- Not speaking for Squadra Coppi, even though I'm a team officer, and just speaking for myself, thanks for everybody who came out and raced the Giro di Coppi. It was a real joy to hear the compliments we received for the race - we like that it's brutally arduous, an attrition fest, and a real test of the legs. It is meant to be relentless. Your suffering - and your happiness with it - is my joy. That a national pro showed up and missed the top 5, tells you something about the race - it's not the kind of thing anybody can win, at any time. If you won, or placed, or even managed a pack finish, you should feel proud of yourself. Hell, I won't even do this race, because I know I don't now (and won't ever) have what it takes to do well on a course like this. Those of you who raced and did well... you have my admiration.
- The work to put it on was pretty arduous, but the members came through magnificently - with great participation, none of the burdens was overly grinding, it was spread around well by all the men and women of the club, the spouses, some friends and a few families. One of the nice things about the Squadra is seeing the whole team pull together. In life and on the bike, it's damned hard to go it alone, but if you've got good teammates, you can go further and faster than you ever imagined. A fair few of the velo clubs I've seen don't exactly pull together. It's sad to witness guys fighting and bitching at each other after the race, especially when the focus is on how the team (not individual riders) fell apart mid-race. With my contact sports background, and having played on some fairly high level, championship-caliber rugby teams, I value teamwork greatly. A team doesn't just ride together, it puts a big number of riders on the course the day before the big race with brooms, making the sweeping easy. It puts a lot of volunteers out on the day, splitting the race management into little chunks, so nobody gets overwhelmed. It brings its family members into the family, driving race vehicles, staffing the parking lot, bringing excellent cookies for the recovery tent. I've been on mostly very good teams, a few bad ones, and I recognize a good team when I see it. The Squadra Coppi is a good team, and that's about the highest compliment I can pay my teammates.
- Sean Ross, who was deep in the throes of overtraining a few weeks ago, seems to have recovered with a win in the 3-4 race. He was supported in an *extremely* able manner by a host of Coppis. I heard a number of racers on other teams commenting on the large number of Coppis attacking off the front and pushing the pace, "for no reason." The scattered, attritted riders littering the course by the end were the reason, the senseless attacks were indeed a plan to put pressure on the other contenders. It worked, mainly because Sean executed well, Kevin and Kosta rode magnificently, and a host of other guys worked until they blew up, then controlled the race once Sean made a break, and Kevin and Kosta bridged up. Again, my high compliment: nice teamwork. Shoutouts too to other winners Christina Briseno (a friend from pre-racing days) and to Nick Bax, who is a machine, winning the 1-2-3 race. Another shoutout to Lindsey, Jean and Adriane, who are, respectively (1) not a climber, (2) a good triathlete but not yet a great roadracer, and, (3) a great triathlete but not yet a great roadracer. They cam out and fought like hell... then went for long rides and runs and stuff *after* the race. I'm in awe.
- Finally, it was nice talking to Kyle today, who was browned like toast by the hills in Barnesville. It's a power climber's course, Kyle, don't take it personal that the course was all hatin' on you. Anyhow, we were talking about recovering our mindset a bit in the fall, and I mentioned that I'm planning on hitting some charity centuries, maybe with James, some teammates and other folks. If any of y'all are interested, let me know. We're not talking cyclosportiffs here, just good long zone 2-ish centuries (which should give you roughly a 5:15 or so century. Okay, fine, you want to hammer the last 20 miles, cool, just remember why it is you are all toasty mentally at this point in the season. Riding three or four charity centuries really refreshed my membrane last August and September, and kept my attitude about riding and training good. It doesn't seem like riding would be the cure to a cooked-of riding brain, but the different kind of riding, cameraderie and general pleasure of easy cruising in pretty scenery, eating food somebody else carried, and just chillin' out.
3 comments:
Many thanks to the club for doing an excellent job of cleaning up the course. I was out there earlier in the week, and saw the graveled corners and whatnot. Not only was that swept away, but someone was out there mid-race sweeping up the masses of freshly cut grass that Farmer John had decided to throw onto Comus Rd.
I'm sure that if I knew any better, I'd be humiliated by my Lantern Rouge performance in the Cat 5 race. But we all have to start somewhere, and I had a grand time. Thanks for a well run and enjoyable morning.
Excellent race - thanks, Squadra! What an excellent course. I was attrited (is that a word?) immediately before the last lap in 3/4, kept the group in sight until the end of Slidell or Sidwell or whatever the road is after the dirt, and then broke my chain. Insult, meet injury. Congrats to Sean.
Thanks for the shout out, Jim. That was my first win. You guys put on a fantastic race, and I'm not just saying that because I won. Last year I was off the back on lap 1 and a DNF, but still had so much fun I wanted to come back. Thanks again to Squadra Coppi for all the hard work. And you must be my good luck charm so I hope you'll be around at my next race!
Post a Comment