Salida Omnium
July 28-30, 2006
I was in 
Time Trial
I thought I did well here, but I didn’t. I kept my heart rate up high and suffered mightily, but my time 17:13 and my place, 12th, out of only 30 riders was very disappointing. Five or six guys went under 16 minutes. This did not bode well for my road racing chances the next day. This field was clearly filled with very strong riders and more were showing up tomorrow for the road race including my former team captain Bruce and strongman Chris Busacca. The Rocky Mounts best rider, Scott, finished 8th in the TT and would be a massive threat in the road race.
Staging for the TT, I noticed the rider in front of me. I’d read in a book about Armstrong’s 2004 season that other bikers always check out the butts of other riders to see how fit they are, looking for any extra padding. I noticed this rider’s calves. They weren’t the usual ripped muscles I so often see on racers. I figured I’d get this guy.
They held your bike at this TT start, so I got both pedals
clipped in. I was counted down from five seconds and was off. Soon I had my
heart rate up and was suffering along nicely. The course was into a headwind
the entire way, but it was also slightly downhill, losing about 300 feet over
seven miles. I kept my speed between 23 and 26 mph most of the way. I blew by
my 30-second guy in only four minutes. He was taking a drink from his bottle as
I passed. That’s casual.
The next guy in front of me was nearly out of sight. I’d find out later that my one-minute guy was faster than me and the rider I was now chasing was my 90-second guy. This was a lot to make up and it was tough because he was so far ahead. I closed steadily on him, but I ran out of course. I finished maybe ten seconds behind him. Sheri, Loobster, and the boys were cheering me on at the finish. There were out at every stage encouraging me. This really makes a difference and makes racing so much more fun.
Road Race
With Sheri and the Loobster off climbing 14ers, I had to
ride the 10 miles into Salida, but I figured this would be a good warm-up
anyway. It turns out to be all downhill into Salida and I easily cruised into
town in 25 minutes. There I found out the race start was delayed 30 minutes. I
hung out in the shade trying to hydrate, as it was well into the 80’s. The
start of our race was marked by a 6 mile neutral ride out to the official start
of the course, which was a 12-mile loop with 1200 feet of climber per lap. We’d
be doing 3.5 laps, but climbing up the big hill four times, as the finish was
at the top. Even the ride out to the start was a bit fast. There was one
significant hill and my heart rate when above 150 beats per minute – on the
neutral start. I slipped back to absolute last on this hill, trying to conserve
myself. This did not bode well and I expected a very tough day.
At the start we had a minute or two and at least half the pack peed, including myself. Then the gun sounded and we were off, downhill at first, until we hit highway 50, where we turned west and started a long, gradual climb into a headwind. The pace went up right away here and we were strung out in a line of two across and my heart rate was at 165. We weren’t even at the hill yet and I was on the rivet and back in 25-30th position. Ouch. The Rocky Mounts riders, Bruce, Scott, and Chris were mostly near the front and driving the pace.
When we turned into the gate community where most of the race took place and the big hill started, I was in probably 20th position or so. The lead into this hill had already blown the pack apart, but we had to have at least 30 at the start of this thing, but it was all over soon. A group of maybe seven went off the front including all the Rocky Mounts riders. I was over 170 bpm and losing ground quickly. I caught and passed the best place D.R. Horton rider, Mike Bowers, here. I was climbing mostly by myself, but not far from a guy in front of me and not far ahead of another. We all suffered up the climb. When I went through the finish line for the first time, I was with a couple other riders, but falling off them as well. At the very top of the climb I hooked with a Sports Garage rider and we worked together all the way down and then along the flats. Up head was a group of three riders and ahead of them was the lead back of maybe ten riders. We caught the lead group on highway 50 and barely hung onto the end of it until we started up the big climb the second time.
The
second time up the hill probably the same group of seven riders went clear and
this time it was for good. The rest of us were a bit fried from catching back
on and we couldn’t climb with those guys when we were fresh. I was in a group
of five riders at this point and I seemed to be the worst climber in the bunch,
as I was just barely hanging on at the back. An Evergreen rider caught us near
the top of the climb and he caught us going fast. I wondered where the heck
this guy came front. It turns out he is a super climber and just apparently had
some problem the first time up the climb. He had a teammate in our group and he
stayed with us until highway 50 when he just rode off the front, catching the
lead group before they headed up the climb the third time. This guy would hang
with them and eventually finish fifth in the race.
We developed a lot of camaraderie in our group and we all seemed to be satisfied to stay together until the last time up the hill. Together we could stay away from any chasers and finish fairly high. I wasn’t sure if there were 7 or 8 riders ahead of our group, but when the Evergreen rider rode off, I was pretty sure there were eight riders ahead of us. With five in our group, I knew I needed to beat at least three of them if I wanted to finish in the top ten and earn some points for the Rocky Mountain Cup. At that point I thought I had little chance of this.
We spread out a bit on the penultimate time up the climb, but coalesced at the top of the climb for the descent. We passed a couple of 45+ riders here and they tacked onto the back of our pack. I wasn’t sure if they were in our group and I dropped back to ask them. I didn’t catch their response, but they said something about “referee.” I wasn’t trying to be a referee, but wanted to know if they were a threat. Technically, they were cheating by drafting off of us.
We all stayed together on the brutal highway 50 section. Here we were going 14 mph at times. We all took turns at the front and shared the work here. One rider from Pikes Peak Velo hardly ever came to the front and I wondered if he was saving himself for an attack. I decided to drop back and get on his wheel. I rode his wheel and he did eventually go to the front and take a pretty long turn. When he pulled over I took the front and pulled us to the base of the hill for the last time.
Each time we went through this gate, my family and Loobster
cheered mightily for us, with Derek running along beside us for a bit. When we
hit the hill for the last time I said, “Well, thanks guys, for not dropping me.
Everyone have a good final climb and I’ll see you at the finish.” I figured to
be dropped here. The Colnago rider in our group said, “Yeah, right,” thinking
that I would be a factor. It seems that everyone was hurting about equally
here. The
The Colnago rider then dropped off and I was closed on the Evergreen rider. I caught him at the top of one rise and we took a couple of turns working together, but the Colnago rider came back up to us. It was now just the three of us and the negotiating started. The Evergreen rider knew he was at a disadvantage now. He couldn’t drop us on the climb and he admitted that he couldn’t sprint. The Colnago rider said that he was riding in the Omnium and needed the points. I told them that I was leading the Rocky Mountain Cup and asked if either of them were doing it. They were not. At this point I was riding third wheel with about 2 kilometers to go. I wasn’t going to pull through anymore since the position was very important to me. I needed to be in the top ten. The Evergreen rider said he would not contest the finish, but the Colnago rider wouldn’t say for sure either way. I couldn’t risk taking a pull and the Evergreen rider was content with doing the work so that we’d not be caught.
Somehow, during these discussions, I got moved up to second wheel. I didn’t like it much there, but I didn’t think the Colnago guy would put up much of a fight. We went past the “1000 meters” sign and I started getting a bit nervous. The Evergreen guy said, “Okay, I’ll lead you guys out.” This is all happening on a continuous climb, though not very steep here. I keep looking back for the Colnago guy, not wanting to be surprised. I don’t know what I have left, but I figured I was the fastest, so I wait until the “200 meter” sign before going by and starting my sprint. The Colnago guy comes with me, right on my wheel. He’s not making any move to come around and I didn’t think he could or even that he would. I think he was going to be satisfied with finishing behind me. But I didn’t know that for sure. I shifted up to gears rapidly and punched it for the line with 100 meters to go, breaking my chain in two with this force! I immediately lost all propulsion and ripped a foot out of my pedals. I swerved a bit, thinking that I had just thrown my chain. I looked down to see which way to push the derailleur to get the chain back on and saw my chain being dragged along the road behind me.
Now this sucked. Especially going uphill. It wasn’t long before I was coasting at a slow speed the Colnago rider went buy me. The Evergreen rider was still pretty far back, as he sat up completely when we started our sprint. I hopped off the bike and ran with it. I clomped the final 70 meters or so the finish line, staying ahead of the Evergreen rider, but I think this was only because he let me stay in front of him. He didn’t try to sprint past me when he saw me running. This was a classy move and I thank him for it afterwards. The Colnago guy felt bad for passing me by my misfortune, but I had come to a stop. What could he do? He had to go by.
As I write this, I don’t know if I ended up 10th or 11th. That will make a big difference. Chris Busacca eased up at the end of the Dead Dog road race and finished 11th, which was the only reason I was ahead of him in the Rocky Mountain Cup points. If I finished 12th, the chain breaking won’t have mattered at all. If I finished 10th, then it wouldn't be a big deal either. But if I finished 11th that will truly suck.
I was thoroughly wasted at the end of this race. Scott of Rocky Mounts got 2nd, Chris Busacca finished 7th. If I finished 10th, then I’m still in the game, but if I finished 11th, it’s likely over for me. Two of the remaining three races in this series are very hilly so I probably don’t stand much of a chance anyway, but it would be fun to stay in the hunt a bit longer…
I rode back down to the gate, hoping to find my family there so that they could give me a ride back to the RV. I had to push the bike up a couple of small rises on the way down and when I got down there I heard that they had just left only a couple of minutes ago. No big deal. I stuck out my thumb and had a ride in less than a minute back to the RV.
After some relaxing and a shower, the Loobster and I headed into town for groceries and to get my chain fixed. I felt very drained the rest of the day and my legs just ached. I went very deep in this race and was very satisfied with how it went for it went about as well as I could have expected with my limited climbing ability. If it wasn’t for the broken chain, it would have been perfect. But, oh the suffering involved…
Update: I finished 9th in this race, so the broken chain wasn’t a huge disaster.
Criterium
The final stage was a 30-minute, 8-corner Criterium in
downtown Salida. My race started at 8:00 a.m. so we checked out of the
campground and were driving toward town by 7 a.m. I rode my bike into town once
again, as a warm-up. 
The one plus about riding unattached was wearing a fresh jersey every day. I changed jerseys each day and this made me tough for others to recognize me. I said high to the Colnago rider from yesterday. His name is Brian and he was 2nd overall at Dead Dog and he’d end up winning this Omnium as well. For the TT I wore my Stars and Strips jersey. For the road race I flew the LeMond Fitness colors. Now for the crit I was representing the SpongeBob SquarePants team – the same team that my kids rode for. I desperately wanted to get SpongeBob on the podium.
I staged near the front and held onto the metal barrier so that I could get both feet clipped in before the start. The gun went off I shot out to my favorite position – third wheel, right behind Chris Busacca. There were five primes in this short race and I ignored them all. In fact, most of the field ignored them. The first one was taken by a guy who went very early and no one bothered to go with him. He took the final corner too fast and bounced off the far curb. He pulled out his foot and stabilized things. He took quite awhile getting his foot back into his pedal and anyone who had been contested this would have easily won the prime, but no one did and he still took it.
With races this short the pace is high and a breakaway has almost no chance, unless you wait until very late in the race, but then the pace is even higher. I sat in the top five position almost the entire race. Once I slipped back to maybe tenth, but worked my way back up to third after a lap. I followed Busacca most of the time, as he stayed up in second or third most of the time. David Kutcipal went to the front a couple of times in the early going and drove the pack. One guy attacked with about four laps to go, but that was way too early. He didn’t last a lap.
As we approached the start of the last lap, there was a swarming of riders to the front and I found myself back in maybe 12th position. That wasn’t going to do. I don’t like to leave the finish to chance. I came around the entire group to the very front of the race and took the first corner of the last lap in the lead. I then pulled right and soft pedaled until a rider came back on my left. I immediately grabbed his wheel and now I was just where I wanted to be. The next turns were aggressive but I maintained my position. When an attack went I immediately jumped on it. I was sitting third wheel when Scott of Rocky Mounts punched it hard from the far right. He was going 800 meters and two turns from the finish. He had a rider on his wheel. I came around the guys in front of me and chased down the second rider, but by then he had given Scott a decent gap. I wasn’t going to tow him up to Scott and at this point, I thought Scott had the victory.
I came around the last corner in third place. It was still
400 meters and I waited a bit. The rider in front me wasn’t going. I wanted him
to launch me. A bit later, I went. It was far out, but that’s what I need to
do. I cranked it up and my rear derailleur started to jump all over the place.
It wouldn’t sit into a cog. Dang it! It was making a horrible noise all down
this stretch. I still in 4th with fifty meters to go, but was fading
from the earlier effort and the gear problems. I lost two places before
crossing the finish line in 6th. 
It had been a tough race. I had performed pretty well in the first two stages, but definitely felt I liked some punch in the crit. Equipment problems cost me some places in the last two stages. Brian of Colnago was one of the riders to come around me at the very end, for the second day in a row. He won the TT and won the Omnium. Scott got chased down 50 meters from the finish and slipped to 3rd 5 meters from the end. Still it was a great result for a climbing specialist. He finished second overall in the Omnium.
Next weekend I’m camping at
