My day with the “Thumb” April 12, 2008
Posted by wenzel in Race Reports.trackback
A blessed Saturday it was…
The “Thumb” and I showed up to Plainville this morning. The day was bright and sunny with the legs and arms bare on all the riders in attendance. The usual suspects were there: Anthony with his 8 support riders. Okay maybe not 8, but darn close. The One Armed Man, Mike McG, was also in attendance with his constant companion Ron. All-in-all there were maybe 15, or 20 riders. No Unkert, as I think that he is in FL, or something. Today I thought that I would try something new. I brought the boys over, along with a neighbor girl to the race. The kids race goes off just prior to the big boy race. Tyler and Logan did great, taking 2nd and 3rd in a three rider race. Nice to see that they are following in the old man’s tracks. Well needless to say I had little actuall warmup seeing that I was trying to get them all setup. Now to the big show.
Ed roles in looking fit as ever with the club a bit more manageable, now weighing in at 12 oz’s or so, not the 20lb thing a week ago. The pace was okay to start, as no one jumped at the gun. There were several small attacks. Ed got himself into several of them and as expected he made the winning move also. In typical “Thumb” style to just powered off the front, without getting out of the saddle, as he couldn’t. So, the winning move was set: 5 riders. I tried to bridge, solo, and stayed in no man’s land for 8 laps or so until Mike and a StageOne guy bridged to me. I thought that I had made the right move, as we were staying even with Ed’s group, but not catching and it was the same back to the “field”. Alas, we were caught some 5-6 laps later. I attacked several times through the S/F line: 4 times in an effort to get off the front in the waning laps of the race. I did not succeed but the “tattooed” man from Kelty stayed out. My efforts were rewarded with some nice compliments from Ian Sinclair, Anthony and Mike McG. So maybe my form is good? Battenkill will be the test.
To end this novel: Ed was 5th (the “thumb” can not sprint) and I was 11th or 12th. Ed your side of the story?
Nice write-up Zanester, and thanks for the nice words (yeah – I read it again just in case I missed something). BTW – The “thumb” can’t sprint even without the cast. I rode over from my house and was glad to see the Zanester and the mini-Zanesters there. On a sad note – I ran into an old friend, Marty, and he informed me that his brother’s son was murdered recently. Seems he was trying to help a friend who had some major problems out and the guy he was helping out ended up stabbing him to death. He turned himself in to the police the next day. Crazy !!!
Back to the much less important race report. Maybe because I was in the back at the start, but right from the gun there was a huge surge up front. It didn’t last long but I was worried that my old friend wasn’t going to make it one lap (he hasn’t added much intensity into his training yet). He hung on though and I was happy. The Zanester made a solo jump early on and got a pretty good lead. The “pack” surged and closed it down. Mr. Zane looked fit as well, and I’m sure impressed the kids with his cheeky move (I’m not exactly sure what cheeky means but seems to fit here). As Zane mentions, I can’t get out of saddle at all without falling over so I tried the subtle it’s o.k. to let me go moves off the front (i.e., you slowly get to the front and gradually accelerate without attacking, get a gap, and then go harder. When your fit, and the pack is small it works out pretty well as you can really hit it hard once you get a gap. When you’re not fit you just dangle for a while and waste a ton of energy. I’m pretty fit so it worked out pretty well. Plus people don’t see me as a big threat so that helps. That was pretty much what I did to finally stay away. Earlier on, after Zane got reeled in, I got a huge gap on my own and held it for like 8 laps or so. I was hoping someone would bridge as it was way early on. By the time a few people bridged the pack was also right there so i called it quits. I tried this a few more times and finally, after a prime (I think) I latched onto a youngish looking Target Training guy and we bridged up to three other guys (CVC guy – Rob Laracco???, a Stage 1 rider (had braces i think), and some other guys i did not know. I definitely didn’t want to do much more than the others even though i felt great. At some point we closed in on the field and decided not to lap them so eased up to keep them in sight. I was playing out different scenarios to increase my chances of no finishing last in this group. Mr. Thumb would not allow me to accelerate quickly, and I definitely couldn’t sprint so I was pretty much dead in the water. I tried to up the pace but the others were content with a slower pace after my pulls. I thought that catching the pack might be good as i could perhaps hide and beat a few guys to the finish in all the confusion. I never really committed to that plan though but think that was my best option. I started to think that I somehow screwed the Zanester up by getting into this break and helping to keep it away. If we were caught maybe Zane would have a better shot at a better placing. On the final lap, one big jump from the other 4 guys and i was done. I finished solo last in my group. Overall, I can’t complain as i felt good and didn’t crash and re injure the thumb. The Thumb is good and so is the Zanester. BTW – our team should not have 3 big point for the overall standings. Nice!!
That second to the last sentence should read…. BTW – our team should now have 3 big point for the overall standings.
The thumb got in the way while typing?
Big thumbs up for the Plainville crew!
(groans permitted now…)
Ed: Try this, looking at the mirror and repeat 10 times before rides and
races – I *SPRINT* THE BEST BECAUSE I AM A WINNER!! (sound familiar?)
That and throw some sprint workouts in if you think you need to improve! (once you lose the cast, of course)
Zane, sounds like some good agressive work on your part too. All that work is just making you stronger and hs got to pay off once the season hits full swing!
Thanks Gary, that almosts sounds like a compliment?
It was really intended as an affirmative statement! I just slam you most of the time so you can value these few little nuggets of praise when I dole them out…