|
In the (Feed) Zone - IL State RR Championships
STONE PONY THROWS DOWN AT THE IL STATE ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS…AGAIN;
DRUBER AND CLETUS HIT THE ROAD FOR SOME R&R;
LUCAS OIL ROCKS THE IL STATE TT CHAMPIONSHIPS
When we last checked in, it was after a rousing weekend of racing at the new venue in West Clay. For those of you who missed that report, check the archives but it ended with Sharpie winning the event on a most excellent track over spirited competition from the Zipps and The Man in the Yellow Hat. Druber has learned that the Man in the Yellow Hat won the 40+ Hooterville criterium championships last weekend. Kudos.
The racing for me that weekend was geared primarily toward getting my body rejuvenated and ready for the IL State Road Championships, hosted by the Tower Racing club in Oak Brook, IL. I will interject at this point that Tower Racing picked up the event on short notice and with less than 6 weeks to prepare, they put together an outstanding course with ample marshalling, challenging but not punitive terrain and a closed finishing stretch that took nearly a kilometer of a major metropolitan throughway. I understand there were some SNAFU’s with registration mostly due to the fact that the bib numbers didn’t show up on time, which is no fault of Tower Racing. Druber wishes to congratulate Tower Racing for a supremely well done job under less than ideal circumstances. I would love to see the race back in Oak Brook in 2009.
For the past two years, the IL Championships have combined the masters 30+ and 40+ fields for the road race and criterium. I personally think 30+ is a silly masters category, since most able racers under the age of 40 generally prefer to race within their category. That aside, can you imagine Chris Horner, George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Aaron Olson et al toeing the line at a local 30+ masters race? Tyler Hamilton won the US Pro road race at age 37 which makes my point exactly. 30+ should be eliminated as a masters category and 35 should be the minimum age but 40 would be better. I digress.
But, we race what we’re given to race and since we had combined 30+ and 40+ fields for Cat 1, 2 and 3 riders I registered as a 30+ rider. The rationale for doing so was twofold. First, Stone Pony is the repeat 40+ state road champion and a pretty good bet to three-peat, Moso-Man would be racing with us and he is under 40. In the 30+ field I could work for him if the race appeared destined to end in a bunch sprint and he for me if there were to be a break away situation. Stone Pony is well able to float around and use his smarts to position himself as needed to secure a V for himself.
The second reason for racing 30+ was strictly clinical. I wished to conduct a social experiment with the aid of the sMACKs. There were three sMACKs registered to race, all three in the 40+ category. With it known to them that I was racing 30+ and hence, not technically in the same race, would leave me alone or were they indeed hard wired to chase my attacks all day long to their own detriment and indeed to the aid of 40+ contenders such as Stone Pony or Delfino Para?
As we lined up, it became clear that due to the aforementioned bib number issue, the respective fields had no way of differentiating each other by number. In other words, under normal circumstance, the 30+ and 40+ riders will have different colored numbers or all numbers under 50 will be one field and all numbers above 50 will be another. Instead, we had consecutive bib numbers of all the same color and even a few triple digit numbers which were reserved for the Cat 3’s who were starting a few minutes after the masters and would be on the course at the same time. The potential for mayhem existed. Instead, cooler heads prevailed, we asked for a show of hands for the 30+ riders and the number was small but able. My chief competition as I saw it would be Brad Menna, Andrew Rizzo and Adam Lesniowski the latter having had taken on and pummeled the entire team at Cobb Park back in June.
From the start the race was active. And yes, the sMACKs still chased me despite the fact that I was not racing against them or them me. At one point out of courtesy I reminded DownLowsMACK that I was not in their race as I didn’t want to see them burning all their matches needlessly.
“DownLow, you realize I’m in the 30+ race don’t you?”
“Wrong guy,” he said. “That was RobosMACK who was chasing.”
“Okay…Hey RobosMACK, I’m not in your race. You don’t need to chase me if I’m off the front. Make the 30+ guys do it. Save your matches for when you have to chase Stone Pony.”
“You don’t understand Druber, we HAVE to chase you. We can’t NOT chase you. We know you’re 30+ and all but it’s sort of like a Labrador needs to retrieve sticks and a cat needs to chase wads of paper and bat them around. It’s just what we do.”
Thus the social experiment was concluded and the racing went on.
Around about Lap 6 of 15 my bike began to make noise - Bad noise, like I had a cracked frame at the bottom bracket noise. Every pedal stroke was greeted with loud creaking noise well beyond the noisy bottom bracket level. Riders were covering their ears complaining whenever I rode next to them so I decided to drop to the back of the pel just in case my bike was indeed about to crack in two. No need to fall and cause a mass pile up when the bike explodes.
A lap later I was at the back of the pack, and rain began to fall. Hard localized Thunderstorm type rain. I dropped back further as the noise worsened. As per, when rain falls during a race, those who are confident on their bikes attack like kamikaze mad men in an effort to cause those who can’t ride in the wet to either fall o the slick pavement or to pucker up with fear and shrink away. Whatever the case, was at the back and when the rain started falling I didn’t speed up due to the thought that I would soon be withdrawing from the race on account of a broken bike. I was now 300 meters off the back of the pel, considering a full withdrawal from the race on the next time past the start finish line when inexplicably, after two laps, the ear piercing grinding completely stopped. Seems the rain washed out whatever grime was making the noise. Now in the position of having to make up 300 meters on a strung out field in the rain I had my work cut out for me.
I hit the gas and began to close the gap and within a half lap I was back on as Moso-Man, ever the willing helper, dropped back and toted me the final 50 meters to the group. After making contact, I figured it would be a crying shame to waste the momentum that Moso had built up for me so I rolled directly to the front of the group to test the bike by taking a hard pull. The bike was silent. All was right with the world again. Stone Pony, attacked off of my pull and the race was on. His attack was negated and Moso-Man countered. Moso got off with a couple of riders and as the field bore down on them, I noticed that Lesniowski was pinned to the white line by the group. As Moso-Mas was being caught, I countered on the opposite side of the rode and got clear. Since the sMACKs had previously burned their matches they couldn’t chase. The 30+ guys were caught off guard, assuming the sMACKs would help them out. The hesitation bought me some time and since I can’t win any kind of bike race other than a time trial I turned the race into a time trial and some 21 miles later I won the 30+ State Championship.
The real story is what was going on behind while I was off the front. My gap got to as high as 35 seconds. Then it started to drop precipitously. I was losing 5 to 10 seconds a lap and I assumed a chase group was formed and bearing down on me. With 2 laps to go, I was told I had 10 seconds on a 4 rider chase. I knew Lesniowski would be in that group and I knew that if I got caught, I’d finish behind him and who ever else was in the group. I was cooked. Holding on for all that I was worth, I started the last lap 3.5 mile lap and was told that I had 10 seconds on the chase group. I had to climb two more hills and then stomp on it for the final down wind, down hill kilometer. As I crested the final of the two backside hills, I saw a lone rider pounding up the hill much faster than I was going. The rider had a white and red jersey. I thought it was Lesniowski and was damning the circumstances. As I rounded the final corner 1k from the finish, the rider caught me and said
“It’s me Druber. I’m alone. Jump on.”
The familiar Southern IL drawl belonged to Stone Pony. Stone Pony had jumped on the 30+ chase group and had been riding them for the past 4 laps. He was the only 40+ rider off the front and as such was assured the 40+ win. All he had to do was ride the 30+ guys whose chase had stalled at 10 seconds for the last lap and a half. But, there is no glory in tail gunning a group to the finish. Instead, Stone Pony needed to put an exclamation point on the afternoon. He attacked the chase group in the hills, dropped them, and bridged the 10 second gap to catch me with 600 meters to race! We rode in together and crossed the line with duo state championships for Lucas Oil.
I’LL TAKE TWO PICKETS TO TITTSBURGH As the story goes, two gents from Philadelphia wished to take a road trip to see the Phillies play the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Discussing the logistics, one of the two worked closed to the train station and they decided that taking the train would more to the road trip experience than driving and the plans were laid. One gent would secure tickets to the game and the other would secure the train passage. The next day as they were firming up the details the one gent revealed that he had gotten great seats just above the Phillies dugout for the weekend series and he wanted to know if his friend and gotten the train tickets arranged.
“No, I didn’t get the tickets yet.”
“Why not, your office is next door to Union Station. What’s wrong? The train is going to fill up if you don’t get the tickets tonight.”
“Well, I just got so flustered I couldn’t get the tickets.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I went to get the tickets this afternoon actually, and when I got to the ticket window, there was this woman behind the counter that had the most enormous rack I’d ever laid eyes on. I mean these things were like beach balls.”
“Wow…So I don’t get it. Where are the tickets? How does her rack keep you from buying the tickets?”
“Well, I started to tell her I wanted two tickets to Pittsburgh and I was staring at her melons and I said “I need two pickets to Tittsburgh.”
“Ha Ha”
“No you don’t understand. She got all indignant and said “Excuse me?” She was a bit upset.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, I just sort of stammered and stuttered and then just turned around and left.”
“Man, you shouldn’t let stuff like that bother you. It’s called a Freudian slip. It happens all the time. You mean to say one thing and something else that’s in the back of your mid slips out instead. It’s no big deal.”
“Really, this was awkward.”
“Naw, buddy, like I say, it happens all the time. It’s harmless. Why just the other night me and the missus were having dinner at home and I wanted to tell her to pass the green beans and I had a Freudian slip myself.”
“Really, what did you say?”
“I looked at her and instead of saying ‘Honey, would you please pass the green beans,’ I said ‘you miserable bitch you’ve ruined life.”
BA-DUM-DUM-dum
My buddy Cletus who is married to The Lovely Kathy’s BFF Marluuuhhhv (See Archives, Marluuuhhhv Goes to the Races) Decided that we needed a road trip to watch the Next World Series Champions play in Pittsburgh. I had been to PNC Park to watch the Cubs during an off night at Masters Natz last year, which were held at Seven Springs Resort, not far from Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is a beautiful city after a major renovation and re-facing of the downtown and riverfront areas. PNC Ball Park is on the North Shore of the Alleghany River and a super venue for baseball. On the Monday and Tuesday nights that Cletus and I saw the Cubbies pound the hapless Pirates 12-3, and 14-6 well over half the crowds were Cub fans.
After the ball game you can wander across the street, to any number of local taverns such at Mullen’s and partake of local beers, like Iron City and meet local celebrities.
After the two night road trip, we returned from Pittsburgh feeling refreshed, if not a bit toxic from the 8235 pints of Iron City Lager. I needed the break badly. Sunday after the State Road Race, I did one of the slowest 30k time trials I’ve done in 4 years. I was tapped. USCF 50-54 National Road Champion and TT silver medalist Wayne Simon was present with his wife Heidi. I started one minute behind Wayne and as he was counted down and took off, Heidi yelled out encouragement to him…”Don’t let the fat guy pass you!” Well, Heidi didn’t have to worry and neither did Wayne. As slow as I was, Wayne was that much on and he rode an impressive time of 40:23 to my 41:36. That’s a time by Wayne which would have given me a good run for my money even if I were on a good day. The course was in Willow Springs, IL Southwest of Chicago on a track around a forest preserve. One thing that Steve Hansen has done with the Chicago Time Trial Series is that he has brought several interesting TT courses to the table. This course in Willow Springs is definitely a national championship caliber course and would make an excellent road race venue as well providing traffic could be adequately marshaled.
IL STATE TT CHAMPIONSHIPS And finally…Once again the state TT championships were held on the 33k course in Harvard, IL. I was able to persuade Moso-Man that he could win the 35-49 title in a TT longer than 4k on a track if he only showed up for it. He went and bought himself a new Cervelo TT bike and proceeded to do just as I had told him. I entered the Pro 1,2 category and because it was such a nice morning I registered for my age category as well. I rode 41:59 and broke my course record from 2007 by 7 seconds and won that category as well as the 45-49 age group. Just like Ernie Banks used to say, “Let’s play two!”
If you’re keeping track, Bro Leo and Stone Pony have state jerseys for the 30+ and 40+ crits. Stone Pony and I have state jerseys for the 40+ and 30+ road races and Moso man and I took three (3) state titles in the TT. So, as the team winds up the season we have won 7 IL state titles and two National medals on the road and Moso-Man has won a state title on the track to boot.
Next week, we return to Michigan with a full squad for the Priority Health Classics in Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. I’ll let you know how that goes
Click here for Druber's Archives
|
