Whitnall Park Race Report

This race was pretty much a deja vu of the first Madison race. Round and round we go, Aaron takes off, no one chases, Barry wins the sprint for second. Russ' form is obviously coming along nicely as he finished second in his category. He's becoming a wily racer.

This race featured lots of climbing, a cold and stiff wind and a nasty crash at about lap five. I was caught behind the crash and that didn't help my disposition much. I hung off the back in a silly effort to avoid trouble (when in truth, the best way to avoid trouble is to stay up front, ahead of most of the riders). The nasty wind hit you at the top of the climb on each lap. As I was a bit off the back and not in the pack I took the full force of the wind. Each lap saw me move further and further behind until it was clear that I had been dropped. Now what? Stay in or go home?

Not wanting to hear from The Boss I decided to tough it out. Maybe you learn something that way. Here are two things that I learned; First, when complete strangers clap and tell you to hang in there it matters. Russ' kids were there and on every lap they were yelling encouragement and even running along side me for a while. Almost every other spectator yelled encouragement as well. That was nice. Secondly, the brotherhood of cyclists, even competitors, can be a strong thing. The overall winner Aaron caught me just before the finish line on his last lap. As he went by he gestured to me and said, "Keep it going". I said, "Go get 'em Aaron", in return. In the midst of a race, I'm dying from the solo effort, he's dying to stay ahead of the chasing pack and yet we each took the energy to offer a friendly acknowledgment. Moments later as I made my way through coasting riders who had finished a lap ahead of me each of my teammates yelled out my name and told me to finish strong.

At the two points where I would normally have felt the worst, getting lapped and then weaving through the pack, I felt the best because of the support I received from other racers.

Maybe one of these days I'll be able to give you a more complete race report by actually being in the race.

Currently, Barry and Mike are in first place overall in their categories. Russ is fifth in his. Darin and I have both scored points for the team which is second overall.

Results;

Barry - 1st in category, 2nd overall
Mike - 1st in category, 11th overall
Russ - 2nd in category, 12th overall
Darin - 6th in category, 23rd overall
Elvis - 16th in category, 47th overall