Joe T. gets the W!

     Tonight began with all the riders agreeing, "we will ride easy tonight."  However this was not meant to be.  It is just not enjoyable to soft pedal the night away.
     The start of the night was easy however, at least until the first hill.  On the "backwards Coventry loop" the first hill was the "Bolton Road" climb.  Joe told me this climb was a mile and a quarter or so.  Excitement started to build as we approached the climb.  Not knowing the climb I followed the first few riders.  Ben C. led the climb for most of the way until Joe T. attacked, surging with a super hard effort.  Cliff was following Joe closely.  I tried to follow Joe and Cliff but the rhythm was too hard for me and I blew with a little bit left.  Joe T. was exacting revenge after I proved I was the better of the "beer" climbers improving upon his time up Bear Mountain.  On this day though Joe was "Fatto Beertani" and I was only "Luc LeBeer," although I secretly thought of myself as "Bidwell Beerurain."
     Anyhow, after the climb we all regrouped and Joe signaled to me that we were about to hit some rollers.  Then he attacked again.  The group knew he had good form from the first climb and chased hard.  Once they caught him they all sat up.  I knew this was the time to counter attack, working together with Joe to get a breakaway started.
     Displaying a good lack of fitness on the first climb encouraged everyone to ignore me.  After all they could easily chase me down on the next hill, unless I got too far of an advantage.  This was my gamble.  I also knew Joe would sit on as the others hit the wind and then he could counterattack when my move failed.  I went really hard on the following flat, then took a right and another right.  I heard something behind me, which later I would recognize as, "you're going the wrong way."  Soon I was quickly got out of sight of the group ... because they went the other way.  Whoops!  I had no idea which way I was going and I had figured if I went my way I would hit a downhill and gain more advantage.  It all seemed logical at the time.
      Realizing I went the wrong way I stopped and turned around, however I had no idea where anyone went.  Luckily Joe T., my teammate, had waited.  We were attacking the group and we had quickly gone to chasing.  These are the way of things.
      The first stretch of the chase featured a potholed downhill.  Weighing a firm? 206 lbs I used my downhill form and scared Joe in the process.  Then I got tired, so I fiddled with my bike a bit and we began to chase again.  Joe, a taught 194 lb climber, pulled on the uphills while I pulled the flat to downhill stretches.  Soon we began to catch back, passing Jonathan T.  In no time we caught the rest.
     I decided to ride tempo on the front during the flat portion of the ride, while Joe was biding his time, waiting to make his move.  We quickly hit another climb and I sat up, I was tired of riding so hard and felt like soft pedaling, even if it wasn't as enjoyable.  Jonathan sat up as well and we rode over the top of the climb together.  It was soon time to employ another tactic.
     Jonathan was thinking the same thing and employed the shortcut tactic.  The shortcut tactic is a move in cycling where you circumvent the regular ride loop to gain an advantage on the rest.  In cycling it is not always the strongest rider that wins, it is most often the smartest.  Some might argue that in a race you would be "disqualified" or have your racing license "suspended" but we knew we were well within the rules of the group ride.
     Soon after using our brilliant tactic we were ahead of Joe, who had gone solo by riding the hardest, for the longest amount of time.  The others had popped, but still chased semi hard.  Seeing this I knew it was time to work for Joe again.  I accelerated away from Johnathan and started pulling Joe on the flats.  We were doing 30 mph and quickly opened a gap.
     We managed to finish 1,2 while even waiting at a stop light.  The others came in and said, "We were just going easy."  Joe and I saw them chasing hard for a while and we knew it was the typical trash talk that follows a Tuesday night world championship.  Our one flaw was that we didn't add, "Oh yeah, we were too, we just decided to ride some light tempo at the end of the night."
     Outside of that one flaw Team B.A. - Joe T., Lance J., T.J., and myself executed the plan perfectly.  Lance J. and T.J. didn't ride, conserving their energy, while I used the shortcut tactic to podium and Joe actually rode away from everyone winning the race.  After the ride we made sure to get some healthy beer and have some bacon cheeseburgers to help recovery.  A perfect night!

 

Podium at Expo worlds?

The 4th expo "race" of the night began with the expo club telling us two groups would go due to the large number of riders in attendance. There would be an "A" group and a "B" group. Joe T. told me he wasn't feeling good and was going with the "B's". David H., winner of the first expo ride, told me he was also, "taking it easy" and riding with the "B's". Soon the "B's" took off from the parking lot. I noticed that the "B" group was much larger and contained most of the riders who would be considered "A" level. I sprinted after them, I needed to catch up before the "B" race started. It was going to be fast.

Shortly after the start Lance J., Joe Tindal, and Mike N. started launching attacks up the road. Joe told me he was going to take it easy, however his attacks said otherwise. I was concerned he would explode from the effort early in the ride. I always enjoy riding with Joe and was hoping he would last until the finish.

After a few climbs I was riding with Joe and he told me he was starting to feel like he was going to pop. I told him to relax and think about something else. He had to keep within himself. If he got too panicked and excited on the climb he would surely explode and then his ride would be all over.

Luckily after a few more climbs he had recovered and was ready to ride hard in the finishing miles. Meanwhile David H. was trying, in his own way, to keep us from popping. He was riding along next to us making farting sounds. Then midway up one of the climbs when I was riding a hard tempo, he rode ahead of me and popped a wheelie.

David's shenanigans were a distraction from the effort at hand. It was difficult to ride hard. I said to myself, "different people like different things, let Dave enjoy what he likes, you just continue to ride hard."

With three miles left I went very hard and opened up a small gap on the other riders. I soon realized I was going far too hard. I would pop if I did not back down soon. I rejoined the other riders and continued to go hard with the group to make the effort more enjoyable.

Nearing the finish Joe came up to me and told me he would lead me out. A lead out is a tactic in cycling where a teammate will sacrifice his own sprint by going really hard and popping slightly before the finish. The other rider positions him or herself behind the rider and does not have to ride as hard before the finish. By making this sacrifice to his own performance Joe put me in a good, comfortable position for the finish. I rode right behind him as he went very hard, a nearly unsustainable pace for much more than 30 seconds.

As Joe was ending his 30 seconds of effort I noticed Jeff burst from my left. I let out my burst, wheezing as I tried to get everything out of my body. Another rider burst from the right. I finished 3rd in the group. David, Joe, and Lance finished right after me. It was exciting to mix it up right at the end, as all the riders drained themselves in one final, super hard effort. I continue to enjoy the action and excitement every Tuesday night and look forward to seeing everyone go hard next week.