Teamwork is the key - Starting the 2013 season off right.

I recently went to a MUSE concert with my wife.  A good thing about getting old and losing your hearing is a loud concert doesn't hurt quite as bad.  In my excitement preparing for the concert I watched an interview with MUSE front-man, Matt Bellamy, where he talked about performing in front of a large audience.  Basically he said the first few times you perform the adrenaline is overwhelming and actually makes you feel sick.  Later, you become used to the rush and the adrenaline amps you up and you thrive on it.  In my experience of bike racing, Matt Bellamy's words ring very true.

Our new team this year (Data Driven Athlete) is quite unique.  Not only is it the best looking and most flashy team on the NorCal cycling circuit, but the members are truly an exception to age-old cycling rule of being selfish.  Mind you, not all cyclist are selfish and certainly as the competition levels increase and you get a chance to race for a living, the selfishness factor does subside.  Mostly, this submission is from the realization of just where you are on the pecking order and knowing that perhaps your best chance of a solid career is to be a worker for the star.  But in the mid level amateur ranks, where everyone is presumably trying to upgrade, make a name for themselves or simply to get on the podium to reimburse racing expenses, goals clash and selfishness creeps in.  Therefore the idea of giving up a personal goal for the sake of another teammate isn't always evident.  In fact, most of last year Casey Fallon and I were racing against the entire field and often our own teammates in the process and NO one was winning.  This year we have other plans.

The question my wife asked after the first race was along the lines of "why is your teammate giving up his chance at winning to help you?"  That's a great question and the answer isn't "because I'm vain and mysterious and therefore I demand everyone to take care of me."  See, each rider has different strengths and areas where they excel.  For our team, most of the guys can go uphill really well.  I used to be able to, but not anymore.  But what I can do, is snake my way around a technical course and sprint pretty fast at the end.  No one else on our team can.  The course itself dictates our team tactics and for the first three races of this year, the burden of winning fell on my shoulders - a sprinter I will be.

So yeah, I was nervous like Muse at one of their first big concerts.  You would think I would be used to this racing nervous stuff by now as I'm 41 and I've been doing this since I was 15.  But the uniqueness of our team led to emails and massive planning for how each rider was going to lay it down on the road and absolutely twist themselves into an anaerobic fit in order to set me up for the win.  That is heavy.  The nerves were bad all week and up until the start of the race.  What a relief it was to start the races and just... ride hard.

Cal Aggie
Cal Aggie was our first race and located in Land Park, a gorgeous area just south of Sacramento in a great neighborhood near the Sacramento Zoo.  The pace was fast and as expected it came down to a sprint.  Our team lined the front on the last lap and each and every rider took a turn at the front and getting me in position. Hey, it was the first race of the year and we didn't get it all right as we let two riders get off the front and stay away.  I finished a very close 3rd on the field sprint for a nice 5th on the day.  The photo finish showed I came up about a foot short of taking the field sprint for 3rd, so we were upbeat for the next race to do battle.

Nate stringing the field out with 1 lap to go

The main objective for a sprinter is to get to the last 250 meters of the race at the front and then blast to the finish as hard as you can.  Getting to the front to sprint however requires that your team pilot you there and take the pace making as well as blocking the wind so that the sprinter is as fresh as possible to ignite his legs across the line.

Data Driven Athlete's front man is Nate Dunn.  The title sponsor is his company (he's my coach) and the kit design, the idea behind the team and most of the logistics are/were done by Casey Fallon or Nate himself.  Nate is a huge inspiration and a great guy.

Cal Aggie happens to be his last race for awhile due to personal health issues, but he was highly instrumental in our result.  Nate made a big effort as the bell lap was rung to get our promising young climber Eric Brickler to the front.  As you can see by the picture, Nate is dragging the entire team up and into position.  After Eric and Rocky Fletcher burned it, Curt Mills began taking huge pulls to keep us moving forward.  On the last bend Casey took over as my lead-out man.  Even though it appeared we were too far back to win, we still had a strong finish regardless for 5th.

BP Winter Crit and Cherry Pie

Races #2 and #3 were on back to back days with the Bicycles Plus Winter Crit on Saturday followed by Napa's Cherry Pie on Sunday.  The BP race always ends in a sprint and we had a very detailed plan figured out for leading the sprint on the last lap.  My legs were feeling bad all day but when the team starts getting aligned to lead you out, you just ignore the pain and do what you can.  On the last lap Casey was at the front and our whole team was stuck at the back trying to get the lead-out sorted correctly.  While congregating at the back isn't usually ideal, today it worked out just fine.  As it happened, Eric just started drilling the pace with Rocky, Curt and myself in tow.  After Eric and Rocky's big pulls, Curt unleashed a sprinting effort that pulled us past most of the field towards the front.  Through the last corner Curt was almost at the front as the sprint started and I came through the gutter past him for a 3rd place finish.

Cherry Pie the following day was a race I felt I should have won.  I won a mid-race prime quite easily and visions of the top podium step were heavy in my head.  But if you watch video of the race from Casey's bike (below - or linked here), you'll see once again Curt getting me to the front for the sprint.  However, this time I disappointed and didn't have the afterburners in my legs as we hit the front of the finish climb just a little too early.  Next time.

Cherry Pie did grant our young rising star Andrew Shimizu a podium place in his race and a fresh Cherry pie.  I never did ask Andrew if the pie was fresh or how it tasted, but victory should always taste like a Cherry Pie.