I will begin the story with my preparation for Fayetteville Stage Race. The season had gotten off to a rocky start, with some really tough races and some bad luck sprinkled in for good measure, my confidence was not at its peak. I began to make my list of things I will need for the weekend; clean jerseys, bibs and skin suit… check. Plenty of HEED and Perpetuem oh and don’t forget the CheezeIts. Road bike, race wheels, time trial bike… wait a second? I don’t have a time trial bike, well I guess I’ll just borrow a set of clip ons from somebody. My search brings me to Alver at Plano Cycling, he said he would be more than happy to supply me with a set of aerobars for the weekend, all I have to do is make the trek up to Frisco to pick them up. When I get there we start rummaging through his garage to find all the pieces to his vision areobars, after about 15 minutes of searching, he says, “Why don’t you just take my bike?” After some contemplating from me about whether I want to be responsible for someone else’s custom painted high end time trial bike, I decide what the hell, sure I’ll take it! I wasn’t really expecting to do well enough in the road race to need a time trial bike, I was thinking that I would be Rusty’s faithful domestique and keep him out of trouble, since he is a much better time trialist. Unfortunately Rusty’s doctor had ordered him off the bike for the two previous weeks before FSR.
Friday morning, bright and early… well not so much early, since Michael Young had to go by Sam’s Club on the way to my house to get some CheezeIts, fearing that the standard size box from the store just isn’t going to cut it for the whole weekend. So he ends up getting to my house around 9:30am, I have had at least 5 espressos at this point, which has put me into a euphoric state! I ask if we can stop by the shop to pick up a few last minute things, like a TT helmet. I know what you’re thinking Jesse wearing a TT helmet I thought you said those are only for those goofy triathletes? I know but I figure, if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em, and because I am in such a good mood, I pick up a brand new pair of Oakley’s while I’m at it. So off we go to pick up Monica and make the hike down to Fayetteville, TX. When we arrive we meet up with Collin and Rusty and do a easy lap around the course to loosen the legs up after the drive. We then make our way to the ranch house, which is amazing by the way, I wish we had more time to enjoy it. This is when the bad new was unveiled to us all, the forecast for the next morning was 45 degrees and raining with winds in excess of 30 mph, great what a way to start off the weekend of racing!
The one thing we had to look forward to about Saturday’s race was the 11:00am start time, we get to sleep in!! So we roll out of bed around 8:00 to the smell of coffee and pancakes, I think to myself, “this is as good as it gets!” I look outside to see the black clouds rolling in from the West, oh shit! This is going to be bad!! After breakfast we are glued to the TV watching the weather channel, hoping for some good news, our only chance is that the storm is called to roll out of Fayetteville at 11:30am. We may not get wet after all! So Collin, Rusty, Corey and I suit up and head out, our chauffer pulls right up to the officials cabin to drop us off, that is when we are notified that our race start will be delayed for an hour, good news since it is still raining pretty steady. During that hour we all contemplate how the day will play out, going through the various scenarios, our thoughts and emotions go from positive to negative and back again.
Corey and Collin are called to the line and we watch them roll off into the wet windy distance hoping for the best, 15 more minutes of dry warmth for Rusty and me. We line up on a dirt driveway just off of the road it is still sprinkling, the water where I’m standing is about an inch deep and the temperature is freezing cold, not literally, but close. The wind is bitter and cuts through what little warmth my spandex kit is trying to provide. The officials seem to talk forever, about yellow lines and sprint zones, whatever, lets just get this show on the road! Off we go, there is still a lot of standing water on the road, so I am instantly soaked. The race starts off calm enough, some small attacks go off after everyone gets their blood flowing, but nothing dangerous. We have three 22ish mile laps to complete for the day, and then a short break until the TT in the afternoon, so everyone is racing fairly conservatively, that is except for me! A small group of four or five guys makes it up the road and just out of sight, no superstars but some decent threats, each one of the major teams has a man in the move so no one is trying to bring it back. I try my hand at a couple attacks to see if anyone is interested in going with me, no dice, I then chat with Ruarri Day Stiratt (Hotel San Jose) about the tactics on the day and he assures me that the move will not stay, he has a man in the group so he’s not too worried. Since getting off the front didn’t work, I decide to try and get some of the smaller teams riled up to try and bring the move back to a more reasonable distance. I wait until the cross wind sections and drill it, with 30 mph winds the group gets strung out quickly, people start fighting for the limited draft spaces and the weak start falling off. This was effective in getting people nervous and we start to pull the break back into sight. With one lap to go we catch the early move, the counter attacks ensue and riders start dropping quickly. During one of the exceptionally tough sections I look back to see how Rusty is doing and I see a fairly large group with him in it fighting to catch back on, once you lose a wheel in those wind conditions it is hell to catch back on! We keep plowing through the head wind section with less than 10 miles to go, I make my way towards the back of our group, and that’s when I realize how small it is! I count 2, 4, 6, 8,10? Wait 3, 6, 9, 10! Holy crap there are only 10 of us left in the lead group. As we make the final right hand turn 3k to go, you can feel the tension in the group, attacks start flying, Greg Hercules (AT&T) makes an attempt at the 1k to go sign and no one reacts! Everyone is looking around wondering where the next move is coming from, I sit patiently waiting to hop on someone’s wheel, Ruarri makes the move David Arteaga is on his wheel, I follow. The finish is a 350 meter climb with a cross wind coming at our right, the longest 350 meter sprint ever, all out at just 17mph! I’m sure it was faster than that, but that’s how it felt! The kind of finish that rewards the patient, unless you are a 1k specialist on the track like Hercules! Ruarri and David take the brunt of it as I wait until the last minute, Tucker Gerald (Park Place) comes flying up the right like he hadn’t taken a pull all day, (I don’t think he did!) an I end up snagging 2nd in the group sprint which puts me in 3rd. Rusty ends up rolling in for 24th place, not bad for being off the bike for 2 weeks!
Well it looks like I better learn how to ride a TT bike in 4hrs! The upside is that I really only have to beat the 10 guys that finished in the lead pack. The bad news is that the wind is still blowing at 30+ mph and I haven’t ridden a TT bike in over a year. David Hassan (GS Tensing) is my 30 second man in front of me and one of the 10 guys, Scott Simmons (Think Cash) one of the fastest guys I know on a TT bike is 30 seconds behind me, so I’ve got some motivation. The count down from the official, an I’m off, into almost a straight tail wind. The gusts of wind are amazing they felt like they were going to blow the wheels right out from under you. I can see myself gaining on Hassan as we make the turn into the cross wind section. I can feel the fatigue building in my legs, then I hear the distinctive noise of a disc wheel approaching quickly, Scott passes me as we make the final turn into the head wind. Normally this would be a shot to the ego, but since I don’t have to worry about Scott I decide to turn it into a positive, seeing him up the road is like a rabbit I’m chasing down, and it starts working, I start making up ground on Scott. As we round the bend to the finishing straight I give it all I have, Scott finishes about 50 yards in front of me, but I feel good about my effort, I left everything out there!
Collin, Corey and Rusty had a tough day with the road race, but Collin turned in an impressive TT, or at least an impressive snot beard, on the stage against some tough competition. We head back to the ranch for dinner and recovery, did someone say King Ranch Chicken! Thanks Cindy! The dinner was delicious and it tasted even better because we didn’t have to worry about making it! So we cleaned up our road bikes and waited for the TT results to be posted. Was Collins snot beard justified? Did Jesse hold his 3rd place position? We waited and waited, 11:00 rolls around and I just cant wait any longer, so I head to bed, we have a 5:45 wake up call on Sunday.
We wake up Sunday to breakfast in bed compliments of Michael Young, not really, but it was great to have coffee and pancakes ready to go when we got downstairs. We have to be out of the house by 11:00 so we load everything we have into the truck before the sun even comes up. The legs feel good, but I’m anxious to see how my TT went, so we head into town. We head into the registration barn to check out the results, and sure enough I held my 3rd place position. Collins snot beard was justified with a 3rd place on the stage, but it was only enough to move him up a couple spots in the GC.
We start off day 2 with the same brutal wind conditions as Saturday, the race is pretty mellow, with all the GC contenders well in front of most of the peloton. The course for day 2 is very similar but with 30 extra miles, the idea is to play it safe, race smart and finish with the top 3 GC guys. Luckily for me the top 2 guys Ruarri and Hercules both had sizeable teams in the race and were ready to pull anything dangerous back. 75 miles in the race has been pretty easy to this point, as long as I can keep it up and don’t get a flat, I should be good to go… oh shit did I just think that, I take it back! Oh no is my back tire low, crap it is! So I float quietly to the back and let Rusty know, I signal the wheel truck and I hop off my bike, adrenaline flowing. I go to undo my QR and I realize I cant feel my hands, its so freaking cold I cant feel my hands! I fumble getting the wheel changed, hop on and try and get up to speed, the bike will not stay in gear… so I hop off straighten out the wheel and dial the barrel adjuster on the derailleur a couple turns, better but not great by any means! So Rusty and I start the chase back to the group, through the feed zone where I’m sure Michael was wondering what the hell just happened. My flat happened in the worst possible section of the course the head wind cross wind section, and my wheel change couldn’t have gone worse. Rusty is pretty fatigued from the weekend and can only help me finish out the lap, so one to go all by myself. By the time I make it around to the big hill on the course I am within 100 yards, but then we hit the fast crosswind section and the gap gets opened up again! I end up chasing all the way in finishing several minutes off the back, putting me in 19th on the stage and bumping me to 13th in the GC. How could this have happened?
There were some key lessons I took from this weekend, a stage race is an interesting and exciting event where anything can happen, and nothing should be taken for granted. The whole experience was an emotional roller coaster, from almost not bringing a TT bike to having to use one to defend a podium spot, from having worked to get a podium spot within my grasp to losing it because of a flat tire. The whole ride takes you from the highest highs to the most frustrating lows. The experience that I take home from could be a very negative one, but I choose to stick with the positive aspects of the weekend. The podium spot on Saturday, the all out effort for my TT, and the fact that we have some really great sponsors that made it all come together so that I didn’t have to sweat the small stuff. The fact that I raced really well on Saturday and as smart as I could on Sunday, and that I got to share that with some of my best friends and team mates. That is what will keep me coming back to Fayetteville, and to all the other races during the season. So see you guys at Mineral Wells!
