Firstly, I have to apologize, as I have not been keeping up with the journals of my racing endeavors lately. I realize that my fans (I think there’s five of you—and thank you all very much—lunch at Burger King will soon be on me) have probably wondered what has happened to me, and the answer is that nothing has happened to me—I am still the same lazy person I have always been, I’ve just been consumed by writing and talking about the Tour to the same five people mentioned above. I only have so much time to devote to writing, because, since I am self-employed, every moment I take to write literally takes food from the mouths of my children—my computer is connected to my refrigerator—in hindsight, that was probably not a very smart accessory to purchase.
Allow me to quickly summarize the last few races I’ve participated in:
FBF July 6th – I was in a break of some sort (it was while ago) and I finished second to Paul Carbonara for the second time this season. Not good times, but valuable series points were acquired.
CRCA A points race – This was a power points race, with sprints on Harlem Hill and Cat’s Paw Hill on every lap, normally a race format I despise, but I was having so much fun leading out teammates Kevin and Chris that I wasn’t as disgusted as I normally would be. Chris ended up second.
FBF July 13th – This was double points night and the guys in the contention for the overall, Frank Chris, and I decided that the break up the road gave us the night off, and we rode accordingly. PS – I hate the concept of double points at FBF, it punishes the regulars who show up and race every week because someone can get lucky on a few nights and can win the series while winning fewer races. It just doesn’t seem right. I would prefer a points system pro-rated by distance driven to FBF from New jersey combined with a bonus for being Midwestern in origin—that’s seems much more fair.
Al Toefield Master’s Race July 17th – I raced with teammate Pascal in the race to the grave field. We had to try and dislodge Bernie McGarry from the front of the race in order to not have a Brauer field sprint, we attacked him about 20 times but he held on and kept the race together. I decided to contest the field sprint, and Pascal strung out the pack through the final corner as I held position behind two fellows who decided to fight tooth and nail for 5th place in the field on the downhill. I sprinted and finished 8th, neither of the body bangers hit the money.
Which brings us to last night at FBF. There was a bit of wind, but not a big wind, so there was a 50/50 chance of the race splitting up. I am sitting third in the overall points for the season, so I have started to play the "GC game" at FBF. I watch my rivals and I also try to calculate the points total of the people who get into the moves on the race—it’s very tiring. Last night after a few attacks, a group of about five guys got away, and I missed the split.
I admit to being a bit upset last night, as Frank Arroyo had flatted, giving Chris and myself an opportunity to gain points in the overall, but there wasn’t enough strength or desire to bring the break back. This put me in a bad mood, and I shared my feelings with the group (sorry everyone for my use of sailor words). We rolled like this for about 5 laps, with me complaining the entire time. As we got to the bell for the final lap, I could see the break was starting to come apart. I had a decision to make—how much should I pull? If I jumped to the break, I would be followed. If I chased and caught the break I would’ve probably caught them in between turns 3 and 4 and I would’ve been cooked for the sprint. I compromised and pulled between turns one and two, hoping that someone would put in a pull to finish the work, allowing me the chance to prance to glory in the sprint. That didn’t happen. In hindsight, I should’ve made a move to bridge to the break, but I was lacking aggression last night.
If I hope to have a chance at the podium in the series at FBF, I wlll have to race less timidly, so I am now gnawing on some raw meat and punching myself in the man geography in order to psych myself up.
The head song for the night was "California Girls" by the Beach Boys.