District Roads

Back in the day, we used to just refer to the state road championships as simply "district roads." Most "districts" were actually States, but a few were combined, like Northern California/Nevada, hence the term "district." Since La. and Ms. are now combined under one "local association," namely LAMBRA, I guess it would make sense to use the term "district." USAC, however, continues to refer only to "state championships" in the rulebook. Go figure. It used to be pretty simple. There were just one or two races, maybe fifteen riders in all, the required minimum distance was 110 miles, the race had to be held on one of two weekends in July, and the top two riders qualified for Nationals. Things have changed, and nowadays the district championships are more about medals and bragging rights, but there is still something special about winning anything with the word championship in it.

The forecast for the weekend LAMBRA Road Championships up in Natchez, MS was not looking good, and I was lucky to be able to load all of the LAMBRA equipment into the Volvo at 5:45 am without getting wet. By the time I was on the interstate, though, it was already raining. It didn't stop until I was well into Mississippi, but at least it was looking a bit more promising by then.

By the time the Masters races started at 2 pm the 5+ mile course was mostly dry. Our 35+/45+ group had about 30 riders and a lot of horsepower in it, so I was expecting a pretty fast one. Early in the race a couple of riders got off the front and it took quite a while to bring them back. Soon afterward there was a big surge just after we'd come over the two big climbs on the loop and I soon found myself off the front with Frank M. and another rider. I was a little worried about being in a break that early, but figured I'd go with it anyway. So we started working together pretty well and the gap started to grow. After a few laps, I looked back and couldn't see the pack. With maybe four laps left to go I thought we were probably safe. Then, all of a sudden, Russ Walker and one of the S3 guys (John or Frank) materialized as if they'd parachuted in. I was surprised because we were going at what I thought was a pretty fast pace. Well, once they joined us the pace went up another notch and I started to think I might be in trouble.

I think I made it around the course one more time, and then there was an attack when we hit the hills. There are three climbs on this course that come in quick succession. The first one isn't too steep, then it levels out, climbs steeply again, drops down, and then there's a really steep little hill. I had expected something to happen and had decided to keep it in the big ring. Big, big mistake. I was already anaerobic coming over the top of the second one and I knew I was in trouble. Sure enough, I bogged down on the steepest section and completely blew up. So now there were four riders ahead of me and the pack behind me. Hmmmm. I was not feeling too optimistic about this. On the next lap I was caught by what was left of the pack. I had a chance to recover a bit and managed a decent placing in the pack sprint and since everyone in the break except Frank M. was racing 35+, I ended up with the silver medal in the 45+ age group. Sheer luck, of course, but I was at least glad that I'd made the break and put in a good effort, even if my overall placing was a bit disappointing.

Sunday morning the weather looked worse, but at least my legs weren't feeling too bad. So I went ahead and registered for the Cat. 1/2 race. This was a small field of maybe a dozen riders, so I was pretty much expecting to get dropped at some point. Right off the bat, Russ W., who had won Saturday's Master 35+ race, just turned around and quit for some reason. With so few riders and 72 miles to go, nobody seemed in a big hurry to attack. This was good for me, because my only strategy for this race was to spend as much time wheel-surfing at the back as possible in order to conserve energy for the last few laps when I knew the real race would probably start. So near the end of the first or second lap Frank M. flatted just as one of his teammates, Jake, rolled off the front. Kenny dropped back to pace Frank back to the group and luckily the rest of the pack was in a good mood and took it easy until he got back. In the meantime, however, Jake had built up a lead of at least a minute. I think it eventually got up around four minutes. With five Herring riders in the group, the task of reeling him back in fell mainly to two riders from Precision and three from S3. Brian R. and company did a ton of work on the front and over the course of maybe five or six laps (our race was 14 laps) finally brought him back. Somewhere along the way the sky opened up. Just as we were catching Jake, Bain F. launched. There was a big surge for a while, but of course the other Herring riders weren't going to chase and the other guys were probably already feeling the effects of their earlier efforts, so pretty soon Bain was sailing off into the sunset leaving everyone else to race for second place. So once again, with a Herring rider off the front and relatively few others left to chase, the pace stayed fairly steady. This was good for me, and by the time we saw three laps to go I figured I'd at least be able to finish this one. Along the way, riders were dropping like flies due to flats tires and broken spokes. With a few laps to go, our group was down to just five riders and I was starting to have a little trouble on the climbs. I knew something was going to happen on the last laps. I also knew that I probably wasn't going to be able to do anything about it.

With two laps to go, Woody attacked the hilly section and I had to dig really deep to hang on. Then, the last time we hit the hilly section, Frank M. attacked really hard. This time I'd kept it in the small ring, but I still popped off the back halfway up that same steep hill that had gotten me the day before. This time, though, I didn't completely blow up and was able to get my legs moving again once I came over the top as the following car passed me. I looked up the road and sensed that they were backing off a bit, so I clicked up a few gears and put my head down. I slowly started to close the gap and within a mile or so I was back in the draft. We flew around the sharp right turn and Frank attacked again. This time the gap opened quickly. Woody, of course, wasn't going to chase, and everyone hesitated. Then Brian took off in pursuit. I looked up the road and thought maybe he'd waited too long, but despite all the work he'd already done he made contact surprisingly quickly. That left John, Woody and me. At that point all I really wanted to do was to avoid getting dropped again. John and I traded pulls as we rode out the final miles to the finish. As we came up the steep road onto the top of the dam, less than a kilometer from the finish, I was, of course, at the back. The sprint ramped up rather late, but it was complicated by the fact that we had to pass a little group from another race in the last 300 meters or so. I think that caused Woody to hesitate for just a moment before coming around John. I did what I could, but didn't have quite enough road left to get past John, so that put me in 6th place. I was pretty satisfied with that, though.

Afterward, I stayed around to help with the afternoon races. Although we'd had only one good rain shower during our race, the afternoon races were run pretty much entirely in the rain -- some of it hard. The Cat. 4 follow car said they changed at least 20 flats, and that's not counting all of the dropped riders who also flatted. I'm sure I saw at least three people ride across the finish on flat tires, and I think two others who were on foot. There were also a few crashes on the wet roads. I think Ed N. must have set the record, though, with two crashes and three flats for the weekend. Under the circumstances, I was quite happy to be driving home with all my skin and air in my tires.

The rest of the club had some good finishes. Robert Monahan looked really strong in the Junior race and was 2nd in the 13-14 age group. Carin, after getting lost on the drive to the race and starting late, was still 2nd in the 45+ women's race, and Steve J. was 6th in the 45+ men's race. Then on Sunday, Mignon had a great race, finishing a strong 3rd while Jordan got the bronze medal in the Cat. 5 race and Brooks and Brady survived the carnage and punctures in the Cat. 4 race to finish 9th and 11th. I took some photos that are now on the NOBC website.