Tour de Terra Cotta 2014
Three Lousy Seconds
Sure it's short (only 26K) and is billed as a "Beginner" race; but the winning average speed (38.0 km/h) is right up there with the Intermediate (39.7) and Elite (40.5) races. And some of the riders in it clearly knew their way around tactics. Nevertheless, I really thought I had a shot a podium on this one, at least an age-group spot if not an overall placing. And realistically, this race is probably my best hope for ever getting on any podium.
I knew the course, having raced it the year before. I was feeling a lot stronger, having seen some noticeable improvements in key Strava segments that I was using as fitness benchmarks. And with a bit more race experience under my belt I felt a lot more relaxed going to the line.
I was comfortably up near the front of the pack in the first lap, and, wary of the mistake I made the previous year, I kept a steady pace and on the big climb of the second lap. But it was at this point that a couple of riders attacked, and by the time the front of the pack crested the hill, a group of 6 riders had established a break. I was in the second group of about nine that shook out after that. A couple of them took flyers to see if anybody would help chase down the lead group, but they were riding hard, and for the next two laps held a 30-40 second gap that we were unable to close.
There is one long downhill about a km from the finish, and I noticed on the first two laps that I was getting down it faster than the group around me. Whether I was just heavier, or had a more aerodynamic tuck I wasn't sure, but with that in mind I attacked on the final descent, figuring if that if I pedaled hard down it I could get enough of a gap that I could hold off the rest of the group until the finish.
I got a gap all right, but it wasn't enough. There was just a bit of an incline to the finish (which somehow slipped my mind), and at the 500m marker I had the terrible sense of very suddenly and decisively running out of gas. At which point the seven-man group behind me barreled right by. I had nothing left to get on a wheel, and it was over. End result: 15th over all, and just 2 seconds off an age group podium. Had I stayed in the pack on that hill and come in with them, I would have had a way better shot in the sprint, no question.
Apparently the late, great Laurent Fignon for years after the 1989 Tour de France would walk around counting out 8 seconds... 8 seconds... 8 seconds... OK, missing a third-place 50+ age group placing in a beginner-distance citizen's race was not exactly comparable losing the Tour de France by the smallest margin in history. But to blow any podium spot by 3 lousy seconds just because of a dumb tactical error bugged the living hell out of me.
And still does. 3 seconds... 3 seconds... 3 seconds...
Sure it's short (only 26K) and is billed as a "Beginner" race; but the winning average speed (38.0 km/h) is right up there with the Intermediate (39.7) and Elite (40.5) races. And some of the riders in it clearly knew their way around tactics. Nevertheless, I really thought I had a shot a podium on this one, at least an age-group spot if not an overall placing. And realistically, this race is probably my best hope for ever getting on any podium.
I knew the course, having raced it the year before. I was feeling a lot stronger, having seen some noticeable improvements in key Strava segments that I was using as fitness benchmarks. And with a bit more race experience under my belt I felt a lot more relaxed going to the line.
I was comfortably up near the front of the pack in the first lap, and, wary of the mistake I made the previous year, I kept a steady pace and on the big climb of the second lap. But it was at this point that a couple of riders attacked, and by the time the front of the pack crested the hill, a group of 6 riders had established a break. I was in the second group of about nine that shook out after that. A couple of them took flyers to see if anybody would help chase down the lead group, but they were riding hard, and for the next two laps held a 30-40 second gap that we were unable to close.
There is one long downhill about a km from the finish, and I noticed on the first two laps that I was getting down it faster than the group around me. Whether I was just heavier, or had a more aerodynamic tuck I wasn't sure, but with that in mind I attacked on the final descent, figuring if that if I pedaled hard down it I could get enough of a gap that I could hold off the rest of the group until the finish.
I got a gap all right, but it wasn't enough. There was just a bit of an incline to the finish (which somehow slipped my mind), and at the 500m marker I had the terrible sense of very suddenly and decisively running out of gas. At which point the seven-man group behind me barreled right by. I had nothing left to get on a wheel, and it was over. End result: 15th over all, and just 2 seconds off an age group podium. Had I stayed in the pack on that hill and come in with them, I would have had a way better shot in the sprint, no question.
 |
| "Huit seconds... huit seconds... huit seconds...." |
Apparently the late, great Laurent Fignon for years after the 1989 Tour de France would walk around counting out 8 seconds... 8 seconds... 8 seconds... OK, missing a third-place 50+ age group placing in a beginner-distance citizen's race was not exactly comparable losing the Tour de France by the smallest margin in history. But to blow any podium spot by 3 lousy seconds just because of a dumb tactical error bugged the living hell out of me.
And still does. 3 seconds... 3 seconds... 3 seconds...
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