Napa Grand Prix, 35+ 3/4

Napa Grand Prix Race Report 21 June, 2008
By Michael ORourke

For course and weather, see the previous race report.
Right off the start I hear my Mom yell “Keep your tires on!.” Moms - ya’ gottta’ love ‘em! This race (45+) was a smaller group and better behaved than the 35’s. Right away I can see that we are all taking the same (and in my opinion best) line thru the hairpin. I also had my familiar wheels back on so handling was no longer an issue. I did manage to have my rear wheel bumped once, but it was over before I knew it. There were a couple attacks, but nothing substantial. A few primes offered up, but I wasn’t interested in contesting those. I’m after those upgrade points! There’s one rider who keeps going off the front and I can tell he’s hungry for a break. He looks capable, too. So, he spends a few laps off the front, and the gap seems to be growing. Todd Marshal, of Armstrong Lending is an old teammate of mine and went down with me in the last race. He’s had many good results thus far this season and I figured I could count on him for a good break partner. Counting him and the other guy already off the front I figured three of us had a good chance of staying away should we bridge up. No one else seemed interested in closing the gap, and it had become uncomfortable for me to let this guy get farther away. So as I pull thru past the Z-Team rider I ask if he’s ready to shut this down. He just smiled, so I took that as a “Yes”. A couple corners later I look back and I have about 5 seconds on the group. So I figured “Fine, I’ll bridge up by myself and the rest can race for 3rd. Just then along comes Todd and an ICCC rider. Good, reinforcements! Another lap or so and the four of us have a 10 second gap and are working together fairly well. I can tell Todd was a little cooked from bridging, but figured he’d recover. I wasn’t going to feel comfortable until we had at least 20 seconds on the field so every time I pulled thru I really tried to drill it. Then, as I yelled back at Todd to get on my wheel he simply replied, “I can’t, your hurting me!”. The other two didn’t seem to be fairing much better, either. “This is so cool!” I thought. I’m in a break and apparently the strongest rider in it. All we have to do is hit that 20 second mark and I’m golden. 10 seconds grew to 12, then 15, then 18, and within a few more laps, 20 – the magic number. Even though I was doing a majority of the work it was worth it as I could now take a little recovery, even if it cost us some time. The announcer threw up a couple prims to get the pack to chase. Apparently a couple riders attempted but failed and now they offered a prime to us the lead group. I came thru completely uncontested and that confirmed it for me. Now the lap cards have come out (10 to go) and just in case anyone is playing possum back there, I decide to gap a little each lap before the straight section into the wind, which had now picked up enough to be a factor. I took my recovery into the wind while they chased back on and then would drill it again thru the corners. I unexpectedly picked up a 5 second gap with 3 to go. These are really short laps so I figured I could solo it in from here. I though I was off the front, but then the ICCC rider came past me just over the start/finish line going into the bell lap. I’m thinking either he’s might still have a lot left in the tank and this will be a very hot lap, and I damn well better not settle for 2nd after all that. Not with my Mom watching and all! As it turns out this was merely a tactical error on his part. He wasn’t’ strong enough to pull away and all he did was give me a really great lead out into the wind. Maybe he figured I was cooked? Had he sat on my wheel instead, he might have had a better chance at contesting the sprint. The key for me at this point is to stay on his wheel out of the wind, and don’t f-up the hairpin! Around we go, total concentration and I nailed it! Now it’s a drag race to the finish and the way my sprint has been lately I had total confidence. I got the jump (slightly) coming out of the turn because of the perfect line, and I think adrenaline must have gotten the better of me as I actually passed him much sooner than expected. Again, I wasn’t going to go this far and take second! I even had time to sit up and mug before the finish! Man, that felt great! Normally I don’t encourage that kind of selfishness, but it does seem to be a bike racing tradition, and those opportunities don’t come along all that often.