Smithers MINNEAPOLIS

Massacre Rant

Last night was the final race of the State Fair criterium series and it was one for the true tuff riders. Rain and more rain. Plus the temps were kinda of on the cool side.

Ped and I decided to maximize the suffering and ride to the race. We had been riding to the previous events and it has been making for a great day of training. I have been ended up with 75-85 miles on the bike by the end of the evening.

If we had known what the weather was going to do we may not have ridden, but the rain did not start in earnest until Ped and I started to make our way over to Falcon Heights. Pouring rain and even some lightening and thunder made the commute to the race interesting, but upon arrival we were warmed up and ready to go.

Unfortunately we still had about 20 minutes before the race started and we both had the full blown shakes before our race started. It was warm enough that a half a dozen warm up laps got rid of the chills and we were set to go.

I was kinda hoping that the pace would be easy to start with. The Nature Valley Grand Prix just ended last Sunday and I thought that the fast guys would either be cooked from the racing or stay away from the rain. No such luck. The pace was blasting fast from the start.

The rain kept on coming, in fact it seemed to come down even harder throughout the race. Water was pooling in the road at various points on the course making things so wet that my brakes were almost totally useless.

The lack of braking ability does not have to be a problem if you are racing with accomplished cyclists, which was the case for the most part last night. The speed is high, but guys who have been racing for 15 or 20 years know how to approach a corner and take the turn at speed, usually making braking totally unnecessary. It’s fantastic, you line out and set up the turn, follow the wheel of the rider in front of you, come in and out of the apex with no change in speed and just keep the hammer down. Even with riders right next to you, if everyone knows what they are doing there should be no problems.

However, problems arise when you have individuals who don’t know what they are doing. They setup the turn wrong, come in off line, cut in front of riders at a different speed or a different approach line and generally and royally screw things up. The best case scenario is that they create a gap that has to be shut down once you come out of the turn. The worst case is that they actually ride into you.

There were some younger riders from a development team at the race last night who seem to be more interested in developing a reputation for their poor riding skills than developing into better riders. One of these guys actually knocked Ped off his bike last night. This followed repeated requests by Ped to pay attention to what was going on and make attempts to ride safer. This individuals response to Ped before the crash was to sass off about his riding skill and his response to Ped following the crash was an offer to fight it out right there on the road. This individual obviously had no clue regarding his lack of riding technique. Once he was put back into the race following his neutral lap I watching him continue to take bad lines through the corners and at one point cause three riders from the Synergy Team to take evasive action to avoid crashing into him following the chicane section of the course. This individual then bailed out of the race forcing me to shut down the gap that his actions caused.

I am all for development teams and working to get new riders into the sport. But a bike race is not a class room. We are out there to have fun and compete but most of us have job and families to get home to following the race. I can’t afford to be laid up for a week (or worse) because someone is way in over their head.

Copping an attitude about your lack of experience is just adding insult to injury. When I was learning the sport and some dude yelled at me to “hold my line” I was so intimidated that I would immediately drop to the back of the field, get the hell out of the way and try and figure out what I was doing wrong. The last thing I would think to do when someone barked at me in a race is to make derogatory comments about the dudes mom. WTF!? Being an accomplished cyclist is more than just being fit enough to ride around with the fast guys. If you can’t actually keep control of your bike then you should spend a bit less time “training” and a bit more time learning technique.

So anyhoo, the race split up into three groups and I found myself in the back group. No surprise there. At one point before the second split Timmer recognized what was happening and moved to the front. Timmer has been around long enough to read a race and I have been around long enough to know that Timmer knows what he is doing. I should have tried to get on his wheel went he moved up but I just sat there and watched him ride away. I’m not saying I could have gone with him, but it would have been more satisfying to try. Oh well. It’s fun racing with a guy like Timmer because, more often than not, he puts himself in the right place to be successful. Scott Flanders is like that too. These guys have been around so long and raced so many times that they have literally seen it all. If you can keep up with them it’s not a bad strategy to just ride around keeping track of these guys and just do what they do, if you can.

Following the “A” race there was another event before the “B” race. I was considering doubling up but following the end of the first race I started to cool down pretty quick so Ped and I decided to bail out and head home.

I got home just in time for my wife to hand me a can of Progresso soup and state “bon appetit!” I enjoyed chicken and wild rice with a side of Cheez-Its. Très bien and merci.