Body Concepts Race Team’s very own Steve Cooke and his Diamond Valley Race Report
Weather: Clear, sunny with a start temperature in the mid to upper 70′s
Course: 11 miles per lap, two 1/2 mile climbs of about 5 percent. Good pavement and scenic assuming you had time to notice such things.
Field Size: 40+/-
Race Statistics: 45.2 miles, avg speed of 23.5 mph and 1:55 hours of pedal time.
Todd, Randy Floyd and I all raced but in separate races, Todd in the 45-49yr group (55 miles), me in the 50-54 group (44 miles) and Randy F in the 55-59 group (44 miles).
Showed up a little before 7 AM, got my number, said hello to Randy and Todd and then warmed up on the trainer for 30 minutes. Filled water bottles, coordinated the water hand up with my wife and then went to the start line to get a good position. Lots of 2-3 person teams were there: VOS, Safeway, Symantics, Webcor, Paco’s, Bicycle Plus, Morgan Stanley and a few others. I felt a bit intimidated knowing that the majority of these guys were either Cat 2′s or 3′s. My game plan was to stay near the front and ride the wheels of the other teams when and if the attacks came.
Within the first mile of the start, a guy took a flyer down River Road and the group went nuts and worked quit hard to bring him back. Right then and there I wondered if this was going to be an indicator of things to come. During the first set of climbs on lap one everyone behaved themselves . A Paco guy touched the rear wheel of a VOS guy which in turn caused a VOS teammate to go off the pavement into the dirt. No one went down but some choice words of love were exchanged and then the focus on the race resumed. Best I could tell if anyone was dropped on the climbs, they quickly chased back on. On lap two the dynamics changed a bit. Safeway and VOS went to the front and started attacking right after the neutral feed. They opened up some small gaps and the other teams closed them. Every time the gap opened I waited for someone to chase it down and then followed their wheel. That worked ok however just before the beginning of the first climb on lap two I got boxed in and a gap opened off the front and the chasers were already covering it. I finally got around a few guys and had to hit it to chase back on. At that point I realized I had to get positioned well before the climbs otherwise my box of matches would soon be empty. At the beginning of the second climb of the second lap Safeway hit it and guys started falling off. Fortunately I was near the front and was able to hang on. The same attacks kept coming every so often and each time the “attackers” would look back to see how many “attackies” we still alive. Lap three was pretty mellow to the base of the first climb. Four guys went off the front and opened up a 30 m gap. A group of about 10 guys including myself chased them down and had just enough time to recover for the second hill. Once again the pace quickened and folks were struggling to hang on. I was maybe 2-3 guys from the end but held on. As we headed back to start lap 4, I looked back and the road was naked of any riders for as far as I could see. I looked at our group and noted that most of Paco’s, Webcor and all of Morgan Stanley and Bicycle Plus were gone. We were a group of about 12.
Apparently during the flurry of attacks 2 guys got off the front and had a 30 second lead. Some folks were trying to get a pace line going but no one wanted to participate. More attacks ensued but nothing came of it. The pace dropped off and I guess we either caught the guys off the front or we as a group gave up. It’s hard to see these things from the caboose. Life was good once again up until the last climb. VOS and Safeway went to the front and hit it. Two more guys fell off and then the pace slowed as everyone reloaded for the finish line sprint. By now my legs were almost jello. The sprint started about 300 m out and I did my best to hold the wheel in front of me but it speed away. As the finish line approached I sat up and right at the line another guy nipped me. The race was done and so was I.
Afterwords I hooked up with Randy to discuss his race and then Todd showed up looking rather fresh. I told him he looked more like he sat under a tree reading a book for a couple of hours than he did racing. Todd responded that he felt great and could have raced another couple of laps. Boy I wish we could all be so lucky!
Results haven’t been posted. I think I finished 10th overall or perhaps 12th if we didn’t pull back the two who escaped off the front.
Lessons learned:
Pay attention and anticipate changes along the course. Set yourself up for whatever the course throws at you. Racing is hard enough so no need to make it any tougher than you have to.
Don’t be intimated by others. Believe in yourself, don’t give up and hang on. Everyone is suffering. The ones who prevail know how to suffer just a little bit longer than the rest.
The race isn’t over until you cross the finish line; don’t let up until then.
Steve Cooke