Racing (and other things)

Last Sunday, like most other Sundays, I got an early-morning phone call from my mom. Usually, she gives me a ring as she's reading the NYT and having some coffee. We talk about what we did on Friday and Saturday night, what we plan to do with our Sunday afternoons (she goes out hiking and I'm out on the bike), and how I intend to get my thesis done. It's comforting and reassuring. Usually. Last week, she called me with the news that my 84 year-old grandfather had had a stroke the day before. And of course, I was immediately thrown into a panic, only because when someone suffers a stroke, it's usually pretty bad. Or so I thought.

Later in the day, I called my grandparents' house and my grandmother picked up the phone. I asked how she was and how my Paw-Paw was, and she told me that he was in the fridge dishing himself up some lunch. And I thought, "Wait a second? He's not in the hospital? I thought he had a stroke?" Apparently, the stroke that he had suffered was pretty small – so small that he was released the next day. Regardless, I made plans to drive down to visit my grandparents, only because I hadn't seen them in a number of months and now was as good as a time as any. I also hadn't seen those friends of mine in Athens who I would ride with regularly. And with the season's first cyclocross event on Sunday, I packed my (Allison's) car full of two bikes, tools, clothes, books, and a million other items and hit the road.

I left Chicago for Athens on Wednesday morning at about 9 AM, and made good time through Indiana and Ohio. I saw more state troopers than I could count, and since I don't want nor need a speeding ticket, I maintained a steady and slightly-illegal 8 MPH over the speed limit the entire way. I got into Athens at 5:15 and went to the Athens Cycle Path bike shop to change into my gear and to put my road bike back together. Then we rolled down to Peden Stadium and waited until 6 PM before we started the Wednesday Worlds ride.

Wednesday Worlds is a veritable race – breakaways are attempted, attacks are made, and at the end of the 32 mile ride, one's legs are on fire from the constant efforts. It was also the highlight of my week when I was living in Athens – it was part social event and outlet for my frustrations with school. I've done the entire route over an hour and 30 minutes, which is fast, considering the terrain, which ranges from smooth paved roads, to gravelly (and scary) descents that have to be ridden with great trepidition. This past Wednesday was no different. Katsu Tanda and I tried to make a couple of breaks, but none of them were unable to stick. It was only when we rode up the big climb of the ride that we were able to get away from some of the other riders. Unfortunately, John Lefelhocz, who owns Cycle Path and one other rider, a Cat. 2 whose name I've since forgotten, were the first ones to crest the hill and put in a hard effort to get away from Katsu and I.

After the descent down the hill, we put in a hard effort to catch back up, but it was only when John and Mr. Cat. 2 decided to let up did we catch back on. Just at that moment, Katsu popped a tire, so I decided to wait with him until he fixed his bike. A minute or two later, the riders that we had dropped on the hill had caught back up to us, so we all decided to ride back into town together. That's not to say that the pace was easy – we attacked each other left and right, and at the final ascent to the Athens town limit, I made my move and 'won'. After the ride, I went back to Katsu's place and took a shower and then he and I walked up to Casa Nueva where we proceeded to eat like pigs and for me at least, get pretty buzzed.

The next day, I went up to school and took care of some business at the library, and after speaking with my thesis committee chair, Bill Reader, I was on my way to my grandparents' farm, which is about 40 miles away. I got there and my grandmother greeted me at the door and told me that my grandfather was out mowing fields on one of his tractors. While he was out, I got to work cutting down some overgrown bushes and then I went to go practice CX dismounts in the fields. After a particularly bad dismount, my right knee gave me a twinge of pain, so I cruised for a bit on SR 339 and then came back to a solid dinner of meatloaf and homegrown veggies. Seeing that I'm not much of a meateater, I only had a bit of the 'loaf, but it was delicious all the same.

The next morning, I went out for a good, hard road ride on some of the wonderful roads that exist in this part of the country. Hills, hills, and more hills – I was in roadie heaven. Since moving to Chicago, I've pined for the riding that is available in Southeast Ohio and I definitely took advantage of my trip in order to get some solid miles in. Did the route in about 1:45 – I took a long time to warm up. as my legs were pretty fried from the previous afternoon's efforts. Once I got back to the farm, I got back to work in the yard and field. I also had to help my pa put the refrigerator back together. After a nap, I got on the road to Cincinnati.

Back home in Cincinnati, I stopped by my mom's and had a solid dinner. I then went over to my dad's house and watered his plants and fed his cat, as he is in Italy with my stepmom on vacation. Must be nice. The next morning, I went for a 20 mile ride at 60% up to Devou Park in NKY to move my legs around. Later that night, I picked up Ben Popper, a Team Pegasus teammate, from the Megabus 'terminal' in downtown Cincinnati. We went back to my dad's and chilled out in front of the TV, and at midnight we went to bed, because the next morning we were racing the Darkhorse Cyclo-Stampede in Burlington, KY.

At a bright and early 7:00 AM, I was up and getting ready for racing by downing nearly half a pot of coffee, which made me exponentially more nervous and jittery than I should have been. After waking up Ben and getting the car all packed up, we headed down to the race. I registered for the 'B' race, Ben the 'A' race. Ben is damn fast, and with some of his recent results, it made perfect sense for him to race with the big dogs, because, well, the man is one himself. We pre-rode the course a couple of times and found it to be hard-packed, dusty, and fast. Cincinnati/NKY is in the midst of a pretty bad drought – the area is about 12-13 inches down for the year, and it's evident in the brown, parched yards and dead foliage throughout the community. The race course was a winding, flat-ish route, set along a road and soccer field, with a few small bumps and three sets of barriers: two single barriers and one set consisting of four barriers that were paired in such a way, that one had to make a choice to either run the bike through or attempt to remount the bike in the short 30-foot section between the barriers. After that, the route circled back onto a paved trail and then swung back to the main road where the finish/start line was located.

The course wasn't particularly technical, but since the terrain was so rutted and hard, it was extremely punishing. After three warm-up laps, my hands had already started to hurt. Normally, I'm not a big fan of gloves, but for 'cross, and especially with yesterday's race, I was glad that I had brought my mitts.

Right at noon, we were off; riders left and right were bumping and pushing for position. I ended up about three-fourths of the way back, only because I wasn't aggressive enough at the start. The first lap saw about five riders take a big spill at the first set of double barriers. It was at that moment that I really put on the gas and started to reel in some of the riders who had overtaken me at the beginning. In the second lap, I fell victim to the four-pack of barriers when I miserably failed a remount after the second set, and came crashing to the ground right in front of my mom. I did nearly come close to crashing onto a man standing by the barriers with his two small children – whoops! I got up, grabbed my bike, and got back on with only a few scratches.

As the laps went on, I tried to maintain a solid pace, and I think that I was, for the most part, successful. The effort was so high and the conditions so dusty, that I was dying for a drink about halfway through. I wish I had arranged for a hand-up from Ben, but seeing that I envision myself as a sort of cycling "hard man", I had decided that water would be unncessary until after I had broken the wills and legs of my fellow racers. Stupid, really. Next race, if it's as hot as this one was, I'll have to arrange to get a drink sometime during the race.

For the most part, I spent most of the race jockeying for position with two other riders – and it was only near the end of the final lap that I was able to leave them behind. I ended up finishing 10th, which isn't bad, but I know that if I was only a bit more aggressive at the beginning, I could've placed higher. No big deal, really – this race was more of a test of legs and technique than anything else, and also a way of proving to myself that I can indeed race bikes competitively.

I won't get into it, because you really ought to read Ben's blog entry for the entire scoop, but Ben placed 8th in the 'A' race – which is, when you consider that he was racing against the regional pro riders, pretty damn amazing. After he tore it up, we waited for him to receive his $30 prize (which paid for his entry fee) and went back to my dad's to shower and pack the car up. After saying bye to my mom, we hit the road and made great time back to Chicago, even with a stop at a Waffle House in Indiana, where Ben proceeded to have a 2000 calorie meal. Since I'm trying to maintain my svelte figure, I opted to eat only 1500 calories of buttery, eggy goodness.

After dropping Ben off at his place, I finally made it back home to Rogers Park and after reading for a while, crashed to sleep.

The tally since Wednesday: 1,189.4 miles driven; four shrubs mutlilated; two meals at Casa Nueva; immeasurable good times.