First Race of the Year

The morning was calm and bright upon arriving at the race site in Grinnell. After getting my bike ready I rolled over to the sign in booth where Brett Griggs was running the show. When I got my race number in my hand, I instinctively crumpled it up, this being among my favorite pre-race rituals. That is when I realized how happy and excited I was to have arrived at the first race of the season after a horrendous winter. I was excited to find out if my foray into Nordic skiing would pay dividends or leave me needing a bailout. As the rest of the team arrived and each man went through their pre-race ritual, there was good vibe as the antics and “…that’s what she said” cracks kept rolling. Andrew Fagerston emerged from the car after getting in his kit and I was blinded by a radioactive flame that was coming out of his head in the shape of a bleached blonde mullet. That is a fast haircut! As was the mullet’s owner.

After Bart went through the standard pep talk before the race, the group was rolling. It was great to see people chatting as the group eased into the first miles. Will Greenwood pedaled a bit ahead of the group in what appeared to be a joke attack. The group bombed down the paved descent and around a right turn and onto the gravel. The pace picked up as riders wanted to stay near the front as the group got comfortable on the gravel. The Bikes to You/World of Bikes team (this author included) was looking good. Lee Venteicher, Kevin Tempel, and Will were setting a strong pace on the front end of the main field. It was good to be racing! As Kevin and I were racing our first Cat 3 race, the Lee’s veteran perspective calmed the nerves and gave us good advice. The gravel and the rolling hills made for an interesting course with a series of upward pitches mixed with descents on the front part of the course to allow good recovery. The exposed section on the back stretch was tough with the cross-wind and jarring stones but relented to the smooth high speed of the paved run-in to the start/finish line. We were all together going up the long paved climb and swinging onto the gravel for lap two. On the second series of rollers, Andrew flew up the road and steadily opened up a gap despite efforts of other riders to keep the pace high. As the group would crest each hill after he initiated his breakaway, Andrew would appear farther away and as Bart reported the time gap each lap, it grew to a maximum of seven minutes with three laps to go. In addition to Andrew’s phenomenal breakaway, the team did a great job staying together despite efforts of others to gutter our team in the cross wind section, and pretty much controlled the race behind Andrew to secure the remaining good results.

With a lap and a half remaining, the relentless defense of B2U/WOB, left only AJ Turner against Will and Kevin. The author was dropped from this final selection once the attacks started thus the exciting race for the remaining podium spots does not have the same quality reporting as the preceding events. I was bonking and cramping but I put my head down and made it to the finish line. Yeah! I finished and held on for 5th and my teammates did fantastic. Ouch! My back is wrenched from three hours rumbling on gravel. This was a fun race to kick off the 2010 season and an early indication of the great things to come.

---- Grant Headley