I was pretty sick on Monday still, fever and the shakes! I decided to go see the doctor on Tuesday to make sure I was not having the “Swine ” or something , like always the doctor said I will be OK , just ride (I do not think he meant ride my bicycle though) it out! It is a virus , no medicine just rest ! Well, the Giro di New Jersey starts on Wednesday , so I guess that is not an option! I am still dizzy and now every muscle in between my ribcage and lungs hurts like hell. Like when you went to the gym after not going for years and you did this crazy boot camp class . Next day you could not move , because you were so sore . I could barely breath , even laying down was really hard !!
I ride a little on Wednesday afternoon , feels OK riding easy , so I pack up and drive to Flemington , NJ where the crit is that night( stage 1) . It is a 800 meter course with four corners, 100 guys basically riding 30 mph around a building, great!! As soon as the gun went of I had a hard time breathing , I was hoping it would slow down a little , but it did not , so I kind of let myself get dropped and then just rode around , got lapped a few times until they finally pulled 1/2 the field , it was super dangerous with all these lapped riders on the course anyway. Right then I kind of looked at this race as a joke !! I got a finishing time and was able to start tomorrow, that is all I wanted .
It was rain in the forecast for Thursday, they were right !! I now have a GPS, but still could not find the start, I get there 20 min before the start, it is mayhem , you can not park anywhere and there is no sign in sheet . There is this long outdrawn instructions speech by one of the super officials. Then a State Trooper gets a flat on his car , so that is an other 30 min standing around in the rain. We finally roll out and the first 15 miles or so are neutral , we ride out to this wooded area where the loop is that we are supposed to ride 7 times around . It is a about a 3 feet wide road and slick as an hockey rink!! We we go down this down hill and half the field hits the deck , just super slick , nobodies fault! I took the B- line to the grass, so no crash for me ! We get back up and to be honest the speed we were going neutral would probably be the speed you would be able to race on this course ( about 7 mph) . A bunch of riders started to complain and we stopped and decided it is too dangerous . The Officials claimed it was the rain , but that course would have been crazy dry as well. Nice place to train or ride a recreational ride with your wife , but 100 guys going 40 mph , what are these guys thinking???? We rode back to our cars ( they were still there , even they threatened to tow them) Day 2 of the circus was done , just the drive home again . 220 dollars plus driving, food and a lot time starting feel ,not worth it!! I wanted to race this race as training , but being sick and this poorly organised , it is not really working out at all!!
One more day for me and I am done with this ! The TT is on Friday and I could almost bet money something is going to go wrong!! Feeling the best out of these 3 days , but not 100% , so I am not going to go crazy today . Just check out the TT bike , make sure everything works and goes smoothly. I warm up a little on the course , I hate the trainer , since this is not a big deal I just ride on the rode. Every things seems fine! I start , immediately the brake caliber starts rubbing against the inner chain ring , it is loud, having this super aero bike with a almost riding with the brakes on really makes sense ! About 100 meters into the race the SRM goes out , just speed noting else . This is the first time I am doing a TT with power OR not, no power , no file , what a waste!!!! I am feeling OK and I pass 3 guys , the 1 1/2 min guy!! I come to 4 way intersection , I kind of have the feeling that should be the turn around , but there is nobody there !! I keep going , kind of coasting to see what the other guys will do, there is no official to ask , so I finally turn around I say to myself I had enough, I am going back no matter what !! So I wasted probably a couple of minutes there !! The ride back goes well, not pushing 100% , but pretty fast ! After the race everybody who started in the beginning says the same thing, they had no clue where the turnaround was , some guy rode 32K instead of 20 K , great race !!
I looked at the results and they gave a bunch of guys a 2.00 min penalty , including myself ! I do not know if they added or sub tracked from our time ?? I do not really care , if it was legit I would have finished in the top 5-10 , but it does not matter, I am not starting tomorrow!!
Saturday was actually nice to stay at home instead of commuting to “Ringos” everyday . I originally entered the Gyro to get some good training in , but I was sick , so 3 days of recovery riding I guess was OK , otherwise I think I would have lost fitness on this deal! I did one of my favorite loops “the Orchard loop” with my neighbour, triathlte, buddy and client Matt Scott. Nice ride even litte rain the last hour it was better than any race that day! Legs felt good , but still a lot of tightness around the chest and the breathing was not great if I went a little harder.
Sunday is Fathers day and my favorite race around here, I never really miss this one , Housatonic Hills! I had entered the 35+ cat , there were some pretty good names on the list , so I figure since I am not 100% it would be a good race for me . It is a hilly nice long loop . The master beaters had to go around it twice . My team mate Rob L went up the road with a good friend and rival Jonny Bold , so I just sat in to see what would happen.(nothing happened) I have never missed the KOM in this race , but this year there was no Pasta goodie bag , so maybe I will wait and see maybe Rob can get it !!
We got to the KOM and I see Rob is a little off Jonny’s wheel , so it was time time to bridge and start racing , it is a race after all! 4-5 of us catch the two after the KOM , Rob is doing a great job on the flats helping establishing the break and I think this will work ( only if any of the other guys would work) Sean Groom is riding well and does not miss a pull, at least he is racing! We get to the Constitution hill and at this point it does matter if you sit on or not , so just hard tempo to be able to maintain or open the gap ! We get over the top , I figure some one else would like this break to work , but it is just coasting by David T, and the other two. Bold and Groom still tries hard. It almost seems like these guys never been in a break and did not know what to do ! You do not stay away by coasting !! I do not know , since I have not really raced any masters races for a while , I guess the level is so different. I attacked them , might as well if they are just going to sit on .Then I just pulled for a few miles to see what they would do . Then we came to the stair stepper climb and I just rode my own pace and I guess that was the answer , they all got dropped . One older guy ( I forget his name Klipper?? Klapper??) was sort of in between , so I let him on . The other Wheelsuckers were gone , I felt bad for Sean , he deserved to be here! No price this time around on the KOM , so we just rode tempo up and then headed towards the finish! We rotated , not a crazy pace , but we were going . I flick my arm and nobody comes ??? what happened ?? My only buddy left is gone on a flat road?? By now I just figure it is nicer just to win this thing alone , so I actually rode pretty fast the last bit and felt pretty good again. Richard Freez was talking up a storm at the finish , I had not seen him since the CX nationals , great commentator! That was that , I think the 6th time I won this race . A couple of cookies and it was time to go ! I hung out a little with Bold and Kevin Hines , we got our price , like my daughter calls it and we will meet again!!!!
When I get home Finley wants to go swiming or fishing in the pool, she got a fishing pole , so off to the pool. As soon as we get there it starts raining again , so a short visit! Watched Fabian a little killing the TT in Tour de Swiss on Versus and then dinner&movie with the wife. A nice day after a very frustrating week of being sick and dealing with the BS Gyro Race !! Live and Learn , only do what you know is good for you!!
Dinner was gooooooood!!!!
Thanks for reading again!