RATL Munroe Falls, Ohio, April 25, 2009

From CRCycling

Cat 5 Race

By Brian

The team's bad luck continued on this perfect weather weekend at Summit County's Munroe Falls State Park. Well, for Mike at least. The team of Max, Mike and myself held up in the pack just fine, until the end. Mike had a spoke failure. There was a crash right behind him in which one rider took a drink and took his eyes off the road, swerving right and sweeping the front wheel of another racer next to him. This occurred right in front of me, and to my right luckily so I was not involved. Then I see Mike coasting along with his bike clicking. He was not involved in the crash and I could not tell what caused his problems, but he was dropped and DNF'd. Max and I stayed in the pack. I was more patient than last week, but when I made a move to climb into the front third of the pack, I am have waited too late as I never had much opportunity to fight up further and when the final sprint came, I was able to pass a few guys but came in 11th of maybe 30 finishers. I was pleased with the result, and hope to have my timing down a little better for RATL #3. If I had one thing to change I'd have fought as far up the pack as I could during the last lap when I was content to slip in a little before mid-pack. My average speed was 21.5 and average HR was 176. We were about 3 minutes slower this week at over 39 minutes.

By Max

Instant Karma is gonna get you!

Feeling stressed and not having good legs, I was still in a healthy position in the pack. Though I was gonna save some energy mid pack and wait for the sprint... but after comparing the two, you spend MUCH less energy second or third wheel then you do on the elastic of the mid to back of the pack. I like choosing my lines and I like the draft of one rider compared to many. Also, I'm not a good enough pack rider to be able to snake my way up through the pack yet.

Yes, cat 5/Cit races have some newbies who are a bit unsure of themselves and the pace of the pack. Hell I was that rider less then six months ago. And yes we all depend on each other for our safety. And no, none of us are perfect and we are trying to grow the sport, embrace the new riders and take them under our wings, as many riders have done to me.

What I'm trying to say is that I acted like an idiot out of fear, stress, and tiredness. Waaaaaaayyyyyy to much testosterone (someone check the guy in the CCCP kit for doping please). I had a go at some poor soul. I am soooooo disappointed in myself and wish I could make amends. Now it is true he was VERY sketchy, and had some nasty wobbles and braking in the middle of the pack. And yes he had the fear of god in his eyes, but nothing excuses my behavior. I screamed at the poor guy to "Hold you effing line" and some other ungentlemanly things about getting us all killed.

Instead I should have rode up next to him, kept my cool, and told him "hey mate, your riding dangerously, follow me and ask me if you have any questions and protect your front wheel. How would I have felt if I was on the other end of a barrage like that. I'd have felt like crap. And most likely question this whole racing thing. I at least should have apologized to him afters and maybe even sat dow for a chat.

I have goals and ambitions, and I have worked very hard this year to try to reach them, but above all else, I'm a sportsman. And must hold myself to those values.

So my instant karma... I got totally shelled the final lap and got humbled as I deserved. His instant karma... and what I feel like a total idiot... He crashed hard... and I feel kinda responsible. I might have made him more twitchy.

Sorry boys. I'll do better next time