Milk Ras Stage 5
5/24/01
I thought I was tired yesterday, but at this point
I can barely put
together
meaningful sentences. But what an epic day. 3 Cat
1 mountain climbs,
3 cat
2 climbs and 4 cat 3 climbs and an average speed of
over 23 mph. I
have to
say again how epic these mountain roads are. With
crowds at every
switch
back and names written on the pavement, it feels just
like the Tour De
France. I fell off a bit before the top of the first
cat 1 climb but
chased
back on to the group just in time for the second Cat
1 climb. This one
I
made to the top with the group and in fact was only
a few meters behind
David Mackenzie who us in the polka dot leaders jersey.
After that,
there
were a bunch of cat 3 climbs, which are in a way,
more difficult than
the
mountains because you are forced to keep up with the
peleton no matter
how
insane their pace may be. For the most part this means
20 to 25 mph.
Excited to still be with the leaders after two of
the biggest climbs of
the
race, I hit the third cat 1 climb and once again managed
to stay with
the
group almost to the top and then caught back on, on
the decent.
Chasing on
descents is something I’m learning a lot about
this week but despite
the
fact that these guys can’t corner with a damn,
a smaller group can
usually
go faster than the large peleton.
After that, there were some more cat 3 climbs and
my one remaining
teammate
finally dropped off. Soon after that, we hit a long,
cat 2 climb that
pretty much tore the remaining group apart. I wish
I could describe
the
kind of pace these guys ride at, but there’s
just no comparison in
terms of
American racing. You go fast all the time no matter
how hard the climb
or
windy the straight away. It just never lets for the
entire length of
the
race. It forces you to digger deeper than you imagined
possible.
Anyway, I finally fell off halfway up and that would
be the last I
would see
of the peleton. On the decent, my team car came up
and me and another
guy
drafted down the hill and then through a few rollers
until we caught up
with
a group of three. The five of us pace lined for the
next 25 kilometers
to
the finish where I won the rather halfhearted group
sprint. Our
average
speed was around 23 mph and my finish moved me up
about 10 places. It
was
also the first time I had the best American finish.
The other guys
finished
between 10 and 40 minutes back. The crowds were amazing
at this
finishing
town (i can’t think of the name at the moment)
and all along the course
for
that matter. I got a little taste of how NSYNC must
feel when I was
riding
back to the parking lot and was accosted by a group
of about 50 13 year
old
Catholic school girls all screaming at the top of
their lungs and
clamoring
for my autograph.
At the moment, I’m either getting a cold or
some very bad allergies.
Unfortunately, because of the possibility of getting
picked for the
random
drug test, I can’t take any sort of anti-histamine.
Hopefully I can
manage
it for another 3 days until we cross the finish line
in Dublin.
Side note.
For those of you checking the race results on fbdmilkras.com,
you might
have
noticed how well my teammate Joe Papp is doing and
wondered why I
haven’t
mentioned him. The reason to be blunt, is that he
is a jerk. I
detected a
rather condescending attitude from him from the beginning,
but it was
confirmed when after the first stage where he took
7th, he scolded the
entire team for not helping him out, even though he
never mentioned
that he
was expecting a lead out. Mind you, this is a guy
we have all known
for
about two days. Then, at the start of the second stage,
the mechanics
accidentally left his spare wheels at the B and B
and he had an
absolute
fit, screaming profanities at them and threatening
them with violence,
even
though it was only a ten minute drive to go pick them
up. Well, I have
already told you how great these support guys are
and how they don’t
get
paid or anything so of course I stepped in to their
defense. This only
made
him angrier and I was treated to a tirade about what
a terrible racer I
was
and how I couldn’t help him even if I wanted
to. This all went on in
full
view of the race organizers and the other teams. By
doing this, he
effectively alienated himself from all of us and of
course lost any
chance
of us working for him or helping him out during the
race. Finally,
last
night, he claimed to be getting sick and this morning,
he abandoned
halfway
up the first climb. This curiously happened after
me and another guy
beat
him in the previous day’s stage. Either way it’s
a lesson in Karma and
also
team dynamics. If you want people to work for you,
you must first earn
their respect. I hope he takes something away from
the experience.
