September 19, 2009 – Nebraska State Road Race

A great day for the stripes.

Perfect race day weather for this large field of 68 riders. The anxiety of such a large group was apparent with the frequent screams of “SLOWING”, the bumping, even the nervous attitude of the guy that kept returning to my front wheel like a bad sock in the dryer. For purposes of this write up, I will refer to him as “White T-Shirt”. Those who rode will immediately recognize him by this description. He was the first rider in a race I have witnessed experiencing self-inflicted road rage.

Master Yoda (Pete) provided very good pre-race advice regarding positioning in the peloton. As any old Jedi warrior would, I followed exactly. The first lap was more avoiding trouble, than positioning (Garmin refers to avg speed at 23mph). Lap two provided the opportunity to put a little pressure on the heavy breathers (the ones doing most of the screaming, and yes…that included White T-Shirt). When Lap three arrived, which seemed quite early, it was clear which riders were important to keep in your perimeter. With only one real breakaway, it seemed difficult to get any partners to contribute to a chase. The best opportunity was when, wearing the stripes, Ted Lechnowski came by me valiantly in a very fast pace (too fast to react for me). He did stretch ahead, only to be unfortunately pulled in prior to the last turn off of the loop. Next time I will ready to assist.

At the final turn in, I decided it was time to deplete the fuel from the latest powergel I consumed. I jumped out of the seat on the turn and cranked the pedals like never before. Success! This positioned me well in the front group (where I witnessed a very intentional Cat 4 girl-girl shoulder bump…mean), then on the final approach to the finish line I found a gap on the right side of the bunched front runners and let the tiger stripes work their magic. Sixth place overall (my best finish), and actually won the old guy group (40+) at a mere age of 47.
Congratulations to Pete for his terrific finish and 1st place ranking in his group, and Connor Randalman for the same in the Junior category. Stripes has a terrific road season. Thanks for the great year.