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| Big team presence on this day, but not well organized. photo: Yann Bertaud |
This is a more public version than the report I shared with my team. There were some issues that I didn't feel were fair to air publicly (even though only the audience for this blog is likely fewer than three or four).
I and several teammates prepared more for this race than any other this season. Even so, we went into it with admittedly only part of a plan. And in hindsight, more conversation with team members in the week or so before the race could have helped outline roles for more teammates. But with considerable research, in-person riding of a key part of the course (the final several miles through the finish), and specific tactical drilling for at least three weeks, I can say that no other race got more of my attention… and this was not an A race for me.
Last year's course ran the opposite direction, with start/finish in a completely different Iocation. I have to say that reversing the direction, and putting the finish at the canal made a huge improvement. This is a fantastic, tough, classic course now. I’d hate to do more than one lap! The “hills” felt bigger and the wind really came out to play. Our group only had to complete one 42-mile lap. The new course challenged every field. In late summer, California skies are almost predictably laden with smoke from multiple wildfires. This August is no exception. the Rocky and Jerusalem fires had been belching for many days already, and some sort of inversion layer was forcing the crud all the way down to the ground. At 8am the air temperature was already approaching 80° and by the finish line, we expected high 90s.
From the time my teammate Henrik Schubert expressed interest in doing well at this race (back in July?), a lot of consideration went into whether or not other team members had similar aspirations. I brought this up and Henrik wanted to make sure that we should find out who else was game. No other teammates spoke up (until the phone conference on the Thursday before the race), so we got started with Henrik’s plan in the meantime.
In the three weeks prior to the race, Henrik initiated a plan to develop a strong leadout approach for the finish of this, relatively flat, Snelling/Bariani-style course, with an uphill sprint finish. We knew that the reversal of direction, combined with the tough new finish profile, would result in a challenging, double-bump finishing stretch that would tax even the toughest sprinters. Henrik, Russ and I drove up to recon the finishing few miles of the course (on the same day we drilled the Winters course).
We measured the distances and tested the efforts needed to stage a 3-person finishing leadout at Dunnigan. We searched the rolling terrain of our home training territory and found a few stretches of road with a similar profile, to drill with teammate Jeff Kato. We practiced staged leadouts on midweek rides for these three weeks, while waiting to hear if any other teammates had alternate or complimentary approaches to the race.
When our team’s Thursday evening conference call took place, Henrik presented the plan for this leadout finish, and mentioned we’d need some support to keep us protected and fresh for the finishing effort. We knew the haul north on 99W was going to be challenging, since there was no real plan to shed riders from the pack… but being a flattish course, that seemed unlikely (though race day winds arguably could have helped a skilled team that knew how to use them).
We drilled with the lineup as follows: Me, Jeff, then Henrik. I would initiate a strong acceleration on Road 6, from the base of the first rise, after the intersection at Road 88. I’d increase speed as close to my max without cooking Jeff (my max on rises like this is quite fast and it is difficult to hang onto my wheel, even though I’m tiny). At the top of the first rise, Jeff accelerates past through the dip, boosting Henrik’s speed. Jeff drills to his max, delivering Henrik as far into the final rise as possible. Henrik comes around Jeff and sprints the remaining 120 meters, hopefully fresher than others who aren’t lucky to have the same support. Jeff tries to keep his line, taking up a lane that reduces real estate for anyone on Henrik’s wheel. While practice with us three riders got better, faster and more efficient with repetition, we felt that several of our teammates could be interchanged if needed (in case of a mechanical or other mishap).
During the conference call, another teammate finally mentioned that he would like a shot at a good finish. Being on Henrik’s wheel seemed like a great spot to start a sprint with this leadout, or…
A suggestion arose to have two sprinters, each protected by different riders, since we had eleven or so team members registered to race, we could probably afford two squads. This would divide manpower though, and our original, much-practiced leadout plan still lacked some support for the final couple of miles up road 99W, through the final left turn, and over the Interstate-5 overpass, but we’d find a way to make do.
During warmup on race day, I had the impression from two teammates who and been “reassigned” to the second sprinter that, like me, they felt the team conference call ended with a fragmented approach to the race. It sounded like most of us wanted to unify the plan a bit more, providing shelter for both sprinters in the existing leadout plan. But both Jeff and I still needed to be kept fresh also. Time was getting short before the start (or so we thought… at the start area, we learned that races were running 15 minutes late). At the lineup I finally saw our second sprinter, but I don’t know if anyone had talked more with him. At this point it felt like it would result in a large team discussion in front of the competition, so I hoped we’d all get on the same page somehow during the race.
We rolled out at the whistle, and Henrik, Jeff and I attempted to stay as sheltered as possible in the front third of the pack.
From around mile 5 to mile 13, average speed was sailing, 28-33mph, with a tailwind. A Team City rider went off the front, chased by our teammate Peter Aughney, who we had picked to chase these attacks. Everything came back together, then our CW locomotives, Rob Lytle and Tony Low drilled the pace on the front going south. Their efforts were making it hard for anyone to sit in comfortably, considering the rolling terrain. I couldn’t tell if riders were being shelled off the back, but assumed that since I was breathing hard, others must be getting fatigued. I knew we had guys way up front, who were driving the pace, and I could see our Neil Leary protecting Mark Carson, our second sprinter. I felt like it was up to Jeff, Henrik and I to hunt for our own shelter in the peloton.
Turning east on Rd.14, finding shelter was almost impossible. The strong NNE wind broadsided us from the left. Riders “tight-roped" the right edge of the road, each sadly wishing someone would be dumb enough to ride just a bit to the left. Rob and Tony must have still been hammering up front because the peloton was in a useless, straight, single-file. Everyone was working. Henrik asked Jeff and I to slide over a bit. I knew I’d be cooked and worthless before long. Neil was just ahead of me, so I asked him to move over two slots to the left to give us some more shelter.
The peloton got a small break from the cruel crosswind when the course turned south for a few miles, but the pace only picked up to match the same tough effort. Unfortunately as you might guess, the course turned left again, with another stretch of bad crosswind.
Turning north, into the wind, things suddenly went even more sour. A sudden pileup of riders expanded across the road. I couldn’t stop before somersaulting over a dozen or so riders and bikes. I whacked my left knee hard on something, then violent cramps seized my left calf and right hamstring. I was still clipped in, with my bike upside down, my left hand bracing me on a big rider’s pectoral. He grunted “Get offa me! I have a cramp!”. My only way off the big guy was to roll off onto the gravel shoulder. I was worried about the impact of that fall more than the actual crash.
When I got up I saw our follow vehicle (FV) pulling to a stop and the driver looked horrified by the scene. I looked across the road and saw Jeff Kato and Neil standing near Henrik, who was on his knees in the fetal position, keeping his shoulder immobilized. I heard someone say “collarbone”. Rob and Jeff Bell weren’t caught out, and wisely rolled on, seeing there was enough support for Henrik, but concerned nonetheless.
I asked the FV driver if she was calling in the incident. She said the race director hadn’t given her any information on who to call in case of accidents. I felt so bad for her because she really wanted to help quickly. We’ve all been instructed by race directors and USACycling officials, not to call 911 in these situations, because emergency services are specifically dedicated to these events, and dispatch systems can end up sending redundant services, possibly jeopardizing public safety. Out of desperation, she was going to go ahead and call 911 anyway but needed the exact location. I told her I’d go to the next intersection to get the cross road names. There was a course marshall there. I informed him we needed medics and he called in the incident. I returned to wait with Jeff and Neil, next to Henrik. In an impressively few minutes, one EMT arrived, began triage, then an ambulance pulled up. They evaluated Henrik’s condition and initiated transport. I asked them to confirm which hospital so we could meet there: Woodland Memorial Hospital. I’m upset to know that race directors are sending follow vehicles out on course without complete emergency instructions, and I’ve made one complaint so far. This is a serious matter that affects all of our safety on these courses.
The FV was pretty full already with Chris DiMattei (Victory Velo Racing) and “the big guy” I landed on, their unrideable bikes, and Henrik’s Colnago. My banged-up knee felt ok, and my handlebars were only a little bit crooked, so we mounted up and hammered the rest of the course. I had some energy to burn so I rode as fast as I could, hoping to get back to the car as soon as possible to get to the hospital. With a smooth 3-man rotation along 99W, into the NNW headwind, we reeled in stragglers from many other races. Several riders from the M55-open field latched onto our little homebound train for a free ride several miles, bringing them back up to a large group from their own race. I kept telling them they weren’t allowed to work with us, and called them out to the rest of their group. One kept trying to roll with us, then dropped back to his group when I kept badgering him. I was just angry since we just wanted to get to the car so we could get to the hospital.
We rolled in at last, the FV had dropped Henrik’s bike off with Rob, who passed it over to me. Jeff and I loaded up as soon as we could and drove to the hospital.
By the time we arrived at Woodland Memorial, Henrik was just being given the results of his x-rays: A fractured collarbone and some (four?) cracked ribs. They instructed him to see an orthopedic specialist in order to determine further treatment. Fortunately they released him within a couple more hours, and we delivered him home by about 5:30 after a long drive back through dense weekend traffic. At this point it ain’t about me, but I have to say I was cooked from the heat, smoke and worries of the day, but there were a lot of texts, emails and phone calls to take and make, responding to concerned teammates.
Since race day I’ve had a chance to strip my bike to the frame to clean it and inspect it thoroughly for damage. I’m lucky I had soft bodies to hit. It looks almost untouched except for a tear in the protective tape that keeps thrown chains from scarring the bottom bracket shell. I replaced that with vinyl electrical tape and reassembled.
I’ve also been able to help Henrik out with a trip to consult with a local orthopedic surgeon. It’s sad that his season is over, but I’m sure we’ll train together later this fall. Many of us on the team are regrouping and planning for the upcoming Winters Road Race at the end of this month.
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