Trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
PCG Japan coach Gen Kogure won the Masters 35+ team pursuit National Championships as a member of Velo T Rock. Gen Kogure, Heath Dotson, Jordan Rapp, and Michael Miller won the 35+ Team Pursuit at the Masters National Track Championships held in Carson, Ca!!!
We've got a plan. We're going to be sooo pro!
After a week of good but lack luster results, we saw the team pursuit as a chance for redemption. On paper we had a strong competitive team -- we had Heath, last years pursuit champion. Jordan, a young ex-triathlete who had just won the individual event. Michael, a real warhorse / ex-National Champion who had come off a series of UCI elite races. And myself, not much of a draft but strong on short hard efforts as evidenced by 11 sprint wins this year.
We had a special plan: we were all fans of the Huub Wattbike team we wanted to emulate our heroes and try something interesting. In a normal 4km team pursuit we would all take turns pulling for a lap (or 2) pacing ourselves until we finished with 3 or 4 riders. Instead, we would put on a show -- after Heath (last years individual pursuit champion) pulled for a lap and swing off into 3rd position to save our 4th guy, Michael for the 2nd half of the race. I would drill it for 3-4 laps at an unsustainable mid 16 second pace leaving the Jordan, the triathlete/human engine to ride a steady 4 laps. Heath would do another 2. Michael would do another couple. Jordan would finish it off. It all made sense really -- I would get us up to peak speed. It would minimize the number of exchanges for Jordan (who had never ridden a team pursuit) and he could power us to the win as long as Heath and Michael would keep Jordan rested. Simple.
A glitch.
Did I mention that we had never ridden a team pursuit together? Our practice was the 30 minute session before hand that resulted in a near miss crash when some rider lazily pulled out in front of us while we were hurtling around the track at 30mph in tight formation. So we called it and would rely on our experience to see us through -- it was time to ride!
3-2-1 False start.
Heath burst out of the gates but Jordan, unfortunately, was turning his huge triathlete gear and pulled out of his pedal. He would normally head down track to gain momentum, but in a team pursuit that space is occupied by your team mate. So Take 2.
"Everyone has a plan until I punch them in the mouth" -- Mike Tyson
Restart. 3-2-1 go. Well Heath started us off the line like a rocket, and I was on it! Actually, just the two of us. Jordan had started slow so he wouldn't yank his foot out of the pedals and had broken our team in two. I hit the front, and just as I was about to crack open the throttle, I heard yelling that sounded like "hoooollld hooollld!" So I feathered it for a lap and hesitantly lit it up after I heard the shouts to go. Three 16 second laps later, I was done and sitting on the side lines watching the circus unfold.
Improvisation and Desperation
Unbeknownst to me, after Heath's starting pull he had seen the gap in the line and swung back in behind me. He was at over 400w just holding my wheel and was next in line after I swung off. He then proceeded to do his turn and was pretty empty by the time Jordan came through. Jordan hit the front, rode a fast 4 laps, swung off, and then blew the exchange and took himself off the back by a good 10 feet before clawing his way back using his superhuman triathlete powers.
Crawling in
With 1 lap to go, spent from his earlier heroics, Heath came completely undone and fell off the back. He struggled in 20 feet off the back, but we had somehow managed to win.
In the course of 4km, we had blown our line apart THREE TIMES, and when we looked at pictures taken from a professional photographer, half the shots had some part of the team 10 feet off the back. I had the easy job -- ride 4.5 laps hard. I attribute our win to my team mates -- really fantastic athletes whose determination and raw horse power carried the day despite our poor planning and cavalier approach to our race.
PS:
1) We still want to try an unorthodox team pursuit next year.
2) After the race, the most common comment was, "Great race!" followed by, "Well that was an interesting ride...."
3) I went to the doctor yesterday and I learned that I had been trying to race and train on a broken shoulder for FIVE weeks.
0 comments:
Post a Comment