Team Nature’s Path Racing Blog

Submitted by Marc Warner

Snowball #2 was held on Sunday under the beautiful sunny skies of Chesapeake, VA.  We traveled down with a small squad of 3 and were the benefactors of an extended warmup as none of the previous 3 fields could safely navigate the back corner with the bump on the inside and the sand on the outside.  The race started off in the usual fashion with my nose on the stem and my butt in the air staring intently at the wheel in front of me.  The usual early attacks went including a strong one by Mark Hardman who owns more Stars and Stripes jerseys than I own neckties.   Eventually a break of 5 formed that included Matt “shelly” Carlton who some of you might remember from last year when he was regularly breaking legs in the cat3 field.  Anyway, maybe because he had only been on his bike for 3 weeks, or maybe because he was worried that Dan King and myself were lonely, Matt decided to work himself off the back end of the break and into the front of the field.  Dan’s words of advice were the profound “uh-oh thats a problem”   Fortunately with the help of a guy coming in at 6’6″ and 350 pounds, we were able to both bridge up to the break at which point Goliath was dropped.
So now we are 30min in and have a solid break of 5.  Craig Dodson, Bill Collins, Gene Rutledge, Mike Hosang, Dan and myself.   Basically 2 sprinters, 2 all rounders, 1 mountain biker, and a guy who couldn’t outsprint Carolyn Goble if you put her on a beach cruiser. Despite the heady competition, with 2 in 6, our chances should be pretty good.   Everyone rotated through nicely until the break was well established at which point some of the folks started skipping pulls as the focus went from maintaining a break to winning the race.
At this point, Im going to editorialize, and you should probably skip it as Ive been riding a bike for 3 years and dont really know what Im talking about.  It concerns the topic of working during the race.  By the time one finishes with cat 5, one needs to realize that working during a race is for one purpose only, to promote you or your teammates chances of crossing the finish line first.   Pulling or riding hard for any other reason doesnt make you a good guy, it makes you a fool.  (Now if you never pull, it may help future chances, as no one will ever want to work with you again)  The flip side of that is that a guy who skips a pull because its in his best interest to do so is not a bad guy, he’s doing what he’s supposed to do.  If a sprinter is latched on to your break and is not working as hard as you are, that’s YOUR PROBLEM its not his.  Yelling, insulting or grabbing is just stupid and is very uncool.  (Although it always amazes me how people will change their game plan just because someone is yelling at them)
So the options as we saw it were 1) wait until the end at which point I can lead Dan out for the sprint 2) Insinuate myself between the lead of the break and the sprinters and “float” them off the back. 3) Attack the break, forcing the other riders to chase and giving a free ride to the teammate who subsequently finishes them off or 4) Wait until Dan gets to the front at which point I lay my bike down in one of the corners allowing him a free shot at the finish.  I dont think Im fast enough to be effective at 1) Marnie wouldnt like 4) and if I tried 2) I think the sprinters would just jump around me leaving me off the back by myself.  So we tried 3) which we had discussed before the race.  I would attack,  the other guys would close, Id wait a lap and attack again.  After the 3rd or 4th time I looked back and I was finally in the clear.  I settled into my sustainable pace and started thinking about where I was going to spend the prize money.  I felt a wobble in one of the corners which is not particularly unheard of with my bike handling skills, but then I noticed the speed falling off for the same power.  When I stood up to try to get it back, the bike washed out from under me.  1.5 laps to go and my steed is lame.  I asked a guy who we were lapping for the 4th time if I could borrow his bike, but he politely declined.  Fortunately, in the final stretch, the little guy emerged and finished off the deal, so not all was lost.  Ultimately a well executed first win of the season.
Respectfully submited