The Rest of the Story: Tales from Tail End
Philly Super Cup #1 (10/18/98)
Belmont Plateau, Fairmont Park

By Andrew Albright

This was the opening race of the re-vamped Super Cup Series. The new owners of series cleaned up the yard flowers, fixed up the fence, brought in a big sponsor Saturn, UCI points and a cash prize list; they threw a good ole' party. There is probably a Saturn Super cup near you - going and doing it or watching it is a MUST!

I rolled into the full parking lot just in time to watch the stacked master's field do battle - top national riders from out of town were followed by some excellent Mid-Atlantic riders. In front was the lead trio of Gunner Shogren (DiamondBack), Paul Wade (Team Gear Works), and Paul Curley (Team Gear Works). First to leave was Curley, followed by Wade. By the end, Shogren had the last lap and the win to himself. Top Mid-Atlantic finishers were: Snow Valley's Randall Root in 8th place and Bike Doctor Bernie Shiao in 10th. The top Philly finisher was Jeff Applepants (Bicycle Therapy) in 12th.

Next up was the B race. Wow what a start - it was like sixty loony birds taking off. Their runway was the straight, 1/3-mile, wide paved park road, which was followed by a right turn into a parking lot and then over a ramped curb. This dropped off down to a right hander of loose dirt, around and then smack into the first set of barriers. Then, up a little bit and then down around two S-turns, followed by a flat section with 3 sets of barriers, back to the parking lot, some barriers and then a couple of turns deposited you at the base of The Run-Up. Holy Cow, it was some run-up. At the bottom of the hill there were two barriers, a flat stretch, and then some more barriers up the last section of the hill. This was spectator's heaven, a mini-Wall if you will, shades of Manayunk, they let you know they were there. Once you got over the top, it shot down to a technical S-turn which swept onto the road where the course started. The finish was at the top of the hill. The B racers quickly strung out and it was fun to watch 60 riders snake around the first set of S-turns. No gaps, just one big long snake. Shortly, someone chopped the snake into smaller pieces. It was Dan Coady of UMass who emerged as the head, winning by xxx seconds, with Ryan Dewald of Pennsylvania coming in 2nd. Snow Valley's David Hawxshurst was 5th. Other local riders in the top 20 were Brad Patches, Mike Birner (SV), Brian Rooff, Larry Wendler, Rick Mihills (FSVS), and Scott Gibbons (SV).

Then there was good-sized women's field of 30 or more riders. Seeing that they all looked good and appeared to have things under control, I went to warm up. No problem there as it was already 70+ degrees. You know cyclocross is becoming a legitimate sport when they don't start the races on time. This wreaks havoc on when to eat and warm-up. I usually get too hungry and then break down and eat a Snicker's bar and half a pack of Gobbstoppers and/or drink something too close to the start, which usually results in discomfort during the race. No problems though, because, my foresight prevailed; in my excitement to get to the race, I had forgotten to take anything to eat or drink to the race (not even a water bottle).

So finally the hour of truth was upon me. Would that lack of training come back to haunt me? These long hours sitting on my ass in front of the computer? Not remembering to bring anything to the race? Only time would tell. We line up - and the field looks big. The first question that comes to mind is how are we going to narrow 70 guys down to 4 deep after 30 seconds? I have the ability to go really hard at the start of a race and then blow. But today, the last thing I wanted to do was get myself too far forward and dump it on the inside of an early turn. These thoughts were interrupted by the official telling us that, "If you are in danger of getting lapped, then you will be pulled".

I started out on the back row, the gun went off, I sprinted up the left side, and passed about 20 guys on the road section. I figure this is the right place to be. Over the curb, down into the barriers. I perform a perfect dismount grabbing the downtube (just learned that this year - It's really not that hard) and then run over the barrier and up the hill. Round the turn and I cleanly jump on and go. I see some riders I know are better than I am* - so I know I'm riding OK. Near the back, things sort themselves out pretty quickly - it is very apparent whom I will be riding with today. Up The Run-Up the first time is very cool. I shoulder the bike and run over the first set of barriers, run on the little flat section, and then over the next barriers. Even back where I am, the crowd is deafening. They are loving the whole show. The second time over these barriers, I hear a friend shout, "John Verheul is right in front of you." Indeed he was, but as I was already right on the edge - I knew the surest way to get in trouble and really embarrass myself was to start pressing the pace on the 2nd lap. I ride steady until a little bit after halfway when I hear the announcers at the Finish line start announcing that the leaders were coming up the finishing straightaway. Then I rallied - I was happy for the clock to be at 35 minutes and they still hadn't lapped me yet. I rode well, until right before The Run-Up, when I pulled to the side and "let" McCormack, Hanson, Knapp, Sundt, Johnson, and then Bowen pass me. I then ran up the hill next to Bart. Putting my experience as a many-time lapped high school indoor tack 2 miler, to use, I tried to jump on the back of their train after the hill for a little bit just to see what it was like.

Nothing doing. Mr. Lactic was having none of that. I may not suck as much as I did in high school, but no matter, these guys aren't local talent…they were FLYING. I still tried to ride steady. Looking at the refs each lap, waiting for the mercy-pull out of the race. All I got was blank stares of them looking at my number and writing it down. Staying out of people's way until near the end - I knew the leaders were now flying even faster with the finish coming up. Going two laps down was no longer a danger - it was a distinct possibility. On their last lap they were getting pretty damn close. I hammered up the run-up and then to the finish as hard as I could, successfully staying out of their way and not getting doubled lapped. Then I was totally shot and rode the last lap AFAP (not very). It was no victory or even a good result - but I was pretty happy to have been able to finish.

- Andrew Albright

*Actually looking at the list of results - everyone in front of me was better..funny how 'cross works that way.