Super Rookie’s World

Here is the race report from the weekend. Naturally there was a lot of awesome stuff that happened. But, I will keep it condensed for the most part. The rest of the stories will be told 20 years from now over a nice fire with all of my grandkids around. The weekend was awesome and the people of Anderson and the Indiana Race Series are wonderful! Thanks for putting on such a great race!

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This past weekend was a blast. I rolled down to Anderson, Indiana with Stewart and Matt. We were planning on meeting Tammy our new teammate at the hotel on Friday night before having to do the first two stages of the three stage race. On the way down to Anderson we attempted to eat at a Steak ‘n Shake only to be denied by terrible service and an abundance of overweight truckers. So we quickly went across the street and waited in line at Arby’s for 20min behind a church youth group. But, we quickly got our sandwiches and put Arby’s sauce all over our curly fries and we were back on the road to Anderson.

After entertaining our new teammate Tammie with our humor we soon off to bed. We all had a little trouble sleeping the first night. I was a little nervous that I was going to cross my line in the bed and start spooning Stewart, who in turn was nervous that his snoring would keep everyone awake. But, at 8am we all got out of bed and began the slow, tedious, pre-race rituals that accompany a stay at a crappy budget hotel. Since there were four of us we had to go down to the front desk to obtain more towels for the shower. We also had the privilege of eating at the “Sunshine Breakfast” that is free with a nights stay. It was the worst breakfast you could ever have prior to a big day of racing.

We loaded up and were off to the west side of Anderson for the big day of racing. The rain was supposed to hold off and the organizers did a great job of securing a big parking lot and facility for us to stage. After the registration and a nice warm up on the rollers seven xXx’ers lined up for the start of the men’s 4/5 race. We were among 4 teams that were well represented in the field of 55.

The race started really fast with a fruitless attack from a student at Ball State University. But, the field wasn’t interested. The course was a 10mile loop that didn’t feature any real climbs that would define a lead group so the race stayed together to the very end. But, this does not mean the racing wasn’t exciting. For instance, throughout the race everyone in the field was privileged to hear mid-race reports presented by Super-Rookie.com and “Rat Fink” being performed by my teammate Matt.

It was also during this race that I got in some verbal gymnastics with a rider from the MOB Squad. Why? Well, the MOB boys had four riders abreast at the very front. With the yellow line rule in effect it was almost impossible to get around them. It was at this point that another MOB rider put in a huge flyer from 20 people back a good 4 feet over the yellow line. I of course wasn’t going to keep my mouth shut on this one. Neither was the rest of the field. During all of this yelling I could here Matt singing some Maiden; “twoooooo minuttttesssss beffffffforrrrrrreeeeee MMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDNNNNNIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHHHHTTTTTTT”

After the brief confrontation on our bicycles everything was really calm. At about the four miles to go mark people began to jockey for position for the impending sprint to the line. It was at this point that my teammate not knowing of the previous verbal jawing went on a beautiful attack 4 feet over the yellow line that went well clear of the pack. It was really awesome and funny to see all of the looks from the MOB boys that I got after that.
Going into the sprint I found Luke who would act as my lead-out. We made the sharp right hand turn that left us about a half mile from the finish. I sat on Luke’s wheel for a little bit and then I felt like I was going to get boxed in by a fast approaching train on my left. I made the HUGE mistake of jumping early and got swallowed up about 50meters from the line by a group of 7 or 8. It was at this point that I sat up to show off my arm bands (and because I was exhausted) that another rider passed me. I quickly made a count to see what position I had gotten. I saw that there were 8 or 9 riders in front of me. So I knew that I had 10th or 9th. After the finish the promoter asked us all to come over and discuss our positions as the camera broke. After the finish had been discussed I had been given 9th place. I knew that this was possible and left thinking that was the case.

The next event was the time trial. I am not good at time trials. Actually, I am terrible at time trials. But, I got a new bike and I borrowed some oversized aero-bars from my teammate Ellen and was ready to go. Somehow I put in a great time trial and tied for second in my category. I even caught my 30sec man right before the finish.

This is me looking all aero while warming up. I know that I need to work on my position, but I like looking at myself.

This is a snap shot of the ample advertising space that I offer prospective sponsors. In this case the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation.

We quickly left the staging area and went to a Mediterranean place for the vegans to eat and we took a quick nap before hitting the town. I will save you all the stories for now, but I will tell you that Stewart and I are not very good at Shuffleboard, nor where we anywhere close to the caliber of world-class athletes that grace the Caboose on Saturday nights.

The final event was the criterium on the campus of Anderson University. It was pouring rain all day and the overall was already decided with the road race winner also demolishing everyone in the time trial. But, somehow I got dropped from 9th to 11th place in the road race and those 4 points meant that I was no longer on the podium. So, I mentioned it to the promoter who did a wonderful job throughout the weekend and took care of me.

Before the race watching the xXx women kick ass. Note the weather!

So going into the criterium I was in second place and it was next to impossible to catch the overall leader. The plan was to sit in the pack and defend the second step all the way to the end. If the leader went on the attack we were only going to follow if another went with.

Before the start of the crit I went on my lap around the course which had 4 turns and real long straights. I came around after a lap on the rain slicked course to find no one at the start line. It was at this point that I decided to go around again. When I came down the front stretch they blew the whistle and I was already 50 meters off the back. After the race I would find out that Stewart, Matt and Luke did an awesome job of stalling for me to catch up to the start. What teammates I have! But, in my mind I think that they really want to know if there were any primes or feed zones on the course!

This is me missing the start. Shortly before I yelled “Hey guys wait for me!” When I yelled that I felt like the neighborhood fat kid that always got ditched.

During the crit the leader went off the front and we let him go and Luke and I formulated our plans to clean up in the sprint on the last lap. As we came around turn four I was right on Luke’s wheel. He took me hot out of the corner and I sat for about 25m before jumping to the first attack. From there I went to the next guy who was just in front of Luke. I sat for a little while and then I put “the hammer” down and won the sprint by a nice margin.

Here is the sprint. Thanks to Luke no one was close.

Because of my teammates on the bike and the teammates that helped me get through the Anderson experience I managed to get 2nd place overall. That also meant that I was in the money and got to be on the podium. Not just any podium. I was on the podium next to the Little 500 Queen! Whoo hooo.

But, I got my own picture with the Princess. Oh, it was raining outside I swear!

Epilogue…

Luke emailed me a photo that clearly shows I was in 10th place in the road race. But, even those two points would not have changed the overall. But, I did in fact get 10th in the road race. I apologize if someone was hurt by my insistence on 9th place, but people said that is what I got and I knew it was a possibility.

I also want to thank Luke for all of the great pictures. You can find more on his blog and flickr account.

Stewart was also a great sport in letting us use his car over the weekend. I will admit that I thought he would have an Audi, but his Chrysler was fantastic! I hope that he has better luck next time in the road race and doesn’t get a flat tire. But, he is a great sport and had a nice time trial and a great crit!