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A Hint of Normalcy, Livin' the $180k dream Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. When I looked down and saw The Lovely Kathy's face as she was lying on the beach, eyes closed, toes in the sand and a trace of a smile gracing her face I knew I had chosen the better way. It started out like this…I was called stoopid by a pot bellied Franciscan in Peoria. After which, I won a master's race then finished the Pro 1,2 race mid pack. The next weekend Kathy and I woke early on a Sunday morning when most normal folk are sleeping in or at very best rising an hour after we did that morning in order to head off to the Sunday sermon. Certainly most normal folk are not waking up before 6:00 a.m. to go race a bike and most normal girlfriends are not enlisted to rise at such insane hours to hand off a water bottle every 25 minutes as the man in their life streaks by at 30 mph. "So honey, how were that past 25 minutes? Did you get any reading done? How's the book? Make any new friends?" These conversations can't happen. Normal life doesn't work like this. The IL District Road Race is contested over 150k of flat to rolling terrain with one ½ mile long two-tiered small ring climb out of the Illinois River Valley. It's not so much the terrain or distance that makes the race difficult, as it is the wind and heat. June 27 lacked either of these elements. ABD had the strongest team in the field and put a rider into a long break with three other riders. After the break built a 3:30 gap, I bridged with particle physicist Reid Mumford. Upon arriving in the break ABD team Capt. Ebert sat up and the ABD riders in the field dropped the hammer and brought the break back with 2 laps to go. In the end the rider that ABD was riding support for didn't contest the finish and the race was stupid. ABD's Frank Dierking from Wisconsin won. We here in IL can't even win our own road championship - Sort of like American riders at Philly. On the way home, Kathy suggested that perhaps it would be a good idea to spend a weekend doing something that didn't involve bikes and bottles of sport drink. The reader will note the Kathy is all in favor of quality time spent building our relationship, but 3 hours in a car on the interstate to and from races doesn't always cut the mustard. To boot, the time we spend together in the feed zone, while sweet, is brief. Having learned from many failed relationships, I have begun to develop instincts contrary to the bike racer nature in me. I didn't mention to Kathy at this time that I'd like to participate in Stoopid Weak races. I didn't mention to Kathy that her yearning for normal life would cramp my race schedule. I kept quiet and verbalized not altogether untrue thoughts that I was tired of racing my bike every weekend and taking some time off might be a good thing. There are a couple of time trials I want to do in July but that's it. I won't go to Wisconsin to chase Johnny V and Labor around in circles this year. We'll travel, I'll work around the house, and we'll drink wine and go to the beach. Yes, this is what we'll do. I didn't expect her to take me seriously. I was lining up my hotel reservations in Milwaukee when I got a call at my office. The call rang through from the receptionist and it was The Lovely Kathy. She was very excited that she had booked the last room available for the weekend of July 16 at the Lakeside Inn, Lakeside, MI. Room 31. The Lakeside Inn is a wonderful old Mansion turned Inn and Café on the coast of Lake Michigan - The clean side. Unlike the Lake Michigan those of you from Milwaukee, Gary or Chicago are familiar with, the Lake Michigan of Lakeside is clean, free of medical waste and doesn't give you dysentery from E-coli bacteria poisoning. Quite the contrary. Parents allow their children to swim in the waters of Lake Michigan on this side. Apparently, Michigan doesn't dump raw sewage into the great lake bearing its name. I guess the accountability of not befouling the waters of a lake named after your home state prevents such a convenience. Perhaps the environmentalists in IL and WI should push for a name change for the lake on its Western half. Do you suppose there would be a raw sewage outlet just North of Milwaukee if Wisconsin had naming rights to its part of the lake? On July 11, I did an insane thing. I did two 50 kilometer two man team time trials. The first one was just fine. My Turin team mate Dave Polin and I rode the fastest time of the day's 125 or so teams. The second one was perhaps the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life. Another Turin teammate, Doug McLerran was forced to ride first wheel for the bulk of the ride, which took 8 minutes more time than the one Dave and I did earlier. You see it was 90 degrees and 90% humidity. The combination of these two elements conspired with the effort of time trialing to turn Druber into a 180 lb muscle cramp. I was dehydrated to the point that I had to beg a water bottle off a corner marshal after my own bottle ran empty with 30k left to go. I did serious damage to myself on a cellular level. Something I'm sure a bio mechanic Kevin Flowers could explain. It was a disaster but it served to make me completely sick of bike racing. I did manage to get over my sickness by July 13 and made my way to WI for the Stupid Weak Point Beer Lyons Road Race. I attempted to bridge to a forming break after 70 miles of 26 mph avg. racing in 90 degree 90% humidity and 20 mph cross wind weather. I was reminded quite painfully that I am a 41 year old playing a much younger man's game as my legs cramped, I got clammy and chilled and I was forced to stop my effort 5 seconds short of the break. I rode around for another lap in the safety of the pack trying to recover but to no avail. The next day I greeted Mark G Spot - former Labor - and the 30+ field at Whitnall Park. In a much better time and space only 4 years ago I was in a break with Harm Jansen, Tim Larkin, Dale Sedgewick and Pelle Kil that lapped the Pro 1,2 field after only 30 minutes at Whitnall Park. It's a race that carries fond memories. This year the course was expanded to twice it's original length as Otto was able to secure the roads around the Botanical Garden for the race. It's a great course made better. Still damaged goods, I spent the race yo-yo-ing from off the front to off the back with my heart feeling like it was going to explode out of my chest. I got into a couple of moves that didn't stick. A guy from Dallas won and G Spot won the field sprint. I rode a cool down with a guy named Joby from Denver. He complained about the same "lackofcandlestoburnitis" that I've written about previously. He was in a mid race break that had good potential but one WI rider was only along for the ride. Racers beware…the disease is spreading! Friday the 16th, I knocked off at noon, went home and packed for the weekend. Kathy and I got to the Inn around 7:00 MI time and stopped at the Whistle Stop for wine and cheese. A bottle of Sangiovese and Heart of Darkness from Bonny Doon, some Brie, some crackers and we were set for a night of porch sitting. We sat on the large terrace of the Inn on a well-used wicker porch swing, leisurely swaying as a rainstorm rolled through. The skies cleared just in time for us to view a spectacular sunset over Lake Michigan. It was so vivid the colors appeared to be digitally mastered ala the movie Vanilla Sky. The next day after breaking my overnight fast an overstuffed spinach and feta omelet, Kath and I took off for some beach time. I thought for naerly 2 seconds about my buddies from Labor destroying the field at Waukesha, but then I returned to my book. After a couple of hours of doing nothing but listening to the waves and reading a funny collection of shorts by David Sedaris, we tromped back up the 98 steps to the Inn, cleaned up and went wine tasting. Few may realize, but Michigan has an emergent wine industry. It seems that classic vinifera grow quite well in Michigan's climate. Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Nior, Cabernet, Syrah and Merlot all grow well in addition to typical Midwest hearty varietals such as Chancellor and Chambourcin. We were able to find enough good wines to fill a case, especially at the Domaine Berrien Winery, where all the wine sold is grown and vinted on property. Their wines were very impressive, especially their Viognier that is as good as any I've had and I've had some swell bottles. They also make a fantastic dry red wine from a not so well known German/Austrian grape called Blaufrankisch. www.domaineberrien.com Later that evening we dined al fresco at a place called Timothy's in Union Pier, MI. This meal rivaled even Atlantique in Chicago. Blue Crab cakes with miso aioli, grilled artichoke hearts, soft-shelled crab in tempura batter and ouzo and basil grilled sea bass with many cocktails. www.timothysrestaurant.com Sunday morning around 11:00 a.m. just as my peers were lining up for the Bensenville Criterium, I was descending the 98 stairs down to the Lakeside Inn's private beach. On this cloudless, perfect morning, the most athletic thing I would do would be to make the reverse trip in about 3 hours. I know that come August, I'll pay for my play with tired legs and burning lungs. I'll curse the pleasure of the second martini and regret drinking too much wine as I watch The Vampire flying away from me up some mountain in Park City. I'll rue the overstuffed omelet and the crab cakes when Turbo Rogers blows past me after starting 2 minutes behind me in the National 40-44 time trial championship. I'll vow to discipline myself. I make my living asking people to think about their lives in financial terms 10, 20, 30 years from now and to initiate plans to make their dreams happen. In the short term it might not seem so pressing. In the short term, I need the ego boost of winning a race or at least making people who will beat me earn their V. Will it matter 20 years from now? Probably not so much. However, seeing the faint hint of a smile, and knowing that if she were a cat she'd be purring loudly as she reclined in the sun with her eyes closed listening to the waves crashing on the shore of Lakeside Michigan all I had to do was see The Lovely Kathy to know that for years to come, I'd chosen to do the right thing. www.lakesideinns.com
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