As the previous post describes, I made a promise to my mom just before she died. There are two parts to the promise and two posts. Part One, the previous post, describes the story leading up to the winning the 2005 Bethel Spring Series.
This is Part Two - my promise to win the CT Criterium Championships at the Nutmeg State Games.
In 2004 I simply didn't race. I think a friend was getting married and since I figured the Nutmeg State Games would be back, I didn't enter the race.
In 2005 I made it to the race. I felt good, had a great Series in the spring per my previous post, and felt like I had a good chance to succeed at the Nutmeg State Games. Then a big break went away - it had something like 14 or 15 riders in it. I'm not a break person and I got desperate as the field started shutting down as the break's teammates started covering all the moves. But, realizing I had to do the impossible (for me), I decided to try and bridge.
And for the first time in my life, I bridged up to the break by following another guy who happened to attack at the same time as I did. We picked up a third guy and dragged him to the break. Once there I couldn't work because I was totally and absolutely cooked. Because of this I really hesitated in the last lap - I didn't feel right doing a 100% sprint without contributing a lot to the break. So I sat at the back, watched guys go for it, and jumped near the line. I got the bronze for CT by placing 7th. I was disappointed but felt it was appropriate - I was not the best racer that day, and a win would have felt cheap.
This then is the clip from 2006.
Two notes - First, although I don't mention it, for literally about 5-7 seconds someone pushes me quite hard on my left side with two laps to go, right after the start finish. He was on my left and trying to get through some impossible gap. The push starts just before the 2:00 mark. It ended after we passed the two sewer grates.
Second, there was a pretty spectacular crash just after the line after we got the bell. It was behind and to the right. When the guy in front of me does a little acceleration and opens a little gap, that's right after the crash happened. It happened at about 4:20 into the clip.
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4 comments:
All is fair in love, war and bike racing. You made a legitimate effort to get up to the break. Shame on them for letting you sit in the whole time. By the looks of the title of this blog, YOU'RE A SPRINTER! Rule number 1 in the Sprinter's Handbook is "Thou shalt not see the wind until 500m to go and experience no guilt from sitting in and taking the win."
Learn it.
Live it.
That was awesome!
And the gl kiss was cute. :)
Aki,
Look up the road a few times in the race. I always notice that your head is down when you race but I didn't realize it was down the whole race. I kept arching my neck watching the video willing the camera to show something other than wheels, chanks, shoes and legs. :)
Gene
Gene,
It was Aki's first attempt at video taping any race. He has since gotten the camera angle into a much better position.
GLKG
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