Herriott Sports Performance

The HSP shop team raced the MOE (Mutal of Enumclaw) stage race this weekend. Flash was out due to a severe illness which left a 3 man hit squad that included myself, Richter and Dr. Levin- who was fresh off of a good showing at the Tour of Somerville in NJ last week (the Kentucky Derby of Cycling!). MOE was a 2 day, 3 event race that took place about 90 mins out of Seattle and the first stage race for me since Walla Walla, where I suffered terribly- as you may recall from my post race blog a while back. This weekend was no different in terms of the suffering, BUT the results were much better- if you care about results. Richter won the crit in grand style and I was 2nd in the RR. That got us both into the top 5 in the overall. The race was scored on points, 10 deep per stage- omnium style BUT it was not an omnium, which I am still confused about. Never the less, we showed up to race hard and that we did.

Here is the basic breakdown for the TT and the crit. I will get a little more involved in the RR because it had a pretty serious affect on me.

The TT was 10, short and sweet. GREAT course. I had the GURU chrono dialed in with the Zipp 1080’s and after having done a solid ride in the Walla Walla TT, I was pretty sure I could ripp a fast 10k time. I even rode the TT bike twice during the week, to make sure my position was dialed, because I was pretty sure that I could turn a fast time. WELL. The best plans can often turn pear shaped when a small detail is overlooked. Good warm up. Good shot out of the gate, great breathing rhythm, on top of the big gear early with good cadence and 30 dec guy in sight and ready to pounce quickly. All signs pointing to a good ride. Right turn at speed….. BAM! Solid. Big bumps in the road…. BAM!!! I nailed a big one and CRACK!!! Not a good sound. Seat was not tight enough and………. NOSE DOWN!!! I have 4 miles or so to go and I am now riding what feels to be a tricycle. Not comfortable. I can;t get far enough back on the seat, my arms can’t find a comfort spot and the breathing goes out the window and thoughts of despair enter brain. TT is effectively over. I get to the line in less than stellar time and done. 12 was the result, no point for me.
Next. NO ONE likes to hear the “the nose of my seat dropped” excuse, so I tried to limit the amount of times I used it. TT’s are all about excuses, and if you hang around the parking lot or the results window/wall at the host hotel long enough, you will hear some beauties.

The crit. Our crit started at 7:50 pm, which meant we spend 6 hours sitting around Enumclaw waiting. We went to the store, we went to the coffee shop, and we talked with a lot of people. My butt fell asleep sitting in the grass for so long. I was of course wearing my SKINS as were dozens of other riders from all the categories who were also sitting around waiting- their butts no doubt falling asleep in the grass as well. Flash showed up to watch, even with his illness, to give his support from the sidelines. Nice. The extra muscle is always nice to have in case a rumble were to break out. The last crit I rode was in Walla Walla and I did not really ride, I sat in the back and prayed for it to end. I am terrible in the night time crits. As the sun was getting low in the sky at Enumclaw I was getting nervous. I was looking for redemption after the TT and I know that Richter can win any crit he shows up to. And with myself and Levin keeping the race together, I knew that we could win. There were a few teams with quite a few riders. It was a technical circuit and…… long story short, Richter stomped it and took the win. I was back to feeling good, riding the front, bringing back moves and making sure nothing that went away, stayed away. It was the first time in a LONG time that I was feeling the FLOW. When I got on the pedals I WENT and whatever discomfort that is usually associated with that kind of effort simply was not there. THAT is a good sensation. I’ve been waiting for that! The only downer was that Pete “Money” Banko had a really bad crash in the Masters race and got really messed up. I spoke to him today and he will be back soon!

The Road race. 72 miles? Or something close. 5 laps with a nasty climb up Mudd Mtn. each lap and each lap on the climb there were KOM points good for points towards the omnium. And that means people go bat shit up the climb every time. Goody. Richter and I did a clinic for a local team about a month ago at Mudd mtn. so I had an idea of what I was in for. BUT as is often the case, the climb doesn’t always seem so bad when you’re just out training. It was bad, every time and especially the last time up.

It was hot at the start- we started at 12 pm. I had a very normal morning with the same normal food. I was G’d up for the RR as I am a fan of a tough circuit. We were amped up after Richter’s crit W and were looking forward to making it happen. The hope is always for me to get up the road and to have Dave come across in a small group or vice versa. From there we can figure it out. THAT is plan A. So often in racing you have to resort to plan S as things change so rapidly. The race took of out of the gates and most of the teams were sending guys up the road right away. We stayed active at the front covering this and that and finally a group of 4 rolled. Hagens missed the boat and with 8 plus guys in the race, took up the responsibility of chasing- which they should do. The 2 strong Canadian teams both had guys in the move and so were sitting back to watch things develop. I was not nervous as it was early and the break never got that far up the road due to a constant flurry of attacks and counters. Hagens was not getting it done so myself and other kept taking digs to keep the field moving. I did not want a group to get 5 minutes and then have to deal with getting across. We did finally bring that group back and on lap 3, after flurry of this, that and the other, I got out of Dodge with 2 Canadians. I knew 1 of them but not the other. Rob Britton was the one I knew and I knew he had a motor. I was feeling “pretty ok” but after the crit and the early activity at the front as well as my “limited” training time/ fitness (NOT and excuse!), I was trying very hard to play the conservative card. I had no plans to stay out for almost 3 laps of 5 with just 2 guys. My hope was of course that Dave would come across is a small group and I would play my “chase everything and keep the group together for the sprint or attack late and set Dave up either way or win myself” card. The big issue is that the 3rd guy got dropped on the mtn as soon as we hit it and NO group ever came across. So it was myself and Rob B, who has engine that could power a small city and is worthy of any pro team in this USA.

After trading pulls with him for about 15 minutes, I soon realized that the day was going to be about survival. After we dumped the other guy I told Rob that I was a passenger and that I was not going to be helping him. Honesty pays! He did not attack me on the climb, but he did ride me off of the wheel the final time up and there was not a thing I could do about it. I straight up got dropped. NOT attacked, just dispatched. And that……. was that. Sitting on the wheel leading into that last lap I kept wondering how I was going to fake my way up the mtn. and stay with him. Was it possible? No, it wasn’t. BUT I did do everything I could do to give myself the best possible chance: I sat on (most of the day), I had my breathing under control, I was fed and hydrated, and I was stretching my back and legs as often as possible. This guy was on auto pilot and just mashing his cranks- we were REALLY going fast. Bottom line is that I simply did not have the fitness to deal with him, I was over my head. My race was a TT to the finish, to try and hold off what was left of the group behind. And I TRULY turned myself inside out. I was SO uncomfortable going up that last climb alone that I considered faking a heart attack, a back spasm, and a list of other irrational BS that could take me out of the iron hurt box that I was writhing in. BUT instead, I dug into my memory banks and conjured up some old memories of races where I was turning inside out to stay on the wheel (and there have been MANy), with the hopes of finding some lost inner compartment of whoop ass buried deep within that I might be able to tap into an regain my composure. A few of those memories that came to mind as I grovelled past the KOM sign on the last lap, my breakaway “partner” disappearing up the road en route to a solo V, were:

The first “big” event after my 5 year layoff was the Athens Twilight Crit. Must have been 2000? I started in the back, went all out from the gun and 2 laps later the I ws about to get lapped…… that put things into perspective, especially since I thought I was going pretty good. I remember my heart pounding as I looked back to see the front of the field hard charging. I also remember a college kid throwing a beer at me and telling me to get out of the way. Welcome back to racing……… That was motivating AND pretty horrible too.

Holding on for dear life in single file of line of 120 plus riders at my first Tour of Georgia, in the gutter with winds howling, the gap to the rider in front of me opening (I was towards the back), and a mean Italian rider coming up from behind and hip slinging me back many places while yelling expletives at me. I was SURE they were expletives. THAT was horrible.

The dirt road climb at the Tour de Toona in 2006- my last Toona. I was in the front of the group and totally red lined. It was Nathan O’Neil, then myself, then Frattini then Ten Menzies and host of other after that. I remember thinking that I had “made it” and that I was going to be able to get clear on the open highway climb that was just after the dirt climb. I was falling apart trying to stay with Nathan. He did roll away and I ended up in a small group just behind the 4 or 5 that rolled away. I was so maxed that I thought was going to fall over. And then…… we started to descend. After the stage I could not sit still I was so cramped up and uncomfortable. That REALLY horrible.

The feeling of absolute agony mixed with overwhelming despair was similar in all of the above cases, including this past Sunday’s RR. The big difference was the level of fitness in each case. It ALWAYS hurts, it’s just that sometimes you go faster when you’re hurting. And for whatever reason, we sit around laughing about it after and often say “never again” but….. then it happens again and again. I won’t say that I am out of shape and not race ready, I’m just not in the kind of shape you need to be in to be truly competitive with a younger lad who is training and racing all of the time at a pretty high level. It’s all relative and it’s important to keep things in perspective. The reality is that I will probably not be able to ride a guy like Rob off of my wheel any time soon, and that’s ok. I’ve accepted that my best rides have come and gone but for sure I have plenty of good ones left in me. I’ll be just fine if I keep the distance at about 65 miles and I have to make sure not to put too many hard days back to back as it’s taking a long to recover from those intense sessions.

What a great weekend. It was a great reminder of how hard cycling can be and it really motivated me to keep racing. You see things in yourself when you are at the limit. You ask questions. You imagine things…… it’s amazing. And after its all over you can laugh about it and make all kinds of jokes and blah blah blah. And then you go out- at least I do, and hit it again. Does that ever end? I hope not.

Best,
TH