d.blomme
Out at the trails the last two weeks, there have been a ton of chipmunks playing some crazy gang like initiation of "who can get closest to the biker dude's wheel without getting whacked" game. I got stung by a bee in the temple 3-4 times (must have gotten stuck in my helmet strap), almost swallowed a butterfly and came pretty close to a large deer yesterday. Today I hit the trails again with some long time friends and again, it was awesome.
The team also had its share of mishaps during the season, with Barney ("what speed bump") Sheafor taking himself out of the whole road season with a broken collarbone during a training camp crash no less, Scott ("barrier, what barrier") Vogelman crashing on the Capital Square, David ("I've got that corner) Blomme taking a dive at Downer Ave, and most recently, Dale ("oh sh*t") Humphrey unable to avoid the pile up at Race the Lake. Thankfully all lived to race another day!
I am sure everyone is already looking forward to next year, but for now it's time to dust off the cross bikes and break out the cow bells!
As a result, there was a huge front group (and it became even larger due to the second wave catching us!) - probably 100+ riders. I did the race 2 years ago and recalled one section of road where the organizers had placed cones along the centerline, and as riders hugging the centerline veered at the last minute each time they came to a cone, meant carnage behind as whoever was following did not see the cone in time. Well, needless to say, carnage again this year too! I managed to swerve around a couple falling riders, only to hear the large crash as riders in the pack barreled into those who were down. And unfortunately Dale was one of the victims, his knee hit pretty hard, but amazingly his bike was pretty unscathed - man those Madones are tough bikes!
All-in-all it was a nice ride (great sunrise over Lake Winnebago), but not sure I want to do it next year as riding with 100 or so of my closet friends for 90 miles is a bit much (I think they probably had close to 1000 overall)! Although how many of you can say that by 9:30 am you had already driven 80 miles and raced your bike for 90 miles!
Who was I to ignore the chance to ride the Centurion? Curtis was able to get entries thru Trek (major sponsor) and so the only decision was whether to do the 100 or the 50. I knew I was not fit enough to race 100 miles. I was not even sure I could SURVIVE 100. The last time I had done any significant distance was during early season training in Florida. And after Superweek, while I was starting to get some good commuting miles in, the weather had turned so hot and humid that my commutes were survival rides, just trying to get used to the heat. Still lots of mates were talking 100 and I did not want to be the only one to be doing the 50 on the team. So I was a happy guy when I heard we would have a team for the 50 as well.
The plan was to meet at 6:15 to talk race stuff and queue up around 6:30 to get ready for the 7Am start. With as many people as expected at the start, a good position at the start was a very good idea. Doing the math (drive time, warm up, mucking around), I figured I would need to get up around 4:30 - ouch! And the first thing I heard when I got out of bed was BOOOOOOM - not too distant thunder. Hmmmm - last year they postponed the start. Would that happen this year? I fired up the computer and took a look at the radar map and while there was heavy rain forecast to roll thru Madison, it looked like the rain would stop by 6:45. Nothing on the Centurion web site and I decided I had better go and take my chances. Sure enough, just minutes after I got on the trainer to warm up, Dale came thru with the news that the start would be at 9AM. Coffee time! Bought the Sunday paper and read about dysfunctional politics for a while. And it rained. And it rained. 8:30 rolled around and we were still standing under the hatches of our cars trying to stay dry. 8:45 - the rain is just stopping as we roll over to the start. I had no idea if they would break out the 50 and 100 groups or start us together but I got up to the front and chatted with Shelley and Fo and others lining up. Shelley and I were commiserating about how little sleep we got and how nice a nap would be RIGHT NOW!
Off we go and the roads are wet for a little while. Whether it was that, no warm up for anyone or the notion that it was going to be a long day, the initial pace was pleasant as we rolled off into the rolling countryside west of Madison. And what nice morning - the sun came out, beautiful scenery and folks were on the course, cheering us on. It was a good day to ride! Pretty soon, though it was clear I did not bring my climbing legs. 15 or so miles in was a longer climb and I gradually slipped off the back of the lead group. Damn! I wanted to get sucked along till the groups split. But all was not lost! A group of about 10 of us including most of the Trek 50 mile folks formed up and pretty soon a few of us were driving the pace and the lead pack was coming closer. And we hooked back up after a few miles. Sweet! Back to cruising! At pretty much the half-way point, the packs split and about 20 folks doing the 50 peeled off - and into the KOM climb. On the previous shorter climb, I overextended myself trying to stay on and had to really struggle at the top to get on wheels. I knew this would be a longer climb so I just had to climb within myself and hope to hook up with people at the top. So I waved goodbye to the others and tried to settle into a rhythm. Fortunately, I managed to catch up to one other person at the top and he and I settled into working together. He was stronger on the climbs but I think I was rolling the flats better so it worked for both of us as we pushed thru the countryside. And I started to feel grateful I decided to do the 50 - definitely running low on energy with 5 miles to go. And the temperature was steadily going up. How nice to see the finish line from the top of Airport Road. And finished in 2:12 - sweet! Better yet, I found I was the first finisher in my age group and the others, Shelley, Fo, Jarred and David S all did well though Shelly was the one who cleaned up as first woman overall and KOM - not bad for the lack of sleep! Or was it her new SSL? Now, why we were not the 1st place team for the 50 is beyond me. Our total finishing time was 10:46, a FULL HOUR better than the "official" first place team. There were 5 of us, enough to be counted as a team. Perhaps we were not all recognized as being part of Trek Midwest. Whatever! But by the time the team results were announced, I was the only "Trekkie" still there and I was thinking more about a nap (must be my age!) than challenging the results. A moral victory is enough for me. Perhaps this will be my last race of the season - I have done 25 or 30 races, starting in April and feel like it is time to just get on the bike and ride, rather than train. And if this is the last road race of the season, it will be one of good memories.
Vive le tour! from Bear Thunder on Vimeo.
