Struck a Nerve

Yesterday morning was the start of a series of unfortunate events that happened at work. Most of which I wont mention here except for the one that really affected me physically. After I arrived at work from a moderate ride in I grabbed my bag and headed over to the gym to get cleaned up, but as I leaned over I some how managed to pinch a nerve in my back. In excruciating pain I pretty much dropped to my knees and had to struggle to stand up. My first thought was how in the hell was going to get home and how was I going to race tomorrow.

I head over to gym and sit in the hot tub and then take a nice long hot shower and there was some relief but unless I was sitting straight up or standing up any position that required balance there was a sharp pain shooting all over my back. I put some biofreeze (great stuff for fatigued legs) on my back and took a motrin to help with the pain. Later in the day I would get a bottle of frozen water and put it on my back. When it came time to head home I was nervous, my back was hurting and knew I wouldn't be able to my leg openers like I planned in preparation for today.

On the way home I was able to spin, but anything that required real power really hurt my lower back, you'd be surprised how much you use you back muscles. Every time I would try and and stand up on the pedals (how I like to climb) the pain would appear and wouldnt be able to do much.

I let my teammates know how I was feeling and that I wasn't expecting much, so the goal became show up pinup, clip in and stay in the pack as long as possible, after all we did sign up for two forty mile races.

With everything prepped the night before I leave at 5am to pick up Tods and Luis and we head to Walkersville, about an hour for Luis' place, this race seemed like a local race compared to Morgantown last week. We arrive early, roughly around 7am, we register for our first race, and head back to the car to get squared away. With not knowing how much time we had between races we asked if we could get our numbers for the second race as well. With not much time for warm up and 40F at the start we started getting ready for the race.

Not sure why or what I was thinking I when I saw on Monday that they added a second 4/5 40 mile race at 8am and suggested we do it. I mean we just started racing and that was going to be two 40 mile races in a day with only 45 minutes or so between them at most. But if anything it was good for races 6 and 7 on my count to get 10, so almost there.

We knew this race was going to be windy with a very stiff West wind we knew this would make it difficult for a break to stick unless there were quite a few people in it. Plus with my back the way it was, I was planning on just sitting in. The start of the race was very pedestrian, almost too slow it seemed from sitting in the pack. Last week I learned that at the beginning of the race let other people do the work plus we didnt know the course.

While sitting in the pack I started chatting with Brian, not sure what team his on or if he is on one, but he was the guy that I talked to last week in Morgantown that I refered in my previous post about him suggesting I was sandbagging. Well I took what he said the wrong way, he didn't mean that at all and understood that I needed to do my 10 races like everyone. Plus he went on to say that my blog was linked to a website with quite a following well guess that means I will be watching what I post now ;) no more power numbers.

On the first part of the course that is where the fierce headwind was, a single file line quickly formed as no one wanted to do much of the work, and then approaching the first turn about .5 out there was a crash, I just heard it and didnt turn around to look as I was near the front and didnt want to cause another. A teammate Rob, who I had just met rode up to tell Luis and I that Tods was involved and was out of the race. This was a real bummer as he is a strong rider and good for a nice string out to wear people out.

The pace for the rest of the first lap was rather slow, I suppose people was wondering who was willing to do any work and get used to the headwind. After a lap or two I was getting used to the pain in my back and it wasnt bothering me as much. At this point I started to get a little aggressive as no one wanted to do anything. I would take some pulls then try to get off and they would literally just sit on my wheel it was frustrating to say the least.

Whenever some one would attack a huge rider from SynFit would go after them, very strong guy but unfortunately this kept the pack together as he was following any attack and drafting him was like riding behind a semi truck.

On the forth lap after being frustrated with the pace and lack of initiative from some of the fellow riders I got up and pulled. I got as low as I could and just hammered it for almost an entire lap. There were some rollers where I would put a little more speed into and stand on the pedals a bit and then try and pick it up some even on the descents, was willing to do anything to drop some riders just to thin the field. After the lap though I felt like I had done all I could at that point and no good deed goes unrewarded I thought to myself, maybe just maybe if I bust my ass out there I can possibly get a good result.

Well on the last lap the pace picked up some, I sat in the top 10 and tried to focus on who's wheel to follow, mainly the SynFit guy. The stair climb wasnt nearly as tough as I thought it would be and any one in descent shape had no issues riding with the pack up it or even catching back up. So it was even hard for anyone to try and break away there. But out of nowhere about 2/3 in to the last lap a guy in blue vests comes up the outside and goes off the front. I saw him go and no one went after him, guess they thought he was going to get caught. After pulling a total of almost a 1/3 of the race I was fed up with doing all of the work and just let him go. In fact I remember after the last turn some one asked if the guy in the blue vest was with us and I heard, no just a dropped rider. I kept my mouth shut until about a mile out. I yelled he is with our group get him.

Then all of the sudden people wanted to go for it, the pace picked up drastically and with my back hurting it made it hard to stand up on the pedals to hang on to the wheels in the sprints so I had to sit and spin. I stayed with them, mainly behind the SynFit guy, but also kept an eye on him as the little rollers he would fall back a little and then noticed him running out of gas. I kept on it. We were catching the blue vest. I was still in the top five with 200m out.

At this point I pretty much got rid of the whole mentality I am not a sprinter so I cannot contest a finish. I did my damn work, I deserved to be up there. So I did it. I gritted through the pain of my back and stood on my pedals and went for it. The last little roller I think really gassed some people as they were loosing momentum, not sure were Luis was I just kept going. I really wanted him to do well in this race but unfortunately he was a little far back and was blocked in because of the center line rule.

In the sprint I caught up to 3rd guy and 2nd was approaching, I wasnt sure how much I had left in me or if I had enough road to the line to pass 2nd. I just kept going got as low as I could in the position and pushed as hard as I could, I caught 2nd now all I had to do was just get in front of him somehow, didnt need much, just a couple inches. I saw the blue line I think it was in the road and just focusing on 2nd wheel, I inched out in front and made it to the line just in front of him, at that point we had almost caught all the way up to the blue vest, but he had won it, and to be honest, not to brag, I let him. I was tired of me doing all the work on the front. I could have bridged the gap but most likely in doing so probably would have brought the entire group with me and then I would have been spent and then shot out the back.

Honestly at that point this was a lesson in know when to hold'em and know when to fold'em, because I truely could have just used what little I left in the tank to make the bridge and then be spit out the back or just hold off let some one else attempt to make the bridge and attack from there, which is what I did and I think worked out well. In the end I finished 2nd and Luis finished 5th. I think we had an excellent race aside from Tod's crash and did really well in a 4/5 race racing as 5s and finishing in the top 5 with half the field still together.

Once I caught up with Luis on the way back to the school we began to discuss the next race, we had just over 45 minutes until that start. With Tods out for that race because of a broken handle bar, derailuer hanger and rear derailuer I honestly didnt want for him to have to sit around for another 3 or so hours, I felt horrible for him. So Luis and I made the decision that we will start the second race and after a lap or two, pull off mainly to get credit for the start, because unfortunately that is all we needed.

We got back to the car and checked out the damage done to Tods' and his bike, we cleaned out his road rash and refueled. Wasnt sure about Luis but my legs were pretty shot after that first race and wasnt sure how I would even do in the second one if we had to last the whole thing. We informed out teammates that we werent going to be in the whole race and wanted to try and lay down a couple attacks to maybe even attempt to weaken the field with getting people all riled up.

The race started on time and unfortunately Luis and I were near the back at the neutral roll out. The pace was a lot quicker, I mean we were almost off the back just taking it easy and these guys started from the get go. We made our wat towards the front, Luis went off first and four or five guys went after him right as planned, the whole groups pace picked up a bit. I then worked my way from the inside over to the outside and as we approach a little riser I saw the perfect opportunity to go, I hammered it and just took off. I heard people yelling, on the left on the left. I caught up to the front and yelled to Luis to sit up, that way the other riders would have to go around him and sprint to catch up to me. It worked like a charm, they did it. I held it out there as long as I could and the with the descent into the stairs I down shifted and spun up the climb. At this point I was caught and swallowed up by the pack and my legs were completely spent. With all of the speed of the pack every one passed me as I slowed down and even heard a crash behind me as people were still descending quickly in to a part of the group that was ascending and going slower.

Luke eventually passed me and told me that Luis was back there and didnt think he was caught the crash. I sat off the back and just wanted to finish the lap. I did my work, just wanted to get home now. I saw Luis G falling off I caught up to him and told him to grab my wheel as I catch back up to the pack, I guess he didnt as I made it back to the pack by myself.

I rode with the pack back to start finish line and afterwards just stopped wondering what happened to Luis. Another group passed me as I pulled over and the rear reff passed as well, I told I was done and to keep going. I eventually saw Luis and we headed back to the car. Evidently he was right behind the bikes that crashed and avoided it by going off into the field and then back onto the road, good save and quick thinking.

Back at the car we chatted about how things went with some 3 racers that were waiting around. We took our time getting ready, collected our prizes from the first race and then went to find some other teammates.

We stumbled across Turtle, Dan, Mike, DJ, Vic, and Brent I think. We shared with them the news of the first race and they were excited to hear about the results. I am sure some people will judge us for our actions of basically doing one lap of a race to get credit for it, but well unfortunately according the rules thats all we need to do. If results really mattered and we could get cat'ed up finishing in the top X number of times trust me I would have busted my ass out there a lot more.

I was happy with the way the race went, come the third lap I knew it was either I do something or this is going to be a cluster fuck the entire race. I did something, I dont pay to come out and sit in group ride with people I have no idea how their handling is. So if that means I need to go on the front to pull I suppose that means that I need to do that, its safer, I can take my own line in the turns, and I ride the pace I want to ride and if its too slow for everyone else, well get up there and do some work. In the end I would akin this to a good workout with a nice sprint finish.

Again, really sorry to have what happened to Tods' bike and glad he is ok with minor road rash and happy with my result and great job Luis to sprint up to 5th.

And as always I appreciate all of the support from my darling wife and son for dealing my problem.

Next up, Chantilly Crit number 8, and Carl Dolan numbers 9 and 10.