W.W.J.D.

Jens Voigt had a great quote in the tour the other day. He said a German coach once gave him some wise advice: "If you try to win, you might lose, but if you never try to win, you've lost for sure".

This was our mantra for the Cycle U road team effort on Saturday's Skagit Valley Flats race. Making his first comeback since the horrific crash of Wenatchee (see pic of broken bike), Nelson J. was ready to roll and make a hard effort. We carpooled with Alex T. who already has roughly 30 formal races under his belt this year and possibly close to 60 days racing if you count every little PIR, Seward event etc.

We got an early start and arrived before check-in or the course was even marked. We found the staging area and decided to warm up on the course, a 5+ mile loop with a decent headwind and a little hillock to climb on one corner but ostensibly flat. We were to do 5 laps.

I wanted to change strategy a little from prior races. Rather than the tried and true "conserve at all costs, go hard at the end" idea, I wanted to try to recreate the magic of Boatstreet, get a little group together and try to stay away from the pack at least for a while, ideally for the duration.

Things got weird quick. First it was awfully cold, relatively speaking. Nary a bare arm to be found in the field - and majority wore knee warmers. As the 4's rolled out, neutrally behind pace car, things were fine, and guys began sorting themselves out in the first 1K of racing. Then the unexpected - the pace car takes a wrong turn! We followed him, then he slowed down and asked someone for directions. Then the ref pulled up and said 'turn it around boys'. So we did, creating an unstable mix of a packed field, a yellow line rule, and in my view - all the faster guys who had been jockeying for the front, now in the back of the pack.

What would Jens do? He would get back to the front however possible. It took about a lap and a half to worm back to the front 20 guys. At one point I rode up the dirt shoulder on the inside to do it. Realized once we were back up there that there was a lone rider about 45 seconds off the front. He apparantly stayed on course while the rest of us foolishly followed the pace car. I figured he'd be neutralized by the ref but obviously not as he stayed away and won the race.

Pack was very skittish, worst I've seen in a while. Lots of brakes touched and ripple effect cause locked tires and smoking rubber! Quite a few near misses with guys not holding lines - overlap was an especially bad idea at this race.

With 3 laps to go, I tried to implement my plan of taking off, but with a few other riders. So I tried the upfront approach and asked a few people who were in the top 20 to come along - and told them when I'd be going. Sbux, Jack's, Byrne and a Cycle Therapy guy. All seemed reasonably open and agreeable, so I made my move on turn 2 and went, I had a gap but no participants! Stuck with it to the next turn, but when I saw how close the pack was I sat up.

Then I saw Nelson for first time, and he moved up to the front and got a little daylight. I tried to block for a little bit. When group caught him, I went again but again to no avail.

Then Alex appeared looking strong and started to do some rotations for a bit, reeled in a solo flyer too. When it was all back together, I went ahead and threw caution to the wind and tried to go again. Still nothing.

Now its bell lap. Where did the time go. We're jostling a little for position. Ryan 6th or so, Alex just behind at maybe 10th. Just before final turn, 4th position violently flats - bam! We carry on. Surge just before the corner, corner, then sprints wind up. Pretty much a cluster fudge finish, so I back off a little, Alex got boxed in. Nelson finished in main pack.

So we were thrilled to all finish wheel side down, not placing is tough, but I certainly felt more tired than last two races where I just tried to sit in and conserve for sprint finish.

We looked good with a teammate in front 5 literally entire race - need to work out a little more of the communication on the bike so we know when to block v. rotate.

Lesson learned: I think sometimes its valuable to race a strategy for the strategies sake. I had to remind myself it was OK to attack because I stated to myself that a placing wasn't a priority on this race, but the mind wants you to jettison that thinking and just play it cool. I also learned guys will probably tell you all kinds of things, and let you dangle off the front on your own. Like love, true breaks are likely more about coincidence than overt planning.

Cheerio.