing my little 125 pound self right off the road in this kind of wind. This is not the way to start a time trial. Within half a mile I was already considering sitting up and bagging the whole thing (it usually takes me at least a whole mile). So I plugged along into the wind going alarmingly slowly and wondering if I'd get caught by my 30-second man. Finally, well after the turnaround I started to get into it with the tailwind, but by then it was a case of too little, too late. As I'd expected, my time was a good 15 seconds beyond respectable, so going into Sunday's criterium I'd be tied with Bo for 6th place, with the top three places pretty much out of reach. On the plus side, my lack of Time Trial motivation had left my legs fairly unaffected.

Sunday morning it was cold, and I ended up racing with a T-shirt and chest protector underneath my jersey and arm-warmers on my arms. It must have been a good decision because I was never too hot or too cold once things got underway. So here I was with a 40 minute criterium in a wide-open and windy parking lot, tied for the last prize placing and with a 5-rider team leading both the 45+ and 55+ races. None of the Geri Atrix guys had much motivation to be in a break, and without one I could move up in the GC only by snagging lots of bonus points, or going solo which of course they would never allow to happen.

Right away George Heagerty takes off solo, and since he's riding 55+ and I pretty much know I'm going to be counter-attacked at every opportunity, I let him go. Somehow Mark got gapped off early and ended up with a small group that never regained contact. After the hot spot, George eased up, and was back in the group. I went hard for that same hot spot and was able to nap the 1st 45+ bonus, so I was feeling good about that because it should have moved me up to 5th on GC.

This criterium was fairly fast and lots of fun, with attacks and counter-attacks all over the place. My only option was to stay at the front and respond to pretty much everything. An attack would go, I'd close the gap as quickly as I could, and then I'd look over my shoulder for the counter-attack. Wash-rinse-repeat. It was hard, but it was fun, and my legs were feeling pretty frisky. Coming into the last lap I could see the Geri Atrix guys coming together for a leadout, so I started to focus on Tom Bain's wheel which I knew from experience would be good in the sprint. On the first turn of the last lap I pull up even with the teammate who's on his wheel and when a little gap opens I surge into it. Sweet. There's a surge before the last corner and I'm about fourth wheel, still behind Tom, as we fly through the turn. The wind's coming from the left and I'm in Tom's draft between him and the curb. He's leaving a little room because he thinks one of his teammates is still behind him, but as soon as I can I jump just in case that door closes before the finish, and come past him just before the line taking 1st place.

So I ended up moving all the way up to 4th on GC and feeling like I at least redeemed myself after that dismal time trial. It must be my equipment. Yeah, that's it. I need one of those time trial bikes. That's the ticket....