2011 Short Track Race #2

photo cred: Richard Moody

The killing machine that is the Bicycles East Death Squad: David, Thomas, Aaron, and Dick.

So last week I was on the Superbeast single speed style, mud killed my tensioner, and I DNF'ed my way to dead last. This week, looking for some revenge, I returned on the Meatplow with the taste of blood in my mouth. It coulda been the pieces of dead skunk I ran over on the way to the race that flung up into my mouth, but I'd like to think it was just sheer rage and pointed determination.

Before the race I asked last week's winner Luke Sagur for a little advice. I have no idea how to pace myself for a 45 minue event, and any success I had at short track racing back in 2006 was entirely due to the much smaller fields and a more civil pace. He told me to back off a little on the descents, which I must admit was news to me. I was gunning my way through the banked turns and never recovering the whole time. Good to know.

Sticking with a bit of my original plan I went for the holeshot to stay clear of the early elbows.

photo cred: Richard Moody

I took it all the way to the first corner where I relented and let the true leaders by. That would be the guys to my right (your left); Luke, Tim, and Brian... and maybe one or two more. Once we hit the woods I watched the top four riders peel away from me as if I was standing still. I was amazed and perplexed, so much so that I got caught up in the moment and totally forgot Luke's advice. I was hammering through the corners on the first few laps looking over my shoulder and looking waaaayyy ahead of me for a carrot or two.

photo cred: Richard Moody

Behind me I could see Daniel Lenis riding my old Zion who was looking to take me down, as well as my old nemesis from the 2006 series (and many endurance races since) Ross Dowswell, seen here on top of the 2010 Six Hours of Warrior Creek podium.

Photo Cred: Brent Lester

Once I got in the groove and decided that I would never catch the top four riders (unless one of them died) I decided my priorities were the riders behind me. I started to relax on the descents, and recovery actually came in the form of a momentary respite from the redline effort.

photo cred: Lunchbox

I saw that Daniel had dropped off and my gap to a closely following Ross would either be maintained or slightly increased with every lap.

photo cred: Alex Hawn

At one point I passed a rider wearing the Sycamore Cycles colors, but I couldn't remember if he was one of the four riders ahead of me from the start or just a lapped rider. Those guys from Sycamore all look the same to me, all weak, pasty and covered in facial hair.

photo cred: Lunchbox

Unknowingly I had moved into the fourth spot as I made my way through the lapped traffic, and I had put Ross far enough behind me to relax a little... but only a little. Small gaps can be easily erased when you hit slower lapped traffic in the woods, so I kept up a strong (for me) pace when I could. I ended the race 45+ minutes later in fourth place, way off the pace of third place Brian Conroy, but way better than my 21st place of last week.

All I can say is that I'm pretty happy to have felt as good as I did over 45 minutes of hard effort in January. That was probably the hardest I've ever pushed myself at a short track race with an intact rib cage.

Happy day.

Vengeance tastes like road kill skunk.